Mayor Dedicates Navy Yard Building

By PAULETTE GINDI

Mayor Bill de Blasio projected there would be 10,000 new jobs at Brooklyn Navy Yard by 2020, at the official opening  of the industrial one-million-square-foot Building 77 on Thursday.

Building 77 is located within the city-owned Brooklyn Navy Yard on the corner of Flushing and Vanderbilt Avenues. The $185 million renovation of the World War II-era abandoned building was expected to provide 3,000 new jobs within the next 18 months, and 10,000 new jobs by 2020, through retail shops, restaurants and office space.

“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,” de Blasio said. “I’m talking about $70,000 a year (salary) in many cases.”

“The Brooklyn Navy Yard has been a center of innovation, growth and opportunity for New York City for more than 200 years, and Building 77 represents an incredible continuation of that tradition,” said Brooklyn Navy Yard president and CEO David Ehrenberg. “Building 77 will contribute tremendously to our mission of creating accessible middle-class jobs and securing a vibrant future for manufacturing in Brooklyn.”

$73 million has been invested by the city to rehab Building 77, and other investments include $8.3 million New Markets Tax Credits from Dudley Ventures, Goldman Sachs and BRP Companies.

Building 77 already has 29 tenants, which include Catbird, a boutique jewelry manufacture, Situ Studio, a metal fabricator, Care Of, a personalized vitamin manufacturer as well as Lafayette 148, an apparel shop which is relocating from Soho.

“Brooklyn Navy Yard is far from done,” said de Blasio.

Photo by Paulette Gindi