Fort Greene

Brooklyn’s first Wegmans will open in October. Here’s what it will look like.

May 1, 2019 Raanan Geberer
A rendering of Building 212 as seen from Flushing Avenue. Rendering via Wegmans Food Markets
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A highly anticipated Wegmans Food Market will open in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on October 27, the company announced. Separately, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. on Tuesday announced it is now leasing 130,000 square feet of manufacturing and creative office space within the same property five-story Building 212 on Admiral’s Row.

The 74,000-square-foot store will open after a decade-long struggle to land a supermarket in the area. The company is currently hiring and will employ 500 when it opens.

Building 212 on Admiral's Row. Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.
Here’s a first look at new renderings for Building 212 on Admiral’s Row. Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.

The BNYDC released the renderings of what the building, currently under construction, will look like when finished.

Building 212 will be close to the yard’s Sands Street gate and will include on-site tenant parking and Citi Bike docking stations. The Navy Yard will provide shuttle buses with subway connections. And a ferry stop at the complex is scheduled to open this summer.

“There is a real demand for smaller manufacturing and creative office spaces, as this is always some of the quickest to lease up at the Navy Yard,” said David Ehrenberg, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. “Admiral’s Row will be a terrific home for manufacturing and creative companies … and there are few better tenant amenities than a Wegmans right in the building.”

Building 212 on Admiral's Row. Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.
Here’s Building 212 on Admiral’s Row from another vantage point. Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.

The new Building 212 includes 30 units of manufacturing space available for lease, in sizes ranging from 1,300 to 10,000 square feet on the second, third and fourth floors. The creative office space is located on the fifth floor and includes 10 units ranging in size from 1,900 to 6,100 square feet.

The facility features large elevators, two loading docks and a common-area kitchenette on each floor, among other features.

The announcement of leasing at the Admiral’s Row building comes as the Navy Yard is undergoing a $1 billion expansion. It also includes the renovation of the 1.1 million-square-foot Building 77; the Green Manufacturing Center, which houses the multi-disciplinary technology center known as the New Lab; expansion of the Steiner Studios, the largest film and TV production studio on the East Coast, and more.

Building 212 on Admiral's Row. Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.
BNYDC also released new rendering of the mixed use facility across the street at 399 Sands Street, which includes a garage . Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.

On the site of historic officers’ houses

Building 212 is being constructed on the site of Admiral’s Row houses. They were built between the 1860s and 1901 for officers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which was at that time a U.S. Navy shipbuilding facility and shipyard. After the Navy closed the facility in the 1960s, the houses deteriorated to the point that most could no longer be used.  

Building 212 on Admiral's Row. Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.
BNYDC also released new rendering of the mixed use facility across the street at 399 Sands Street, which includes a garage . Rendering via the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.

The property was transferred to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. in 2008. At the time, an Eagle reporter visited the site and found that in many cases, the wooden roofs had caved in. In at least one case, a tree was growing through the former floor. Birds flew in and out of open windows.

A supermarket was proposed for the site as early as 2008. But for several years there was a running conflict between preservationists who wanted to save the old houses and Fort Greene residents and officials — including then-Councilmember Letitia James —who felt the community urgently needed a supermarket.

As of last year, all the old houses had been demolished except for one, which is boarded up and still awaiting restoration.

Correction (May 2 at 1:30 .m.): The captions on the last two renderings in this post have been corrected to reflect that they depict another building, 399 Sands St., across the street. The renderings were mislabeled in materials sent by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. We regret the confusion.

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