The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. is seeking ideas from manufacturers who are focused on climate change or clean energy infrastructure to redevelop a massive, currently vacant building on its sprawling waterfront campus.
The nonprofit corporation that serves as the real estate arm of the approximately 300-acre city-owned industrial property released a Request for Expressions of Interest this week for the development and operation of a 2.75-acre parcel right on the edge of Wallabout Bay.
Dubbed “Building 293,” the existing 104,000-square-foot structure at the intersection of Gee Avenue and Assembly Road, stands just one story tall and boasts 32- to 50-foot-high ceilings. It’s equipped with 10 loading docks and can accommodate up to 50 adjacent parking spaces, according to the proposal published in the City Record on Wednesday.
The building was erected in 1970 for the construction of shipping components and is otherwise vacant except for the occasional raves and concerts thrown at the site by entertainment companies Broadwick and TCE. They operate as part of a joint venture under a short term agreement with the Navy Yard to host live music and other cultural events, such as fashion and art shows, according to Stephanie Báez, a spokesperson for the Navy Yard corporation.
But those interested in its long-term use are free to use the building however they like — except as a live concert venue — and as long as its purpose is to facilitate the creation of clean energy infrastructure or help advance the city’s goals of addressing climate change and generating more jobs for the green economy. The eventual awardee can either demolish the whole structure and build an entirely new facility on its footprint or use what’s currently there, according to the document.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard — which is currently in the process of building out its master plan, a $2.5 billion roadmap from 2018 that envisions about 5 million square feet of new manufacturing buildings on its campus — is home to more than 550 businesses and 11,000 workers and generates more than $2 billion a year for the city.
Crain’s reported last year that the corporation had similarly issued a request for proposal to develop a new industrial and commercial building along Kent Avenue — the first of three major ground-up projects under the master plan.
The Navy Yard is currently 91% occupied, according to Báez. And City Comptroller Brad Lander’s most recent audit revealed that as of June 2023, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. reported current assets of $50.1 million and noncurrent assets of $1.2 billion consisting of restricted cash, tenants’ security deposits and lease payments.
Julianne Cuba , 2024-04-19 19:18:39
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