Post: 23-3.18 – OBT information re: Innovation Lab operations and programming
— Posted by JVS on 3.18.23
Tag: Industry City
23-3.11 – Online pages linked to IC’s Innovation Lab and hiring record are inactive
Post: 23-3.11 – Online pages linked to IC’s Innovation Lab and hiring record are inactive
— Posted by JVS on 3.11.23
Post: 23-3.3 – IC responds to questions re: Innovation Lab
Post: 23-3.3 – IC responds to questions re: Innovation Lab
— Posted by JVS on 3.11.23, backdated to 3.3.23
2.4.22 – “Industry City Secures Two New Leases Totaling 13K SF”
As reported by Commercial Observer:
Corporate Transportation Group (CTG) is moving to Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The professional and consumer transportation inked a deal for 9,555 square feet in the 6 million-square-foot complex…
Industry City was represented in-house by Jeff Fein and Liz Henry. The pair also recently negotiated a 3,000-square-foot three-year deal at Industry City for real estate firm Mayfair Capital…
Mayfair and CTG’s leases contribute to the roughly 900,000 square feet leased at Industry City since March 2020.
— Posted by JVS on 2.5.22, backdated to 2.4.22
12.12.21 – “Brooklyn’s Industry City producing leases like crazy”
As reported by the New York Post:
Industry City has leased an impressive 800,000 square feet of space — office, light manufacturing, studio and retail — since March of 2020, the pandemic’s local low point.
Deals with scores of new tenants brought the complex to more than 80 percent leased. Recent and new arrivals include 60,000 square feet for Porsche and Volvo with have showrooms as well as service centers, West Elm, a longtime tenant that added a 10,000-square-foot retail store, and production company The Garage, which specializes in commercials for brands such as Coca-Cola, Hershey’s and Cadillac…
Tenants have mushroomed from 150 in 2013 to 575 today. “Of those, 400 have less than 2,500 square feet. We’re an extraordinary incubator for small businesses,” [IC CEO Andrew] Kimball said. Some 9,000 people now work at the complex compared with 2,100 in 2013…
Kimball’s optimism extends to the new mayoral administration. “I feel very good about it,” he said. “I’ve worked with [former Brooklyn borough president] Eric Adams for many years, both at the Navy Yard and at Industry City,” he said. Kimball previously was CEO of the Navy Yard Development Corp.
“He cares deeply about economic development,” Kimball added. I’m hopeful that Eric really sees the value of this kind of jobs creation.”
— Posted by JVS on 12.18.21, backdated to 12.12.21
12.7.21 – “Offshore wind developer Equinor cuts ribbon to office in Sunset Park”
As reported by the Brooklyn Eagle:
The ribbon was cut at Industry City as offshore wind developer Equinor announced the opening of its New York offshore wind project office at the massive Sunset Park waterfront complex on Tuesday.
Equinor operates two lease areas, Empire Wind and Beacon Wind. The projects are expected to provide New York State with 3.3 gigawatts of energy…
Equinor’s office at Industry City is around 10,000 square feet and is across the street from the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. The company’s plan, as reported in the Eagle earlier this year, will transform that facility into a hub for staging and assembling wind-power equipment. The Marine Terminal stretches from 29th to 36th Streets on the Brooklyn waterfront.
— Posted by JVS on 12.18.21, backdated to 12.7.21
4.16.21 – Ray McGuire cites Industry City rezoning as a missed opportunity
As reported by Politico:
RAY MCGUIRE promised to run a business-friendly administration and stop getting in the way of job growth during an event today with the pro-business civic group, the Association for a Better New York.
A former Wall Street executive, McGuire said he would expand available resources for would-be entrepreneurs and streamline city approvals and regulations for existing ventures, pledging to make New York City “the easiest place in America to start and run a business.”
“Time and time and time again, our leaders have squandered the opportunities to create jobs,” McGuire said at the event. “We can’t tell companies trying to bring jobs to unemployed New Yorkers they’re not welcome. And yet that’s the status quo approach, whether it’s Amazon coming to Queens, the development of Industry City or the new bodega opening on your local street corners. I’m going to be the mayor that says yes, yes to new businesses and new jobs.” — Janaki Chadha
— Posted by JVS on 4.17.21, backdated to 4.16.21; title updated on 4.17.21
12.24.20 – “Brooklyn Nonprofit Donates 115,000 Masks Across NYC, the US and Latin America”
As reported by the Brooklyn Paper:
At the outset of the pandemic Mercado Global, a Brooklyn nonprofit empowering rural Guatemalan women to become entrepreneurs, pivoted to donating masks to communities in need.
