NYCEDC Celebrates Record Breaking Milestones, Groundbreakings, and Visitors Across Brooklyn Army Terminal, Bush Terminal, and South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in 2024
NYCEDC’s Three Flagship Assets in Sunset Park All Pass Major Milestones This Year, Demonstrating Commitments to Expanding Opportunity and Resources in Sunset Park
This Year, Brooklyn Army Terminal Attracted Over 75,000 Visitors, NYCEDC Donated Over $2.85 Million in Community Event Space, and 19 Leases Were Signed Bringing New Life to South Brooklyn’s Working Waterfront
BROOKLYN, NY—New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced that all of its major assets in Sunset Park, the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), Bush Terminal, and South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT), reached major milestones in 2024, further advancing the future of South Brooklyn’s working waterfront, and establishing the area as an essential hub in Mayor Adams’ vision for the Harbor of the Future and turning Sunset Park into a center for clean tech innovation and manufacturing. NYCEDC’s greater Sunset Park District encompasses approximately 200 acres of waterfront property and assets. Though underutilized for decades, NYCEDC’s investments in these assets has renewed the area with extensive industrial infrastructure, a diverse array of tenants, uses, and local jobs as well as a major new transportation connection through NYC Ferry at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. In 2024, NYCEDC’s Sunset Park assets created close to 600 new permanent and temporary jobs, in addition to the hundreds of construction jobs that have started as a result of the groundbreaking of SBMT, one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation.
“This year, the City of New York advanced its vision for the Harbor of the Future, with tremendous action and impact anchored in Sunset Park,” said First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. “From the upcoming Climate Innovation Hub and community solar projects at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, to a transformational offshore wind project at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, to the launch of the rebranded MADE buildings at Bush Terminal, the past twelve months were a time for action, investment, job creation, and partnership with community, all of which position the Sunset Park portfolio and the city for continued success next year and in the coming decades.”
“This has been a remarkable year for EDC’s Sunset Park District advancing our work to revitalize and redevelop these waterfront assets while delivering on Mayor Adams' vision for a Harbor of the Future,” said NYCEDC President & CEO Andrew Kimball. “From the massive offshore wind port rising out of the ground at SBMT after 50 years of this 75-acre site laying fallow, to opening Building A at the MADE Bush Terminal campus—the first step in revitalizing this underutilized asset, to bringing new jobs and businesses to the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market, I’m proud of our team’s work and the important collaborations they’ve built with local elected officials and community partners.”
Last month, NYCEDC unveiled the historic 36-acre Bush Terminal Campus in Sunset Park earlier this year, and renamed the northern campus to MADE Bush Terminal—MADE stands for Manufacturers, Artisans, Designers, and Entrepreneurs. This unveiling included a host of updates on the future of MADE Bush Terminal, including:
- Delivering 140,000 square feet of state-of-the-art leasable space for light industrial and manufacturing uses and 30,000 square feet of public gathering and event space in Building A;
- Activating five acres of public realm space on campus;
- Approval of funding from the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget to redevelop Building C to active another 155,000 square feet for manufacturing and light industrial uses and public amenity space;
- A forthcoming transformation of Pier 6 at MADE to deliver five acres of open access waterfront space and provide tenants and visitors with recreational opportunities and coastal views of Lower Manhattan and Governors Island;
- Three external murals underway by local artists Ji Yong Kim and Yukiko Izumi; and
- Reopened pedestrian access at the 43rd Street entrance at Bush Terminal Park, building upon the existing access at 50th street.
Continuing up the waterfront, is the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal where NYCEDC and Equinor broke ground on one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation in June 2024. The port will help create hundreds of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity for the city, state, and region, while providing clean offshore wind power to 500,000 homes and businesses. The city has committed nearly $152 million to offshore wind infrastructure projects across New York City.
Additionally, this past Spring, Mayor Adams announced that the city will invest $100 million to create the “Climate Innovation Hub” at the Brooklyn Army Terminal as a part of the city’s Green Economy Action Plan that will position New Yorkers to benefit from nearly 400,000 “green-collar” jobs by 2040. This new hub will serve as a home for clean tech innovation, manufacturing and support green technology startups.
