De Blasio Cuts Ribbon at Navy Yard’s New Nanotronics

Ellie Plass -
The Mayor cut the ribbon at Nanotronics this morning. Photo courtesy of Mayor Bill De Blasio’s Twitter.

Mayor Bill de Blasio cut the ribbon at the Brooklyn Navy Yard today to celebrate the opening of a new, multi-million dollar manufacturing center for Nanotronics. The new center, funded in part by $3.25 million in City grants, is estimated to provide nearly 200 jobs over the next five years.

The company, Nanotronics, created a respiratory relief aid during the COVID pandemic called nHale, as well as implemented tools that assisted in validating the first vaccines and identifying variants. In non-pandemic times, they focus primarily on AI, automation, and imaging to aid in the manufacturing of hardware and software.

“The City supported what you saw here today, [an] investment of over $3 million to help build the space out so we could have these manufacturing jobs. But that investment’s going to generate more than ten times that much in economic activity. Hundreds of jobs in the coming years, [and] it’s going to be a place for us to offer a chance for all that amazing talent that’s growing up in New York City,” De Blasio said this morning at the ceremony.

Nanotronics has partnered with CUNY’s Medgar Evers College in order to place students with internships, provide career service workshops, and collaborate on research projects.

According to a statement from Jo-Ann Rolle, the Dean of the School of Business at Medgar Evers, the partnership has already resulted in full-time employment for some students.

The Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development, Vicki Been, looks to this partnership as a sign of better things to come.

“Today, through the City’s partnership with Nanotronics and the Yard, we are jumpstarting our economy in a significant way,” Been said. “In bringing sustainable, high-quality, urban manufacturing jobs to the city we love, we are delivering on a key component of our fair recovery agenda.”

The building, Building 20, is over 150 years old, and demonstrates the continued revitalization of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“This was once one of the greatest manufacturing hubs in the world. And then conventional wisdom told us it was gone forever, but guess what? That wasn’t right. There’s a new way. And you see it right here. And it’s a new way that’s going to create a lot of jobs for Brooklynites and for New Yorkers, which we love,” De Blasio said.