And this month, the team, based out of Sunset Park, just surpassed a monumental 115,000 masks donated around New York, the United States and Latin America — all made by 750 rural Guatemalan women artisans.
“We had a moral imperative to start making as many masks as possible,” Ruth Álvarez-DeGolia, the founder of Mercado Global, said…
The nonprofit headquartered out of Industry City designs collections that highlight indigenous weaving techniques and connects rural Guatemalan artisans with profitable international brands like Levi’s, Free People and Stitch Fix.
It also provides business education, leadership programs and equipment to its artisans, and helps women create community businesses to support themselves and their families.
“We are changing the status quo for women, communities and the industry,” the website reads.
Marta Julia Cojín Coroxon, the cutting and patternmaking coordinator and designer in Guatemala, said Mercado Global is unique in its focus on women empowerment. Her role as patternmaking coordinator is typically a male-dominated position, she said.
— Posted by JVS on 12.25.20, backdated to 12.24.20
12.23.20 – “Industry City Has the Biggest Streetery Yet”
As reported by Curbed New York:
The mother of all streeteries just opened at Industry City: an 85,000-square-foot outdoor space with 12,000 square feet of heated tents spread across three courtyards, served by 38 food vendors from the complex’s loftlike food hall. Unlike other streeteries, a few heat lamps wouldn’t cut it at this scale — so how do you keep that much outdoor space warm?
The five tents, which seat 150 in all, are lined with ducts connected to the surrounding buildings’ HVAC systems, pumping gas heat into the spaces — and, in these ventilation-obsessed times, providing proper air circulation too. At $1 million, the new setup was far from cheap; the ductwork alone cost $500,000…
The sides of the tents are 50 percent open, providing both the opening needed to count as “outdoors” per city regulations and an avenue for all that pumped-in heat to quickly escape.
— Posted by JVS on 12.25.20, backdated to 12.23.20
12.16.20 – “More than two dozen Whole Foods workers in Brooklyn have gotten COVID, employees say”
As reported by the New York Daily News:
Whole Foods employees in Brooklyn are accusing the grocery giant of failing to keep them safe in the wake of a series of coronavirus cases at two locations, the Daily News has learned.
The Whole Foods in Gowanus has had 16 cases among employees since Sept. 10 — the most recent one occurring last week — said an employee there, citing notifications the company sends workers whenever there is a positive case.
At the Whole Foods warehouse in Industry City, employees have received nine such notifications since Oct. 22, according to staffers there…
Whole Foods confirmed it has had coronavirus cases at the two Brooklyn locations, but declined to share details, citing privacy concerns.
“The safety of our Team Members and customers remains our top priority, which is why we address any confirmed diagnosis in our stores with a comprehensive action plan that includes enhanced cleaning and contact tracing, as well as communicating directly with our Team Members,” spokesman Nathan Cimbala said in an email.
“We support any Team Member who is diagnosed positive or placed in quarantine so they can prioritize their health and stay home,” he added.
Whole Foods’ safety protocols include “enhanced” daily cleanings and mandatory masks and daily temperature checks for staff, along with gloves and personal face shields.
Employees at the Industry City location — where workers fill orders for customers, who are not served on premises — voiced similar concerns about the alleged lack of social distancing measures.
“There is no possible way for us to complete our delivery orders and remain socially distant from each other,” said one worker at the Industry City site, adding that aisles get clogged during shifts and an employee break room is frequently packed with people.
That person said upon voicing their concerns to supervisors, they were told to take unpaid leave if they felt uncomfortable.
“Management’s bottom line is, how fast are you filling orders?” the employee said. “The attitude is, keep working.”
Whole Foods workers get informed of positive cases among staff through impersonal text messages stating in part: “Your location has an additional confirmed case of COVID-19. Your safety and health is our top priority. We continue to follow the guidance of the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and will inform anyone who may have had close contact.”
Two such text messages about cases at the Industry City site were sent out within the span of 24 hours at the start of this week, according to an employee…
The city’s 311 line has received nine anonymous complaints of “NonCompliance with Phased Reopening” rules at the Industry City location since Oct. 23. The city closed the cases without reporting concrete action, saying either the report “will be used to inform the City’s ongoing work to ensure that New York’s phased reopening is happening in a safe manner” or that “the complaint received is out of the jurisdiction of the Office of Special Enforcement, and has been forwarded to the appropriate agency for handling.”
— Posted by JVS on 12.25.20, backdated to 12.16.20
Sunset Park Reports 