Hollywood’s $500 Million Bet on Brooklyn Could Send Bushwick and Red Hook Home Prices Soaring

Two Brooklyn neighborhoods are poised to see massive growth as Hollywood moves in.

Bushwick and Red Hook will each be the site of a film studio, together valued at $500 million, from Los Angeles-based Echelon Studios.

While one would be hard pressed to find a neighborhood in Brooklyn that hasn't seen staggering transformation in the last couple of decades, these two neighborhoods aren't at the forefront of gentrified trendiness the way Williamsburg, Park Slope, and Fort Greene are.

Real estate experts welcome the projects.

"The arrival of two major studio projects in Red Hook and Bushwick is a transformational win for both neighborhoods," says Jenny Lenz, managing director of Dolly Lenz Real Estate.

"It brings the kind of jobs, investment, and global attention that reliably lift housing valuations, while also validating what many New Yorkers have known for years: Bushwick and Red Hook truly epitomize authentic New York.

"These communities already resonate with the creative set, and the addition of world-class studios will only magnify their cultural cachet and introduce them to buyers around the world who might never have discovered these remarkable pockets of Brooklyn."

Lights, camera ... Brooklyn

Echelon Studios has over 15,000 independent entertainment titles, including the comedy "Nobody Knows Anything" with Ben Stiller and Mike Myers; documentaries; Bollywood musicals; Asian martial arts movies; faith-based films; and shoestring horror flicks with titles like "Crawling Hand" and "My Mom's a Werewolf."

Realtor.com® reached out to Echelon for comment.

Hollywood is increasingly looking outside of La La Land: A $1 billion Netflix film campus is being built in Monmouth County, NJ. And rural Bastrop, TX, was chosen for the new Texas Line 204 film studio, near the new Elon Musk tech hub.

Red Hook and Bushwick

While Brooklyn isn't unfamiliar to Hollywood—the Brooklyn Navy Yard is already site of a massive studio where movies like "Joker" and "John Wick" and streaming series like "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" were filmed—these studios bring the tinsel to two diverse neighborhoods.

Remote Red Hook is primarily known for being the location of IKEA, while quickly gentrifying Bushwick is still not considered a high-income neighborhood.

The Red Hook studio will be at 176 Dikeman St. and the Bushwick one at 242 Seigel St. They will create an estimated 2,400 jobs, according to Patch.

Designed by Cookfox, the buildings will be models of sustainability, including being 100% electric, with rooftop solar panels, green roofs, and rainwater collection systems, according to New York YIMBY.

What local agents are saying

Brooklyn agent Abby Palanca with The Abby Palanca Team at Serhant thinks the film studios can only bring good things to both neighborhoods.

Palanca, who reps a $4 million, 126-year-old multifamily home at 91 Dikeman Street in Red Hook, a five minute walk to the new studio, says, "I think it will put the neighborhood on the radar."

Red Hook's lack of a subway stop and position on the borough's western outskirts, accessed mainly by ferry, means it has remained fairly isolated.

"The issue will continue to be transportation," Palanca tells Realtor.com. "Unless you're working there, or you drive, it probably still wouldn't be a contender for you. But the studio will start to get a lot more people talking about it."

That remove has also meant a lack of retail, which has kept the average homebuyer at bay.

"I had one client, she loved the property, but her concern was 'Where do I get my hair done? Where do I get my nails done?'"

Palanca thinks that a six-story, 246,000-square-feet studio with four stages may do more to entice retail to the area, and more homebuyers will follow.

Still, without easier public transport, the neighborhood will remain comparatively cut off, though she predicts more condos will get built to house studio employees.

"I think this could mean developers will start to see more potential in Bushwick. Right now, people tend to go there for a deal."

Brooklyn agent Reilly Burleigh-Andrews of Serhant thinks a movie studio fits perfectly in with the vibe of Bushwick.

"Bushwick is known for being a hub of creativity and art, and this movie studio will blend seamlessly into that energy," she tells Realtor.com. "The industry will thrive in the area that is already full of artists and creatives."

Local agent William Yau of Coldwell Banker Warburg believes that the studios will bring more name recognition to the neighborhoods.

"With movies being filmed in the area, out-of-state consumers moving to NYC will notice it's where their favorite movie or series is filmed," he tells Realtor.com.

It may not be long before tourists are rushing to these out-of-the-way Brooklyn neighborhoods to take selfies, much as they already do at the West Village brownstone that became a "global tourist destination" for fanatic followers of HBO's Sex and the City as it acted as Carrie Bradshaw's abode.

Richard Dun of Reliance Realty One, who reps Bushwick listings, thinks a film studio will be good for property values but bad for affordability.

"The area will benefit from an increase in local job opportunities and demand for local business especially restaurants, while the lack of rental inventory can increase the rent rates in surrounding areas," he tells Realtor.com. "I would consider this an overall positive for the community."

And John Walkup, co-founder of real estate data analytics company UrbanDigs, says that the studios will add fuel to the fire of Brooklyn's rising prices—welcome news for homeowners, not so welcome for first-time buyers hoping to snag their slice of Brooklyn paradise.

"The arrival of a large new studio will bring jobs, infrastructure investments, and, importantly, the buzz that fuels continued value appreciation," he says.