Five years shy of its centennial this year, the Brooklyn Army Terminal spent the first half of its life fulfilling its original purpose as a military hub. Sited just opposite the northern tip of Staten Island, the industrial park was the largest concrete building when it was completed in 1919 and subsequently the U.S.’s largest military supply base by the Second World War, the four million square-foot complex would be considered a supertall skyscraper if turned on its side to stand vertically; longer than the Woolworth Building is tall, the history of the building notes that Cass Gilbert was, in fact, the architect of both edifices. It also notes that the BAT, as the New York Port of Embarkation, saw the passage of 3.2 million troops, including Pvt. Elvis Presley, in 1958, in addition to 37 million tons of supplies between 1919 and its decline in the 70’s.
New York City purchased the BAT from the federal government in 1981 and has spent the past three decades quietly renovating it for commercial use Since it was originally built as the Army Supply Base, the floors can handle up to 250-300 lbs per square foot, making it an ideal place for light industry. Moreover, its enormous footprint allows it to be broken up into multiple spaces per floor, from roughly 12,000 to 74,000 square feet. Thus, the massive scale of the building — along with its location near Manhattan, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and public transit lines — make it a perfect candidate for neo-industrial redevelopment.
Brooklyn Army Terminal. Photo by Fred R. Conrad for the New York Times
That is exactly what is happening [PDF]. Since 2012, is has already attracted a number of tenants, including Urban Green Furniture and chocolatier Jaques Torres. The next phase of development will cost nearly $100 million, Kyle Kimball, the president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation recently told the New York Times. The plan will refurbish 11 more acres of Building A, including new elevators, life-safety systems, plumbing, heating and windows. The goal is to attract more commercial tenants and manufacturers.
Brooklyn Army Terminal. Photos by Fred R. Conrad for the New York Times
Meanwhile, in nearby Sunset Park, mega-development Industry City, to some extent, has provided a model for its kindred spirit to the south. Built in 1895 as a city-in-a-city, this 6,000,000 square-foot waterfront complex housed businesses that employed 25,000 at its peak, cresting the wave of Brooklyn’s boom as an international seaport during the early 20th century. (At one point, it boasted its own internal police force, fire department, rail network, and power plant.)
But as urban areas became less industrial over the past half-century, the complex fell into disrepair and faded into obscurity — until the late-2000s, which have seen its revitalization as a viable commercial space. Over the past few years, Industry City has attracted tenants that include artists, designers, tech start-ups, and even manufacturers. It’s worth making the distinction that the BAT is being renovated by the city through the NYCEDC while Industry City remains a private venture, as it was from the start. Jamestown, Angelo Gordon, and Belvedere Capital are spearheading the effort to revitalize I.C. into a mixed use hub for the “innovation economy” with a smattering of retail shops that will hopefully make a neighborhood.
Industry City. Image courtesy Industry City.
Just another mile-and-a-half upriver, Red Hook is also on the cusp of a reinvention of its own, albeit on a smaller scale due to lack of a single sprawling development site and its relative isolation (although the neighborhood is closer to Manhattan than the other sites, it has long been underserved by public transportation). Even so, developers Estate Four have recently secured the site for a 12-acre, 1.2-million-square-foot mixed-use project called the Red Hook Innovation District is coming to fruition.
As with the army terminal and Industry City, the developers are looking to capitalize on the growth of the creative industries; however, the Red Hook development entails mostly new construction in addition to the preservation of a few “key parcels.” A 122,000-square-foot factory complex and the former Daily News printing plant are among the buildings that will be refurbished alongside new construction buildings that are meant to “fit in” with the industrial context of Red Hook; Estate Four has estimated that the project will take up to five years, at a total cost of $400 million.
Red Hook Innovation District. Images courtesy NBBJ.
All of these neo-industrial renovations and redevelopments follow the logic of Brooklyn’s gentrification. One of the more high-profile successes has been Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the 2011 re-opening of Building 92 as an office and visitor center marked the historic district’s rebirth as a economic development. Like the Brooklyn Army Terminal, the Navy Yard was decommissioned in 1966, falling into ruin until recent years. Today, the industrial buildings have been rehabilitated and are home to around 275 businesses and 6,000 workers. Although it is home to commercial printers, an urban farm, and Steiner Studios (“the largest film and TV complex outside Hollywood”), many of the companies moving to the Navy Yard are in tech, prototyping and fabrication, a technological spin on the old industrial roots of the area. Its seclusion from public transit makes it less suited for mixed-use development, but its proximity to the BQE and three of the bridges that connect Brooklyn to lower Manhattan make it appealing to industry.
The history is strong, however, at all of these locations. It would be impossible to escape, but it is also what makes the city so exhilarating: the constant reinvention and repurposing of space that in some ways makes perfect sense, and in others could not have been written in a futuristic movie. This paradox will continue to provide New York City with many new, exciting places for the foreseeable future.
Red Hook Innovation District. Image courtesy NBBJ.
Additional reporting by Ray Hu