Architect for Bklyn’s ‘One Willoughby Square’ Becomes Anchor Tenant

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Developer JEMB Realty has nearly-completed construction at One Willoughby Square in Downtown Brooklyn. The 34-story, 500,000 square-foot office building near the DeKalb Avenue subway hub, is slated to open later this year. It is to become the borough’s tallest new office building.

As far as finding an anchor tenant, the developer didn’t need to search very far. The architect of the project, FXCollaborative, previously known as FXFowle, became the building’s anchor tenant. Seemingly, the firm was so pleased with its work on the project that it decided it will move in. As reported by the NY Post, FXCollaborative will take on three full floors totaling 40,000 square feet at the tower. The architecture firm’s senior partner Dan Kaplan said his team was “increasingly frustrated” with their office space in Chelsea, where they have been for almost 25 years. “It was a good space but we felt hemmed in,” Kaplan said.

He said he had a brainstorm idea while his company was working on the Willoughby project for JEMB. “I told my team, the whole point [of their search for a new home] is to have a platform for creative work. So let’s put us in the mind of a tenant,” he recalls saying to them. “It started as a joke. Somebody even laughed.” But it became a “natural discussion after that.”

“We had talked about downtown Manhattan. I said what about Downtown Brooklyn — with everything nearby including nine subway lines within a four-block radius,” Kaplan said, lauding the building’s location and accessibility to mass transit. The tower is being built conscious of the pandemic needs, with plenty of outdoor space, a “no-contact” lobby, and trending column-free office space geared towards the pandemic. The city’s Economic Development Corp. is currently constructing a new Willoughby Square park just below, which the tower will have views to.

“We’re not just the tallest in the borough but the best-in-class asset in Brooklyn,” said JEMB principal Jacob Jerome. “We looked around the area and we saw we were surrounded by luxury residential units. We decided we’d go full-office catering to the same people, this large-scale talent pool, living nearby,” Jerome said.”

So far, FXCollaborative is the first office lease inked at the building. The tower will also have a city public school at its base. Jerome said he’s talking to a wide array of prospective tenants but declined to disclose details about asking rents.