Business

Brooklyn Navy Yard brings big changes and more jobs

January 19, 2015 Anna Spivak

Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Navy Yard website.

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The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation is expanding employment opportunities and matching local residents with available jobs after a successful year of new leases signed, existing tenants expanded, and 42 leases renewed—totaling 185,471 square feet occupied and over 300 jobs.

“These lease transactions are great news for our tenants, their workforces and the Navy Yard,” said David Ehrenberg, president and CEO of BNYDC. “This gives us further confirmation of our need to add new space as quickly as possible and give our tenants room to grow.”

What this means for the 300-acre industrial yard is the largest expansion since World War II, one that will create more than 1.5 million square feet of new space and eventually create up to 5,000 additional jobs.

“In order to continue supporting the growth of good-paying jobs in 2015, we have $200 million of construction activity happening at this very moment and an additional $100 million kicking off this year,” added Ehrenberg.

The three big development initiatives in progress include work on Building 77—a one million-square-foot building—undergoing a $140 million renovation; the Green Manufacturing Center, a 250,000-square-foot former machine shop space being renovated for reuse; and Admiral’s Row, a site that will house a 74,000-square-foot grocery store.

The Yard’s four brand new tenants, occupying 6,140 square feet of space, are Benjamin Boland (an art and ceramics studio), Karline Von Heyl (a studio for art restoration and conservation), Pliant Energy (an engineering research and development company focusing on renewable energy), and Robin Sacks Decorating Painting (a model and prop maker).