News
SHOPPING FOR RETAIL
August 5, 2009
 |
| All Photos: BNYDC |
| A rare chance to develop a supermarket-anchored neighborhood retail in historically underserved Brooklyn has opened up at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where BNY Development Corp. CEO Andrew Kimball (on Mayor Mike's shoulder, with borough prez Marty Markowitz and deputy mayor Bob Lieber at the site) tells us it’s looking for developers to build a supermarket no less than 40k SF and 20k SF of neighborhood retail on a six-acre site known as Admiral’s Row. It’ll also include 40k SF of light industrial and commercial uses on a second floor. It’s in the midst of a densely populated neighborhood lacking large-format supermarkets; almost 40k live within a ten-minute walk, and 5k work at the yard, he says. |
 |
| Brush off your adaptive reuse chops, because the RFP also requires the redevelopment of two properties in the Yard—a former officer’s home and a timber shed, both in a state of disrepair (perhaps Bloomberg’s already thinking of ideas?). BNYDC sustainability goals also require the development to be LEED Silver or above, with a focus on renewable resources that will save money from day one, Andrew notes. BNYDC will hold a pre-submittal meeting and site visit on August 11 and proposals are due by October 19; he says BNYDC hopes to select a developer by the end of '09, which will have the site off the ground within a year. |
 |
| Also at the Yard: Mayor Mike has already made a $200M infrastructure commitment. Andrew says the Yard’s in its biggest building boom since WWII, adding over 1.5M SF and 2k jobs over the next two years. It just finished the 90k-SF multi-story, multi-tenanted Perry Building (above), the first green industrial building in the Yard, and has three other buildings in design or construction. For the past 10 years, the Yard's been running at 95-98% occupancy, with tenants expanding and gobbling up available space immediately, he notes. |
