$140 Million For The Brooklyn Navy Yard As Part Of Citywide Focus On Industrial Business Zones

Continued emphasis on pushing growth at city manufacturing and industrial spaces is bringing $140 million in city funds to the Brooklyn Navy Yard — on top of other recent financial investments to the site, where renovations are already underway at transforming Building 77‘s former storage facility into a food court and innovation hub, and where a new film school for Brooklyn College opened and a new supermarket (Wegmans) is slated to arrive in the coming years at the Admiral’s Row site.

The new infusion of cash is part of a larger investment in Brooklyn Industrial Business Zones (IBZ), which in turn is part of a larger 10-point plan from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito that aims to:

• create at least 20,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector,
• launch a loan/grant fund for start-ups and growing firms,
• place limits on new hotels and personal storage space units in IBZs,
• provide training through new career centers,
• open a new Advanced Manufacturing Center,
• create “Innovation Districts” through incentives and zoning requirements,
• expand brownfields jumpstart programs, and
• provide protections for industrial areas.

The plan was met with words of praise from a laundry list of elected officials, including Councilmembers Laurie Cumbo and Robert Cornegy, and Congressmember Nydia Velazquez.