NYCEDC Continues to Advance BATWorks, Cutting-Edge Climate Innovation Hub at Historic Brooklyn Army Terminal

Launch of Inaugural BATWorks Climate Week NYC Programming to Inform Program Design, Spark New Partnerships, Highlight Benefits of Collaboration Between the Nation’s Two Largest Cities on Climate Innovation, and Timeline for Developing Proposed Incubation and Workforce Programming at BATWorks and to Sunset Park

Unveils Plans for Temporary BATWorks Facility at Former Bank Building and New Branding for The World-Class Hub

Click for New Renderings of Cutting-Edge BATWorks

BATWorks Bolsters Mayor Adams’ Efforts to Create a ‘Harbor of the Future’ in New York City, Fulfills Key Commitments in “Green Economy Action Plan”

BROOKLYN, NY—New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced the next steps in advancing BATWorks, a cutting-edge climate innovation hub at Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) in Sunset Park, with Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) hosting a series of inaugural climate programming events during Climate Week NYC that more deeply tie LACI’s national programs to New York City and BATWorks. Throughout the week, LACI—a cleantech incubator created as an independent nonprofit organization by the City of Los Angeles—will host programming to bring industry leaders, climate entrepreneurs, investors, and the Sunset Park community together to spark new connections and raise opportunities for partnerships and financing, while exploring strategies to attract green businesses to operate at BATWorks or at the BAT campus. Additionally, event programming at BATWorks will share progress on the pilots soon-to-deploy across New York City in support of city-identified climate goals as part of the City Climate Innovation Challenge—helping cities solve challenges while helping startups commercialize technology, accelerate equitable climate action, and create economic opportunity. See a full list of the week’s events and programming.

As a complement to the introductory events hosted by LACI, NYCEDC unveiled new branding for the world-class innovation hub and new plans for a temporary BATWorks welcome and leasing center, ocated at the BAT campus entrance on 1st Avenue.

First announced in Mayor Adams’ 2023 State of the City address, the world-class BATWorks hub will provide start-ups with space for product research and development, as well as offer workforce training and job placement programming to New Yorkers. Last May, NYCEDC announced that a consortium led by LACI and the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) will design and operate BATWorks. NYCEDC’s $100 million investment in BATWorks will help create over 600 jobs, serve 150 startups over 10 years, and generate $2.6 billion in economic impact for the city. The hub continues Mayor Adams’ efforts to turn the city’s waterfront into a “Harbor of the Future” and support entrepreneurs and leaders developing, piloting, and deploying new solutions to combat climate change, and advances a key commitment in the Green Economy Action Plan.

“I cannot think of a more fitting way to kick off NYC Climate Week 2025 than with LACI officially launching programming at New York City's new cutting-edge climate innovation hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal,” said NYCEDC President & CEO Andrew Kimball. “Building on the city's Green Economy Action Plan, BATWorks will unlock new opportunities for startups, advance innovative climate solutions, fuel job growth, and strengthen Brooklyn’s green working waterfront, and NYCEDC is incredibly proud to see this vision coming to life.”

“We are thrilled to host inaugural events during Climate Week NYC to help NYCEDC introduce the future climate innovation hub at BATWorks,” said LACI President and CEO Matt Petersen. “These events will also showcase how the nation’s two largest cities are working together on climate innovation by bringing together key speakers from Los Angeles and New York City, as well as introduce LACI’s national programs including NCCEI, the LACI Debt Fund and the Challenge and how these programs are moving climate innovation forward across the country to better create opportunities for regional innovation organizations, help underrepresented founders access working capital, and work with cities and startups to scale key solutions.”

LACI is advising NYCEDC on climate programming, including future cleantech startup incubation and workforce development initiatives. Over the next 12 to 18 months, LACI will engage key climate and innovation organizations in the region as well as community leaders in Sunset Park. Starting in 2026, LACI will lead “Pilots at BAT,” a program where emerging climate technology companies can test their products in a live-built environment. While CIC—a global leader in building and operating innovation campuses—will design work and laboratory spaces as well as programming to support innovation and attract start-ups. The awarded consortium also includes The City University of New York (CUNY), New York University (NYU), and Perkins&Will.

NYCEDC announced plans for a temporary BATWorks welcome and leasing center located at BAT campus entrance on First Avenue, while construction is underway on the permanent hub. In the temporary hub, LACI will focus on activating the BAT campus through piloting, building programmatic partnerships at BAT across the city’s climate tech ecosystem, hosting events for an array of related stakeholder groups, and developing plans for startup incubation and workforce training to take place at BAT. The permanent BATWorks climate innovation hub will be located in BAT Building A and is currently scheduled to open in 2028.

