High-Tech manufacturing hub opens at Navy Yard

May 10, 2013 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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A giant, loft-like manufacturing space known as New Lab will open at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2015, and its future tenants were so eager to move into the huge space that its developer opened a Beta Space more than a year ahead of schedule to accommodate them.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Borough President Marty Markowitz and Councilman Steve Levin were on hand along with the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Andrew Kimball and David Belt of Macro Sea, the company developing the space, to announce the opening of its Beta Space, or temporary home, on Thursday.

“Bravo to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the completion of Macro Sea New Lab phase one and the opening of this state of the art manufacturing hub,” Markowitz said. “Macro Sea’s New Lab Beta Space provides exactly the sort of cutting-edge environment that has turned Brooklyn into Silicon Valley 2.0.”

Macro Sea’s vision for the Brooklyn Navy Yard is to turn Buildings 128, 28, and 123 into a Green Manufacturing Center that will preserve the history of the Yard as an economic and industrial hub. Ultimately it will be an 84,000-square-foot space that will serve as a high-tech design and prototyping center.

It is expected to create approximately 300 jobs when completed. The Beta Space is acting as a “pilot” program where Macro Sea can get an idea of what the space will ultimately need when it opens a little more than a year from now.

“New York City needs to continue to do everything it can to attract next generation manufacturing jobs to the five boroughs, and New Lab will help take us to the next level by providing space for entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers to collaborate and start new businesses,” Speaker Christine Quinn said.

A dozen companies are expected to move into the Beta Space including 3D Systems, a company that manufactures 3D printers.

“New York City and Brooklyn have done a great job luring new technological companies to the city, and we are excited to be a part of this,” said Cathy Lewis, chief marketing officer for 3D Systems. “We support it 100 percent and we think it’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to move in more than a year ahead of time.”

Other companies expected to move into the Beta Space include Autodesk, Within Lab (a London-based design consultancy), 10xBeta, D.N.I., Columbia University’s Laboratory for Applied Building Science, Hypersonic, Patten Studio, Terreform ONE, EcoSystems, Rock Paper Robot, Nea Studio, Bioworks Institute and IdeaSphere.

“Autodesk is excited to team with New Lab and to support the innovated companies residing there,” said Sarah Krasley, sustainable manufacturing lead of the company, which is supplying design and simulation tools to New Lab free of charge. “By providing digital design and simulation tools to these entrepreneurs, we are helping to foster the next generation of manufacturing in New York City.”