429 Kent Avenue was a brand new condo development [at the time of lease] developed by Xin, a publicly traded company, which spanned an entire city block in South Williamsburg. The building offered high-end residences designed by Piet Boon, and famous celebrity residents.

The 7,500 SF was the only commercial space available in the building, which sat vacant for over two years while the developer tried and hoped to attract an art gallery.

Thereafter, MCRE was hired exclusively to lease the oddly configured space with multiple challenges, including multiple columns, dead spaces from poor planning, and foreign imported building mechanicals that did not function as needed. We’ve also understood that an art gallery was not the ideal tenant/user for the space, so we’ve made it a priority to target pre-schools just as we had advised the client beforehand. Through MCRE’s diligent work, we secured a multi-unit Montessori School from New Jersey that invested heavily into the space to make it what it is today.

Ultimately, a 15-year lease was signed at $56 PSF, a record rate, especially for a space that was limited to community use and signed in 2020 during the pandemic - Proving that we can work with tough spaces and tough times. The owners were then able to sell the community-use condo shortly after signing the lease for a price much higher than ever projected.