How Etsy Will Influence Retail in the Dumbo Heights Buildings

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Etsy loves Brooklyn, and the feeling is mutual. They're currently the marquee tenant at the forthcoming Dumbo Heights tech campus—1.2 million square feet of office space for burgeoning businesses—and according to the Commercial Observer, site developers are encouraging the online marketplace to "speak up" when it comes to retail leases there.

"In an effort to be a good citizen of the neighborhood and the complex, a lot of our conversations have been about what we could put in the retail spaces that can service the community and our employees," said Josh Wise, Etsy's director of facilities.

Categories that have been discussed include "food, coffee, some sort of market to get produce, groceries," as well as daycare and yoga. "Those things would be very valuable and would serve the larger complex and the neighborhood as well," Wise said.

Of course, at Etsy shop will be included in the mix. CO writes that it'll be a "small ground-floor retail space," the details of which are still being hammered down.

Street-level accessibility was a crucial part of Etsy's office search. "We wanted to have Etsy signage people could see," said Etsy's senior communication manager Sara Cohen. "We are a consumer brand, but an online business. Having a distinct presence and signage will give us a larger presence in our community."
· Etsy Takes Brooklyn [Commercial Observer]
· Etsy Just Got $5 Million to Stay in Brooklyn [Racked NY]