RFP issued for long-neglected Empire Stores
Brooklyn Bridge Park on Friday released a long-awaited Request for Proposals for development and re-use of the Empire Stores warehouses in the Empire Fulton Ferry section of the park.
The Empire Stores are a complex of seven four- and five-story warehouses that were built in 1869 and for many years were used to store coffee, tea and other materials. As the shipping industry left the neighborhood, the warehouses fell into disuse and became vacant in the 1950s.
In the 1970s, the buildings, along with the nearby Tobacco Warehouse, became part of the newly created Empire Fulton Ferry Park.