Sunset Park’s waterfront district in South Brooklyn, with its rich industrial history, robust infrastructure, diverse tenants, and strategic access to major transportation networks, is uniquely positioned to serve as a hub for clean energy and sustainable manufacturing. BAT, as a whole, is home to over 100 tenants that collectively employ 4,000 New Yorkers. NYCEDC has invested nearly $450 million in the site to date—with more than $300 million of that investment currently in the pipeline—to bring new leasable space online and modernize this historic campus, as well as improve open space, common areas, and additional campus infrastructure.

BATWorks is a crucial part of the larger Harbor Climate Collaborative—a joint initiative between NYCEDC, the Trust for Governors Island, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation—to link together tech piloting, tenanting, and programming opportunities across all three organizations and promote climate innovation. By unlocking 6 million square feet of space, the Collaborative will support the creation of 5,000 permanent jobs, educate and train 2,100 students, and generate $55 billion in economic impact. In addition to the $100 million available for BATWorks, the Adams administration and NYCEDC are also transforming the nearby city-owned South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation, which broke ground in 2024.

“BATWorks is an exciting step toward an economy where climate solutions and economic opportunity grow together, giving more New Yorkers access to promising careers,” said Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI) Executive Director Aaron Shiffman. “BWI is proud to be collaborating with EDC and the BATWorks partners in this important work.”

“BATWorks at Brooklyn Army Terminal is an incredible opportunity to imagine the reuse of an historic building into a vehicle for the future of innovation and workforce development in New York City,” said Perkins & Will Managing Partner Robert Clemens. “With it's unique position along the waterfront, BAT is also poised to play a key role in the iterative evolution of the Blue Highway, an alternative concept to bring back the importance of water-borne transportation to link Brooklyn to greater New York and beyond. One of the key interventions that our whole team is envisioning is an iconic gathering space, unique to this project, where people can come hear about the innovation happening at BATWorks and also to gather as a community, reinforcing the identity of Sunset Park and it's vision of the future.”

“As a university system that is deeply involved in climate research and developing climate technologies, we are excited by the opportunities BATWorks brings and the many events offered during Climate Week NYC,” said Dr. Rosemarie Wesson, associate vice chancellor and university vice provost for research at CUNY. “The Climate Innovation Hub at BATWorksreflects CUNY’s commitment to advancing New York’s footprint as an engine for climate innovation that will act as a catalyst for workforce development in the communities that it serves.”

“Solar One is one of NYC's most effective workforce training providers with a focus on jobs skills in the renewable energy and building energy efficiency sectors,” said Solar One CEO Steve Levin. “Job training is a key goal of the Green Economy Action Plan and Solar One is poised to scale up our offerings in partnership with BATWorks and to provide services and support to trainees and job seekers in South Brooklyn throughout NYC.”

“At Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT), we see BAT Works as a collective effort with NYCEDC, LACI, and our community partners to create pathways to economic and climate resiliency in our communities,” said Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow co-CEOs Greg Rideout & Evelyn Ortiz. “Together, we are ensuring that underrepresented youth and adults gain access to the skills, credentials, and employment opportunities needed to thrive in one of the fastest-growing sectors of our city.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with BATWorks. As the Sunset Park Economic Mobility Network operator, SBIDC will coordinate with our workforce partners to align wraparound services and workforce training that complements BATWorks’ innovation hub—ensuring local residents can access clear pathways to quality jobs and local firms can find the talent they need to grow,” said Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation Executive Director Jesse Solomon.

NYCEDC’s work across Sunset Park builds on the Adams administration’s broader strategy to develop the Harbor of the Future—a reimagined network of innovation and growth across New York City’s waterways. The Harbor of the Future includes emerging innovation centers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, the country’s largest offshore wind port at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a new cutting-edge climate innovation hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, modern maritime port and vibrant mixed-use community hub at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Red Hook, the Science Park and Research Campus in Kips Bay in Manhattan, new sustainable housing and public space on the North Shore of Staten Island, and an anchor research and educational partner with the New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island.

About LACI
The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) is unlocking innovation by scaling cleantech startups, transforming markets through catalytic partnerships with policymakers, innovators, and market leaders, and enhancing communities through workforce training, pilots and other programs. Founded as an economic development initiative by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP) in 2011, LACI is recognized as one of the top 10 innovative business incubators in the world by UBI. LACI has helped 506 portfolio companies raise over $1 billion in funding, generated $344 million in revenue, and created 2,626 jobs throughout the Los Angeles region, with a long-term economic impact of more than $733 million.

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, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.