Sunset Park's Industry City Makes The News, Again.

 

AM NY that newspaper you get for free when you take it out of one of those bins when getting on the subway has an article on the impact on the local Sunset Park economy by the Industry City complex titled "Business is booming at Sunset Park's Industry City".  The article begins;

The rows of unassuming, concrete buildings give little hint of the area's rich history as a hub of early 20th century industrial progress, nor do they quite convey Industry City's recent resurgence as Brooklyn's new home base for creative and innovative companies. But it's there. A convergence of past, present and future -- right in Sunset Park.

Startups, manufacturers, design firms, event planners and food makers have been flocking to the 16-building complex, formerly known as Bush Terminal, since it began undergoing a massive renovation last year.

What is clear is that Sunset Park is faring far better than other Brooklyn neighborhoods. Despite the rather sluggish economy everywhere else, the impact of capital being invested in the neighborhood especially at Industry City is having a substantial effect on the rest of the neighborhood.  There are plans afoot to build an even larger market at Industry City than the one at Chelsea in Manhattan. And let's not leave out the investment being made at the Brooklyn Army Terminal also in Sunset Park that is seeing a comeback of Artist space for artists as well and an influx of other enterprises into that complex as the City pours more money into expanding and renovating the place. We mustn't leave out the massive influx of mainland Chinese money which is also pouring into the Chinatown section of our neighborhood with new hotel construction adding to an already high concentration of hotels and a massive development being planned for 62nd street and 8th Avenue.

Along with all this economic activity we are seeing an acceleration of the gentrification process in the neighborhood. If you've been keeping track of rental and real estate prices you are seeing apartments that mere a year ago went for $1500 a month to an average of $2000 a month today. Real estate prices have gone up 21% in the last two years and we can expect an acceleration of that process as properties are being bought up not only for residential purposes but as an investment. All in all we are seeing a very quick transformation happening in the neighborhood right before our very eyes. Three areas are the center of this economic boom that the neighborhood is experiencing, Chinatown, Industry City and The Brooklyn Army Terminal. As space becomes scarce at these three locations their periphery will also see a resurgence in the next couple of years as well. Unless the national economy collapses we are in for a very heady ride. Fasten your seat belts folks. If you think the change in our neighborhood has been heady dizzying these last couple of years, you ain't seen nothing yet...

Related: Massive Development Planned For Sunset Park
             Art is back in Sunset Park
             Sunset Park is now "Trendy" accoding to RE marketing..


 

 

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Art is back in Sunset Park

After a short lapse art is back in Sunset Park. When Industry City turned over ownership and development plans many artists who had rented space there had to look for other less expensive digs due to thee raise in rents. For a while Sunset Park was loosing creative people to other parts and other boroughs. Now it appears they are making a comeback, this time at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The local NYC channel NY1 has a video covering this story on their website..

 

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Industry City in Sunset Park In The News, Again

Industry City seems to be in the news a lot lately. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an article about how both private developers and the City plan to dump over $100 million into three sites in Sunset Park to upgrade and turn int some kind of "industrial" zone and bring in the type of firms that don't need abundant manufacturing or development space. The article was followed by another piece siting it on the Gothamist website.  The reason manufacturing collapsed in the city is what a lot of bureaucrats and Real Estate developers don't seem to understand is that manufacturing technology changed and New York City was not the place to operate. When manufacturing began to change from a vertical mode of production to a horizontal one manufacturers slowly began to leave the confined spaces of the city and move to places where a number of conditions had to be met to build horizontal manufacturing plants which are today's mode of production. The needed to move somewhere where the was a lot of land, either the suburbs or further out. They also needed to be near transportation (highways, railways). It had to be cost effective which meant no taxes or very little. In the competitive atmosphere cities are just not the places to be with high taxes, costly housing, higher wages etc.. That was the main reason most manufacturing left Sunset Park and the City. Planners don't seem to get that. The only rationale for small manufacturers and developers to move into Sunset Park would be if they have a high profit margin in order to deal with the higher costs of working in the city. So the types of businesses willing to relocate there are anything but "industrial". That being said, I took a visit this morning to the new food court and walked around on a few floors on one of the buildings at 36th street. I will write about that separately. How much of the money being spent will be of benefit to the local population is another matter. Brooklyn Army terminal never panned out as the type of manufacturing and development center they have planned for industry city for precisely the above reason I stated above. We will have to see what develops. On the other hand, the modes of manufacturing are changing as we write, from 3d. printing and custom pieces made to specific order and specifications May make a lot of the empty space at Industry city more palatable and attractive to some specialized firms..

Map that as part of the article on the WSJ page.

 

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Sunset Park May Lose half of Pier 4 to Commercial Use..

Sunset park may lose half the public space at Pier 4 by the Brooklyn Army Terminal according to an article at the DNAinfo website. Pier 4 is the only accessible pier in Sunset park where the ferry terminal is located. Many public events have been held there and is used by some local fishermen to drop hooks into the water. According to the article; "The proposal would allow the Baltimore-based marine transportation business to “license and improve” about 1,000 linear feet of the pier near 58th Street, as well as one row of parking along the pier, according to a public presentation shared with DNAinfo New York.". 

The proposal would leave the only totally accessible pier to be the one at 69th street in Bay Ridge. It might also impede one of the best views of the bay and Manhattan in the distance since it may no longer be accessible by the public. If you have any opinions on this you should make an effort to contact the office of councilman Carlos Menchaca at 718-439-9012..

News Media Hits: Sunset Park's Brooklyn Army Terminal gets write up...

Recently the Brooklyn Army Terminal located at the southern edge of Sunset Park got a write up in the Daily News. Though the article was rather interesting with some great photos and factoids it left out a lot of stuff. But hey The Daily News was never known for scholarly journalistic tomes. It is however, good to see great write ups of the nabe that doesn't include sensationalist news of crime. Most of the troops that fought in the European theater during WW II passed through the terminal and embarked to Europe from this very spot. For some rather interesting pics and history you can visit the terminal's website..