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Last spring, it was just another gritty parking lot at Flatbush Avenue and Myrtle Avenue in downtown Brooklyn. Today, even $25 million isn't enough to buy the 25,000-square-foot parcel.
Welcome to the new downtown Brooklyn. Following a sweeping rezoning of the district in June, the area's property market has taken off, with developers and investors poised to build office towers, hotels and luxury condos, and willing to pay top dollar to do so.
"There's very little inventory, and guys are getting crazy numbers," says Bob Klein, a senior director at real estate brokerage Kalmon Dolgin whose client dropped out of the bidding for the parking lot when his $25 million offer came up short. According to Mr. Klein, the latest bidding was up to $31 million-more than $100 per buildable square foot.
City leaders pushed the higherdensity rezoning to make the area a more vibrant commercial core and a magnet for businesses that might otherwise seek space out of town. They expect the changes to result in 4.5 million square feet...