The plan is the culmination of a comprehensive effort to chart a course for the growth of the manufacturing sector in New York City. The two-year process examined what industries are growing across the five boroughs, what industries are compatible with the City’s vision for the future, what industries create high-quality, accessible jobs and what these industries need to sustain their growth.
“This plan is the transformative next step in the decades-long investment by the Brooklyn Navy Yard to grow New York City’s manufacturing sector,” said David Ehrenberg, president of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC). “We are at the start of a multi-generational period of growth that in the years ahead will return employment at the Yard to its highest levels since the 1940s while fueling a continued surge of manufacturing across the city.”
The $2.5 billion USD plan will add 5 million square feet of space, with at least 75 percent dedicated to both traditional and advanced manufacturers, representing industries including food, apparel, tech, home goods and construction. The remaining space will accommodate complementary businesses in the creative, technology and innovation sectors.
Development is expected to begin following the completion of the $1 billion expansion already underway, taking employment at the Yard from 7,000 to 17,000-20,000 by 2020 and adding over 2 million square feet of space. The current initiative is thought to be the largest expansion of manufacturing in New York City in more than a century.
Together, the two phases of growth will more than double the usable space at the Yard.
With BNY having rehabbed and renovated all major existing space – culminating in 2017 with the $180 million rehabilitation of the one-million-square-foot Building 77, which opened more than 80 percent leased – the new plan is intended to create a national model for how to build new vertical manufacturing facilities in dense urban environments, focusing on ground-up development at three sites within the Yard:
- Kent Avenue (approximately 13 acres)
- Flushing Avenue (approximately 6.5 acres)
- Navy Street (approximately 5 acres)
Each site will be transformed into a number of integrated manufacturing facilities.
After decades of decline, an uptick in manufacturing in recent years has fueled a surge in demand for affordable industrial and creative space in Brooklyn and across New York. Nation-wide, the manufacturing sector added 196,000 jobs in 2017 – one of the highest-growth sectors for the year.
BNY, now home to more than 400 businesses, leased 440,000 square feet in 2017, representing 1,000 jobs. The Yard has remained at near full-occupancy for years with a waiting list of businesses looking for space.
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