New Development With Office Space Slated For Royal Palms Building

GOWANUS, NY — An office space startup announced plans to build their first ground-up development next to the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club space, but owners said they're staying put for at least several years, reports said.

Knotel — which owns "flexible" office spaces around the city and California — said they would take over 150,000 to 300,000 square-feet of space at 473 President St. as the anchor of a new development, The Real Deal reported.

The startup bought a stake in the development of two adjacent lots — 469 and 473 President streets — from Cogswell Lee, GLUCK+ and MCP President Street LLC, which is currently home to the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club, according to the Real Deal.

Despite the news, Royal Palm owners told the Brownstoner that the development won't impact their section of the building and their lease doesn't run out until 2020.

"Nothing’s happening with our space," co-owner Ashley Albert told the website.

A spokeswoman for the MCP President Street said Thursday that the development won't impact the building that Royal Palms leases in.

"The Royal Palms has a lease in place at 514 Union Avenue and will continue to operate uninterrupted when the development at 473 President Street commences," the spokeswoman said.

Construction on the new development with Knotel is expected to finish in 2019, making it the startup's second space in Brooklyn.

Aside from the President Street development, a vacant lot nearby on Sackett Street recently sold to a developer hoping to transform it into a mixed-used building, Crain's New York reported.

The vacant, 42,000-square-foot warehouse at 545 Sackett St. was sold to to Domain Cos. for $26.5 million. The developer's banking on the city's proposed rezoning of Gowanus to go through so they could build a larger space with a mix of market-rate and affordable apartments along with retail and commercial spaces, Crain's reported.

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