New York Mayor Bloomberg opens nation's first multi-story green industrial facility and announces new green manufacturing plant at Brooklyn Navy Yard
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert C. Lieber, and Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation Chairman Alan Fishman and President Andrew H. Kimball today opened the Perry Avenue Building, the nation's first multi-story green industrial facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Mayor Bloomberg also announced the creation of Duggal Greenhouse, a 60,000-square-foot LEED Platinum certified facility that will be used to manufacture eco-friendly products and will become a laboratory for new sustainable products.
These and other green initiatives underway at the Navy Yard will create 1,700 new permanent jobs, 40 percent of which will be green industry jobs. The projects will also create more than 800 construction jobs. The expansion of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and creation of green sector jobs is part of the City's Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan to create jobs for New Yorkers today, implement a vision for long-term economic growth, and build affordable, attractive neighborhoods.
The announcement took place on the roof of the Perry Avenue Building and was attended by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Council Members Letitia James and David Yassky and Assembly Member Joseph R. Lentol.
"The Brooklyn Navy Yard has been enormously successful providing a haven for small industrial businesses that help diversify the City's economy," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Today, it's becoming a national model for the development of a sustainable industrial district. Part of our Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan is to invest in the creation of green jobs. Of the 1,700 new permanent jobs we're creating at the Navy Yard, 40 percent will be in green manufacturing. The sustainable developments at the Navy Yard show that PlaNYC's goals of green buildings and renewable energy make sense economically as well as environmentally."
The $25 million Perry Avenue Building, which is on track to receive LEED Gold certification, features the first permanent building-mounted wind turbines to be operating anywhere in New York City. Along with the building's rooftop solar panels, the turbines will provide electricity for the building's lobby and other common areas. The facility incorporates other green features such as reflective roofing and pavement to reduce surface temperatures, the use of recycled rain water in toilets, recycled building materials, high-efficiency lighting fixtures, natural ventilation systems and special accommodation for bicyclists and low-emission vehicles. The three-story, 89,000-square-foot Perry Building will be leased to SurroundArt, which will create a Museum Resource Campus to serve the art industry and institutions in New York City and beyond.
To create the Duggal Greenhouse, Duggal Visual Solutions will convert a one-story, 30,000-square-foot building into a two-story, 60,000-square-foot LEED Platinum certified facility to manufacture eco-friendly products and become a laboratory for new sustainable products. The $7 million Greenhouse, which will begin to be constructed in the late spring, will be funded with $5 million from Duggal and $2 million from the City for basic building improvements, including a new roof and sprinkler system.
At today's announcement, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled one of the 90 Duggal wind- and solar-powered street lights that the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation will soon install. The street lights, designed and assembled at the Navy Yard, cost roughly 35 percent less to install than their more conventional counterparts and will save the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation about $600,000 dollars a year in the first year and $11,000 a year going forward on its electricity bill.
"Everyone in America is talking about creating 'green-collar' jobs. In Brooklyn, we're doing it," said Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation Chairman Alan Fishman. "Despite being one of the oldest collections of industrial buildings in New York, the Yard is now a thriving hub of 21st-century green manufacturing."
"The City's most-successful industrial park is fast becoming the 'greenest' urban industrial center in America," said Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation President Andrew H. Kimball. "The opportunities for green industrial development at the Brooklyn Navy Yard are enormous thanks to the investments made by the Bloomberg Administration to upgrade the Yard's basic infrastructure. Green infrastructure and building investments not only make us a better neighbor to surrounding communities and help improve the City's environment, but they also make us the destination of choice for green manufacturers."
The City is implementing a $250 million capital funding program to improve and modernize the Brooklyn Navy Yard's infrastructure, spurring the largest expansion since World War II. The expansion will add over 1.5 million square feet of new space. Last month, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the City's $35 million project to reconstruct several roadways in the Navy Yard area and upgrade water and sewer systems will benefit from nearly $5 million now available due to the City's Federal stimulus fund allocation. In addition to the Perry Avenue Building and Duggal Greenhouse, City investments have helped catalyze three new LEED certified buildings at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which are in construction or will start construction this year. The projects are:
B&H Photo-Video Distribution Center: B&H will undergo a major expansion of its facilities with a new 600,000-square-foot LEED Silver certified building, with a groundbreaking in mid-2009. The over $75 million project will be built and financed by B&H. The City is funding road and site work around the new building.
Steiner Studios Expansion: Steiner Studios is partnering with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to renovate a 250,000-square-foot, World War II-era building. This adaptive reuse will provide critical space for entertainment and media companies as well as additional studio space for film and commercial shoots. The gut demolition of the building is complete and was funded through $3 million in Brooklyn Navy Yard funds and $2 million in Federal Economic Development Administration funding. Steiner will fund the $60 million build-out with construction expected to begin in mid-2009.
Agger Fish Processing Plant: Current Navy Yard tenant Agger Fish is expanding into an underutilized 30,000-square-foot warehouse building converting it into a more job-intensive fish processing plant. The $5.5 million project will be funded with $4 million from Agger Fish and $1.5 million in city capital funds for basic building improvements such as a new sprinkler system and loading dock. The project will be in construction in the spring.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard is one of the most environmentally sustainable urban industrial parks in the nation. At today's announcement, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation released a Green Business Directory with profiles of 29 tenants that have significantly greened their products and practices. Other sustainability initiatives underway at the Navy Yard include: creating more than $200 million in adaptive reuse projects to renovate historic Navy-built buildings for their original industrial intent; using green technologies for renovations and maintenance, such as Energy Star roofs and energy efficient windows and light bulbs; undertaking a major water/sewer project to upgrade the Yard's aging infrastructure and improve water conservation; rebuilding the road system with improved stormwater management systems; purchasing hybrid and low-emission vehicles for the Yard's fleet; installing solar-powered, compacting trash cans; purchasing eco-friendly paint and cleaning products; installing bicycle racks and lanes; and providing setbacks along the perimeter of Yard to enable the first phase of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway for bicyclists and pedestrians.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard is owned by the City of New York and managed by the not-for-profit Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, which leases out space in the Yard, promotes local economic development, develops underutilized areas and oversees modernization of the Yard's infrastructure. The corporation's board of directors is comprised of leaders of Brooklyn's economic development community. Established in 1801, the Brooklyn Navy Yard served as one of America's preeminent military facilities for more than 150 years. Closed by the federal government in 1966, the City of New York subsequently assumed ownership and re-opened the Yard as an industrial park.