Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2007

BY JILL SHEEHY

As the once-grand plans for Brooklyn’s Piers 7-12 are being pared back, another area of Brooklyn waterfront has come under new light. Sunset Park, which sits along about three miles of water’s edge, is ripe for new development, including a long-planned for park near the Bush Terminal, between 43rd and 51st streets.

And now, a joint effort by Time Equities Inc. and Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation has been chosen by the New York City Economic Development Corporation to redevelop the building known as Federal Building #2. It will be one of the City’s first mixed light manufacturing and retail complexes.

The building is located between Second and Third avenues and 30th and 32nd streets.

Time Equities and the BEDC, both Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Members, have the green light to revamp the 1.1-million square foot space, which sits on 314,000-square feet of land.

The use will be split by lower floors hosting retail and showroom space, while keeping the manufacturing element on upper floors. In addition, the developers plan on building additional retail space on an adjacent parking lot.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be about $205 million.

It is hoped that the conversion will create approximately 1,285 full time jobs and almost 2,000 construction jobs, and generate about $44 million in real estate and other taxes over 25 years, according to the EDC.

Time Equities Chair and CEO Francis Greenberger said, “The redevelopment of Federal Building #2 and its adjacent site will have tremendous benefits not only for Sunset Park, but for all of New York City. I am extremely excited to be working with the City’s EDC and BEDC on this project.”

Because the site sits in a state Empire Zone, there are significant economic incentives available to businesses that relocate there, and small companies that require less than 10,000 square feet of space. The developers plan to design and implement local hiring and Minority and Woman-owned Enterprise plans.

The project also encompasses a green element, and plans are to include a green roof, utilizing solar power, and “high performance windows,” that waste less energy. Plans are that existing power plant on the adjacent lot will be renovated for use as a co-generation facility, which will generate both electricity and useable heat.

Community Board 7 Chair Randolph Peers said, “We are pleased the City is moving forward with this important project. Its impact will benefit not only Sunset Park and surrounding communities, but because of its scale, it will also benefit New York City’s economy as a whole.”