Brokers tour Brooklyn Navy Yard industrial park

Real Estate Weekly, July 14, 2004

The Brooklyn Navy Yard, one of New York City's most successful industrial parks, hosted a "Brokers' Event" on June 23 that attracted dozens of metropolitan area brokers to the 300-acre Brooklyn waterfront site.

The Navy Yard's management team organized the marketing event to fill available space at the site, where 220 private-sector tenants presently employ more than 3,700 people. The industrial park has 3.5 million square feet under roof and is currently 97 percent occupied. The Navy Yard is undergoing an extensive infrastructure modernization and expansion program.

Space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard carries no common-area maintenance (CAM) charges and tenants do not pay real estate taxes. The industrial park also features 24-hour, seven-day-a-week security in a private, patrolled environment. In addition, as a New York State-designated Empire Zone, companies moving into or expanding at the Brooklyn Navy Yard may be eligible for substantial tax savings.

"The Brooklyn Navy Yard was once America's number-one ship-building center, and today it stands as New York City's foremost industrial park," said Eric Deutsch, president of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, which manages the Navy Yard.

"The Yard offers secure and well-maintained facilities in a prime location for manufacturers and warehouse distribution facilities of all sizes. We make a point of extending ourselves on behalf of our tenants, because when our tenants succeed, we succeed as well."

In a tour conducted by Thomas Maiorano, the Navy Yard's vice president for leasing, brokers visited a half-dozen available sites ranging in size from 2,700 to 41,000 square feet, with asking rents running from $5.75 to $17.00 per foot.

"The industrial sector continues to play an important role in the New York City economy, especially small manufacturers like those who have found the Yard a hospitable place to invest, grow their business and create new jobs," said Mr. Deutsch.

"The Navy Yard is also a critical source of employment for the Brooklyn community and for other boroughs throughout the city."

Established in 1801, the Brooklyn Navy Yard served as one of the nation's preeminent military facilities for more than 150 years. After the federal government closed it in 1966, the City of New York assumed ownership of the Yard and re-opened it as an industrial park.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation a not-for-profit corporation, manages the Brooklyn Navy Yard under a lease with the Yard's owner, the City of New York. BNYDC is responsible for leasing space in the Yard, developing its underutilized areas, and overseeing ongoing modernization of the Yard's infrastructure. The Board of Directors of BNYDC is composed of leaders of the economic development community in Brooklyn and is chaired by Alan H. Fishman, president and CEO of Independence Community Bank.