More Space Is in the Works for Navy Yard

BROOKLYN, NY-The city has put a strategic plan into effect to expand the industrial and manufacturing space, and increase employment, in the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development. Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. president Eric Deutsch tells GlobeSt.com that 97%-occupied site is fueled by industrial and manufacturing concerns in the 10,000-sf range. The strategic plan that calls for creation of as much as 500,000 sf of additional industrial space in the 300-acre industrial park’s western section.

“It’s how we make space work,” Deutsch says. “We take larger spaces and break them into 3,000 to 6,000 sf spaces. They have higher rents and are in higher demand.”

Deutsch cites mostly “great word of mouth” as the driver behind 38 firms renewing, relocating or expanding at the site since the beginning of the year. That represents 422,300 sf of space. Another factor, he says, is a targeted advertising campaign.

The success of the site is fueling an expansion effort that could add as many as 800 jobs within the next three to five years and possibly bring retail such as a supermarket to the area, the BNYDC president adds. The site fits a niche for the small industrial and manufacturing companies. Deutsch points to Scott Jordan furniture as one firm that has expanded its space in the yard from 5,000 sf to its current 20,000 sf.

The expansion effort is part of an economic stimulus for the surrounding communities such as Flushing. Also, over the next five years, the city will provide $71 million from its capital budget targeted toward infrastructure improvements.

In May, the Department of Small Business Services’ Workforce Development Corp. advertised for a workforce consultant to coordinate a hiring initiative with Steiner Studios and other film industry-related employers at the Navy Yard, which are also expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the area.