A new batting-cage and training facility is coming to Sunset Park's waterfront industrial giant known as the Whale Building. Brooklyn Powerhouse Sports has signed a 10,871-square-foot lease on the third floor of the seven-story property at 14 53rd Street, marking the company's first-ever location.
The deal, first reported by Commercial Observer, covers eight years of space at an asking rent of $28 per square foot. The building sits near the shore of New York Harbor in Sunset Park and is owned by Capstone Equities, which has been steadily remaking the 500,000-square-foot structure into a hub for active and experiential tenants.
Brooklyn Powerhouse Sports is described as a new fitness and athletic training facility opening its very first location at the site. Plans call for batting cages, technology simulators, dedicated baseball and softball training areas, and a small office, according to the same report.
A Dream Facility Years in the Making
Shamus Connolly, founder of Brooklyn Powerhouse Sports, said opening the company has been a dream and that the team is proud to bring Brooklyn its premier batting cage facility, per the report. Connolly added that the business looks forward to welcoming the community once it's up and running.
The space is designed for players of all abilities, from kids taking their first swings to seasoned athletes refining their mechanics, the outlet's reporting notes. Whitten Morris of JLL, who represented the tenant, said Brooklyn Powerhouse Sports had a specific vision for its first facility, which made finding the right space especially important. Morris added that 14 53rd Street offered the size and flexibility the company needed, along with a foundation for its Brooklyn business.
Landlord Sees Another Piece of a Bigger Puzzle
On the landlord side, Edward Kent said the lease continues the transformation of the Whale Building into a destination for experiential and active tenants, joining Socceroof and other leasing activity already underway at the property. Kent said Capstone Equities is excited to bring a sports and entertainment offering to Sunset Park and the broader Brooklyn community.
Newmark brokers Bernard Weitzman, Ryan Gessin, Jordan Gosin and Rohan Kapur represented the landlord in the transaction; the brokers declined to comment on the deal beyond what was reported. Built in 1918 by the E.W. Bliss Company, the Whale Building now houses a mix of office clients, art studios and sports facilities under Capstone's ownership.
Capstone acquired the property from Nightingale Properties for roughly $70 million in May 2023. A judge later dismissed Nightingale's tortious-interference claims against Capstone but allowed its unfair-competition claim to proceed, according to a report from Northgate Real Estate Group, which also noted that Capstone expects to pursue flexible industrial and entertainment tenants going forward.
Part of a Broader Push for Active Tenants
The Brooklyn Powerhouse Sports deal fits a pattern at the Whale Building, where Capstone has been courting athletic and entertainment uses for vacant industrial floors. The landlord previously moved to add pickleball courts on the third floor in partnership with Socceroof, and a stretch in 2024 saw nine new leases totaling nearly 20,000 square feet signed in the building within a single month, according to Commercial Observer's earlier coverage.
Sunset Park already has at least one indoor baseball and softball training option nearby in Brooklyn Baseball Foundry, which rents one to three training tunnels and offers separate Hack Attack batting machines for baseball and softball alongside HitTrax technology for instant swing data and ball-flight tracking. That facility also provides one-on-one and small-group pitching lessons focused on mechanics, command, velocity and arm care, plus indoor parties built around the HitTrax setup. Whether Brooklyn Powerhouse Sports will offer a similar menu of services remains to be seen, but its arrival signals growing demand for batting-cage and simulator-based training spaces in the neighborhood.
