The Brewery is a music mecca

Eye On Real Estate: Iconic East Williamsburg property has a vacant concert venue available for rent

June 29, 2016 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Welcome to Danbro Studios, AKA the Brewery, in East Williamsburg. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan

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This is where the cool people spend their lives.

More than 1,000 musicians work in a Civil War-era brewery in East Williamsburg that has been turned into a music-studio mecca. On any given day, an additional 400 to 500 musicians come to the property to use rent-by-the-hour studio space at a tenant business called the Sweatshop.

“We believe this is the largest collection of musicians under one roof in the Northeast — possibly in the world,” Kenan Gündüz, manager of Danbro Studios, as four-building property 260-272 Meserole St. is known, said in a recent interview.

“When you’re talking about density of musicians, there’s nothing else like it.”

There are waiting lists for the musicians’ rehearsal and production studios, which take up 75 percent of the space in the 80,000-square-foot property, Gündüz said.

Other space is occupied by the Sweatshop and by a music production, mixing and mastering facility called His House-Innsbruck Studios.

Tenants call the property the Brewery. History lovers know it was part of the Edward B. Hittleman Brewery complex.

Gündüz — who showed us around a vacant music hall that’s available for rent there — said that there was a spur of the Long Island Rail Road in the back of the brewery.

“Beer from this brewery was sent to Long Island,” he explained.

The brewery originally belonged to Otto Huber. According to the New York Food Museum’s website, after Huber’s death in 1889 his sons brewed beer there until the 1920s. Then they sold the property to another brewer, Edward B. Hittleman.

The brewery was in operation (during Prohibition it produced “near beer”) until shortly after Hittleman’s death in 1951.

Enthusiastic reviews for the Tinnitus Series

A vacant 8,700-square-foot space in the historic property has just come onto the rental market.

Bari Schlosser of Select Real Estate is the exclusive listing agent for the space.

It had been occupied by a music venue called the Wick.

The operators of the Wick were Shay Vishawadia and Josh Richholt, both alumni of the new-music venue the Knitting Factory when it was located in Tribeca.

The Wick hosted shows by bands such as A Place to Bury Strangers. Experimental music concerts presented as the Tinnitus Series got enthusiastic write-ups.

Gündüz said the Wick hosted events “but it was never fully open.”

Vishawadia and Richholt surrendered the space to the landlord this past spring, Gündüz said.

Vishawadia and Richholt continue to rent another space in the Brewery complex, where they operate the Well, a bar with a quarter-acre of outdoor space.

Anyway. More about the former Wick space.

Select Real Estate’s listing indicates the asking rent is $30,000 per month.

“We’re offering a 10-year lease with renewal options if it’s the right tenant,” Gündüz said.

In 2007 to 2009, before the Wick occupied the space, it was rented out as a do-it-yourself (DIY) music venue.

Concert promoter Todd P, an important player in Brooklyn’s underground music scene, did some events there.

The stage is already built

We walked around the cavernous space, which has brick walls, soaring ceilings and a fine old-fashioned industrial feel.

It has a massive room with a stage, an overhead DJ booth — and a walled-off corner where the furnace stood when the building was a brewery.

The space where the furnace was located is the base of an eye-catching smokestack that soars an estimated 150 feet into the air. The smokestack could be opened up if a tenant wanted to install a pizza oven, Gündüz said.

A second room is a huge bar. Also, there are ticket booths and coat-check space. Outside, there’s a 1,750-square-foot concrete patio.

Big money has already been spent on making the space tenant-ready. New electric service, new plumbing and a new heating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system have been installed. A professional kitchen has been built.

All these systems were built and installed based on approved plans for a Public Assembly Space. Some sign-offs are already in place.

The team that did this construction said it would cost another $100,000 to finish the work it had planned to do, Gündüz explained.

Suitable for various types of tenants

The vacant space is suitable for use as a concert venue or music hall, he said.

“Noise is not an issue,” he said.

The area, which is industrial, is a popular spot for raves and after-hours parties. The incoming tenant could be a part of that scene, up to a point.

“We need a [building code-]compliant space and a stable tenant,” he said.

Or it would be a good spot for an event space or an office for a tech tenant.

Also, it could serve as a co-working space for musicians and people in the music industry including small labels, publishing, public relations, management and legal professionals.

We also went up to see the Brewery’s roof.

In the future, the property’s owners would like to lease out the roof, Gündüz said.

Temporary structures could be built on it.

It certainly would be a picturesque venue.

The views are every bit as jaw-dropping as you’d expect. The Empire State Building and Midtown skyscrapers are out on the horizon. Low-rise East Williamsburg buildings covered with murals appear close at hand.

Sold last year for $26 million

City Finance Department records indicate that last year, an LLC with Kerry Danenberg as a member sold 260-272 Meserole St. for $26 million. Shmuel Stern is a manager of the LLC that purchased the property.

Danenberg’s LLC had purchased the brewery complex for $2.65 million in 2007, Finance Department records indicate.

Gündüz, who owned a minority stake in the property prior to its sale, runs the music-studio rentals business for the new landlord, is the onsite manager of the property and liaises with the musicians.

“The new owners want continuity and seamless communication with the musician tenants,” he said.

When big, historic Brooklyn properties change hands, the question arises about whether the purchasers plan to build condos. What about 260-272 Meserole?

“It’s my understanding it will be kept as a music-studio building. No one has said anything about residential conversion,” Gündüz told us.
Gündüz, 39, lives in Bushwick.