Mayor Bill de Blasio today celebrated the opening of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 77, a one-million-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing building and the largest on the 300-acre industrial campus.
De Blasio and city officials called the $185 million renovation of the World War II-era storage facility is a milestone for the growth of manufacturing in the city and the de Blasio administration’s push to build 100,000 good-paying jobs across a range of industries. Located within the City-owned Brooklyn Navy Yard at the corner of Vanderbilt and Flushing Avenues, the 16-story building is expected to house more than 3,000 jobs.
Building 77 is the centerpiece of a billion-dollar investment currently underway at the Yard to add over two million square feet of space and 10,000 good-paying jobs by 2020.
“As a major driver of quality middle-class jobs, investing in and expanding manufacturing space is key to growing and diversifying our economy and boosting wages. As we re-open this historic building we re-imagine New York’s future,” de Blasio said.
Long a symbol of America’s industrial might, the Brooklyn Navy Yard is among the country’s leading urban manufacturing centers, with some 400 companies currently employing more than 7,000 New Yorkers. In the next three years, that number is expected to more than double to 17,000 accessible middle-class jobs.
Building 77, the largest in the Navy Yard, includes a 60,000-square-foot ground-floor Food Manufacturing Hub that will serve as a public gateway to the Yard, as well as the central gathering point for Navy Yard businesses, employees and guests.
Built in 1942 as part of the U.S. Navy’s wartime mobilization, the huge concrete building had been a storage facility with fewer than 100 jobs and no windows on its first 11 floors. More than three million pounds of concrete have been removed and replaced with 50,000 square feet of windows as one component of the upgrade.
“The opening of Building 77 signals loud and clear that Brooklyn is open for business,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams. “Our borough’s proud manufacturing history is seeing a new chapter written at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, attracting makers and innovators creating high-quality local jobs and local products of which we can be proud. My administration’s investment in the transformation of Building 77 is a down payment on economic development that we will ensure produces benefits for all Brooklynites.”
“The rise of Building 77 represents the type of sustainable and community-centered development that we need in Brooklyn. It will bring real jobs and economic opportunity to the hardworking people of the adjoining communities and throughout the borough. The completion of this state-of-the-art project represents another strong step in the right direction for the Navy Yard,” said U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Central Brooklyn, Coney Island).
“The recent renovation of Building 77 will contribute to the ever-growing success of Brooklyn Navy Yard as a hub of local economic activity,” said U.S. Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-Northern Brooklyn, Queens, Lower Manhattan). “I am pleased to see that this easily accessible building will bring over 3,000 new jobs as well as numerous minority and women-owned businesses to Brooklyn. New York City has long been a place of successful industry and Building 77 is continuing that legacy.”
“The work Brooklyn Navy Yard is doing will not only revitalize an important community space, but provide jobs and programming for the downtown community,” saidAssembly Member Walter Mosley (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights). “I have always been proud to support the investments the Navy Yard makes in our neighborhood, and I know that this building is the next step in a journey that will continue to benefit Brooklynites.”
“The Brooklyn Navy Yard has undoubtedly led New York City’s economic development. The companies at the yard have not only created incredible innovations, they have also created an abundance of well-paying jobs. Building 77 is yet another great addition to the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s offerings. I look forward to the positive contributions this new building will bring to the community’s economic vibrancy,” said Assembly Member Joseph R. Lentol (D-Williamsburg, Greenpoint).
“Building 77 is a shining example of what creative design and innovation can look like in New York City in 2017,” said Council Member Stephen Levin (D-Northern Brooklyn, Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill). “This project is set to generate 3,000 jobs once at full capacity and 10,000 more jobs by 2020, many of which will be filled by local Brooklyn residents. I look forward to working with the Navy Yard’s on-site Employment Center, and members of the community, to ensure we are connecting residents of the 33rd District to good-paying manufacturing jobs right here in Brooklyn.”
“The Brooklyn Navy Yard is a national model of industry and innovation that has been integral to the revitalization of our community and the City of New York as a whole,” said Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights). “The grand opening of Building 77 as a state-of-the-art manufacturing hub is a catalyst for future economic and employment opportunities – particularly for the neighboring residents, minority, and women business owners. I am proud of our continued and collective investment into the modernization of this public space, which has been a gateway for everyday New Yorkers to realize the American dream, support their families, and strengthen our city’s economy.”
“Manufacturing jobs have been a vehicle for social mobility in our country for decades. Unfortunately, the trend in New York City has for too long been a loss of manufacturing. I am excited by the opening of Building 77, which will provide a million square feet of much-needed manufacturing space and add 3,000 new jobs to our city’s economy, all with a strong commitment to diversity,” said Council Member Robert E. Cornegy Jr. (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights).
Building 77 is drawing businesses to New York City and allowing businesses already here to expand. Of 29 tenants, three are from outside the five boroughs, four held leases elsewhere in the Navy Yard, two are new businesses, and 20 relocated from or are expanding within the City.
