Dumbo office buildings get high-tech upgrades to match classic charm

Steve Cuozzo

business

realty check

Through Steve Cuozzo

May 7, 2023 | 2:59 p.m

Two Trees’ thriving prewar office buildings just got a 21st-Century bonus: re-imagined, user-friendly, tech-driven lobbies designed by Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture.

The developer’s three office locations comprising nearly 1.5 million square feet are more than 90% leased, according to sources. Today, the properties — 45 Main St., 55 Washington St. and 20 Jay St. — all boast new lobbies warmly lit in earth tones and equipped with technology-enabled access control powered by a Two Trees-branded app.

The app will also connect tenants to amenities like conference rooms, roof decks and bike rooms. The buildings’ diverse tenant lineup includes Bjarke Ingels Group, Fortis Group, Amplify, BPCM, Woven Planet and Red Antler.

The lobby renovations use brick-and-concrete textures with additions of leather and wood “inspired by the materials and architecture of Dumbo,” says firm co-founder Dominic Kozerski.

They’re replacing a decade-old look that’s “catchy,” says David Lombino, Two Trees managing director for external affairs, with a slight hint of cheek.

While the lobbies represent a significant capital upgrade over the prewar trio, Two Trees commercial leasing managing director Alyssa Zahler said their “biggest, main amenity” is the Dumbo neighborhood itself.

He said many tenants in Dumbo are leased to companies whose principals live in nearby, brownstone-Brooklyn neighborhoods. Asking rents in Dumbo range from $38-58 per square foot with an average in the mid $40s.

Meanwhile, not far away, work continues apace on Two Trees’ daring adaptive-reuse transformation of the Domino sugar refinery into a cutting-edge office building on the Williamsburg waterfront.

Construction should be done in the fall, including a large glass envelope wrapped around the landmark’s 150-year-old brick facade.