Advancements of the Green Economy Plan in Sunset Park include:
- Launching the second cohort of Pilots at BAT and unveiling the three startups selected to participate in the innovative program;
- A collaboration between the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), and NYCEDC, in partnership with Newlab, activated the first of five public e-battery charging locations as part of the city’s new six-month pilot program to test safe, public charging of e-bikes by an initial group of 100 delivery workers;
- The formation of The Harbor Climate Collaborative (HCC), a joint initiative between the Trust for Governors Island (TGI), NYCEDC, and Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC). Together, the three mission-aligned public entities with sites along the New York Harbor, are committed to making New York City the global capital of climate innovation through piloting programs, leases, workforce development investments, and regulatory wayfinding;
- Between 2023-2024, 19 green economy founders and climate tech companies completed or had an active pilot at one or more of the HCC sites, including TGI’s Climate Solutions Challenge, NYCEDC’s Pilots at BAT program, and BNYDC’s Yard Labs;
- In November, the Collaborative held a Climate Technology Showcase highlighting the work happening at each campus, and the coordinated effort to scale high-impact climate tech products and services; and
- Earlier this month, announcing Sunset Park Solar, a partnership with UPROSE and Working Power to install a 40,000 square foot solar array on the roof of Building B at BAT to bring clean, reliable, and affordable solar energy to Sunset Park residents and businesses.
This year, 19 leases were signed for industrial space at BAT, eight of which were new deals and three were for expansions for existing tenants. These 19 leases account for over 265,000 square feet of space across the two primary buildings on site, bringing the tenantable space to over 95 percent occupied. The final phase of renovations in Building A are in design and aim to come online in 2026, bringing an additional 300,000 square feet of space to the campus, including the home of the future Climate Innovation Hub.
Additionally, BAT has hosted 33 community events this year including the Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival which hosted seven events across four days to raise funds for the charity God’s Love We Deliver. Across its community events, BAT has hosted over 75,000 visitors this year and NYCEDC donated more than $2.85 million worth of event space for community events. To support the influx of visitors, the campus has undergone a series of wayfinding and beautification upgrades in the past year -- including the installation of BAT Glyphs, a series of vibrant murals by Ege Soyuer in collaboration with WXY -- with more on the way in 2025.
“EDC's investments in Sunset Park's waterfront have greatly served our local economy, opening up new job opportunities for our neighbors and accessible transportation options so we can connect more to the rest of the city. I am so pleased to see our community taking part in this development through the increased foot traffic, utilization of resources, and our energized local economy. Additionally, I look forward to the introduction of affordable solar energy development into our community, which will help Sunset Park move towards de-carbonization,” said New York City Councilmember Alexa Avilés. “I applaud NYC EDC for their work on these crucial projects centering the needs of our neighbors. There is still a lot of investment needed in our waterfront including modernization of our wholesale meat market and more, but today we celebrate an amazing year and look forward to partnering with the EDC to pushing our waterfront even higher in 2025.”
“In my twenty years of playing a leadership role in Sunset Park, including almost seven years as the Chair of Community Board 7, I have never seen such an unprecedented amount of success in realizing many of the economic development priorities we have always talked about,” said Randy Peers, President & CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which is also headquartered in Sunset Park. “What EDC has been able to accomplish under Mayor Adams all along our waterfront, is nothing short of exceptional, and they have now laid a positive foundation for decades to come, centered around growth and emerging industries.”
The nearby Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market, also managed by NYCEDC, provides the area with 175,000 square feet of processing, cold storage, and distribution space. As of 2024, the building is fully tenanted—demonstrating the need to expand local food distribution hubs across the city.
The Adams Administration’s Harbor of the Future initiative—announced in the mayor’s 2024 State of the City address to reimagine New York City’s waterfront and fuel 21st century growth-- includes emerging innovation centers at the Hunts Point Produce Market, Governors Island, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Science Park and Research Campus in Kips Bay, and the North Shore of Staten Island. The Adams Administration is committed to making New York City a global hub of urban innovation—one of the 40 initiatives laid out in the “New” New York Action Plan.
About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity; build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city's future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
