Brooklyn Navy Yard signs leasing agreement with CBRE for top-floor waterfront spaces

December 7, 2020 Editorial Staff

Building 77 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Photos courtesy of Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation

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The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation has signed a leasing agency agreement with a CBRE team led by Executive Vice President Brad Gerla for the Yard’s large block creative office spaces on the top floors of Building 303 and Building 77, two waterfront office spaces.

The announcement comes amid a blitz of leasing activity at the Yard, signaling that creative firms and urban manufacturing companies are continuing to lease at Brooklyn Navy Yard despite the ongoing pandemic.

Since March, BNYDC has signed 162,428 square feet in new leases and 81,129 square feet in lease renewals.

Brooklynites test-drove high-tech LINK scooters at the Brooklyn Navy Yard this fall, as the city shopped for a shared e-scooter operator.

BNYDC’s Board of Directors is expected to approve the agreement with CBRE this week. Gerla’s team will handle the marketing and leasing of 142,000 square feet, including the 9th floor of Building 303 along with the 15th and 16th floors of Building 77.

“The Yard has established itself as a leading destination for cutting-edge companies attracted to our ecosystem of creative and advanced manufacturing tenants – and this momentum has continued despite the pandemic,” said Johanna Greenbaum, chief development officer at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. “Now we’re excited to build on that momentum by working with one of the city’s top leasing teams to introduce two of our premier spaces to the marketplace.”

A rendering of Building 303 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“The top floors of buildings 303 and 77 offer exactly what the city’s creative workforce will want after the pandemic: wide open floor plates, plentiful outdoor amenity space with amazing views, a collaborative campus environment and a location near where so much of the talent lives,” said Brad Gerla, executive vice president at CBRE.

Read about how workers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard manufactured coronavirus-blocking face shields at the height of the pandemic in New York City.

Building 303

Building 303 opened to light manufacturing and creative office tenants this fall and is part of the Admiral’s Row complex on Yard’s western edge.

The 50,000-square-foot full floor office suite on the building’s top floor features sweeping views of the East River, Manhattan skyline and East River bridges.

The space also includes 12-foot ceilings, access to two passenger elevators and direct access to two freight elevators. Building 303 companies will have access to a pre-installed, high-quality HVAC system and tenant parking in the building.

The building is walking distance to the F, A and C trains in DUMBO, the Yard’s shuttle service to 13 subways lines and the Long Island Railroad, the Yard’s NYC Ferry station at Dock 72. Overall, Admirals Row also includes Building 212, which opened in last year and houses a diverse array of creative office and light manufacturing companies, along with a 76,000-square foot Wegmans supermarket – the city’s first – on the ground floor.

Read about the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s search for partners to develop an ‘Equity Incubator’ for local businesses.

Building 77

In many ways the focal point of the Navy Yard, Building 77 is home to companies from an array of vertically integrated design and manufacturing companies, along with a publicly accessible ground floor lobby and Food Manufacturing Market featuring Russ and Daughters, Transmitter Brewery, Pizza Yard, and a host of other vendors below double height ceilings.

BDNYC recently spearheaded the building’s $187 million comprehensive renovation from a former naval facility. Its top two floors offer prospective tenants unrivaled New York City views. The 70,000 square foot divisible 15th floor features an opportunity for inspiring, wellness-driven workspaces featuring four private outdoor terraces and can accommodate unique operational needs with its four freight elevators.

Finally, the 16th floor offers roughly 8,000 square feet of boutique interior space and 16,500 square feet of expansive outdoor roof space. This unique top floor is well-suited for a restaurant, event or hospitality space, and includes two designated passenger elevators. Building 77 tenants will also have access to the Yard’s shuttle service, NYC Ferry stop, on-site parking and five Citibike stations.

Read about the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ former DUMBO hotel, which began conversion to supportive housing in late November.

New deals

CBRE’s hiring comes as the Yard completes a flurry of leasing activity despite the pandemic. The transactions include the following, among others:

ECCO – 7,000 square feet in Building 212. The Denmark-based footwear and leather goods retailer’s design and prototyping studio will be its first studio space outside Denmark.

Tarform – 2,152-square-foot lease in Building 212. The start-up electric motorcycle manufacturer uses recycled aluminum, flax fibers, biodegradable leather and other innovative materials to build a new breed of motorcycles using clean technology. The firm is expanding out of the Yard’s New Lab.

Catbird – 24,481 square feet in Building 77. The woman-owned, high-end jeweler is expanding its production and sales space and moving from Building 77.

American PAPR– 4,474 square feet in Building 212. The protective equipment manufacturer’s products include battery-operated respirators and support the protection of frontline healthcare workers. The firm is a subsidiary of 3DBio Therapeutics, a biologics and bioprinting company with a focus on regenerative medicine based in Manhattan.

Storytellers & Creators– 5,799 square feet in Building 212. Led by proprietor Arturo Castaneda, this MBE business is a garment and clothing manufacturer that pivoted from producing luxury clothing to making personal protective equipment early in the pandemic.

Smalls Electrical Construction – 13,200 square feet in Building 3. An MBE and existing tenant on the Yard, the company provides electrical contracting services for private builders across the region and is one of the fastest growing electrical firms in New York.
Gallery Kitchen & Bath – 3,147 square feet in Building 212. The home renovation and restoration firm is relocating from Long Island City and specializes in bathroom, kitchen, and interior renovation of apartments, brownstones, and townhomes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

A rendering of the interior of Building 77.

The Navy Yard is undergoing its largest expansion since World War II, which will increase the Yard’s job total to 20,000 from its current 11,000 in the coming years.

The expansion includes the aforementioned renovation of Building 77 to provide space to vertically-integrated design and manufacturing companies and the ground-floor Food Manufacturing Market; Nanotronics’ high-tech manufacturing hub in Building 20; the Green Manufacturing Center, which houses New Lab, Crye Precision, and Bednark; and an expanded Steiner Studios, the largest film and television production studio outside Hollywood in the United States.

BNYDC also announced a $2.5 billion master plan to create 10,000 additional jobs housed in vertical manufacturing buildings, which would bring the total number of jobs at the Yard to 30,000 in the coming decades.

Additionally, the Yard played an integral role at the outset of the pandemic last spring, serving as a central PPE production hub for the city as it faced shortages in face shields, medical gowns and ventilators, among other equipment.

Ultimately BNYDC spearheaded the production of roughly a dozen products by Yard tenants, including nearly ten million units of PPE and more than 26,000 gallons of hand sanitizer.