COURIER L 18 IFE, JUNE 18-24, 2021
ALL-IN-ONE
Navy Yard looks to add museum,
health club, and more via rezoning
The Kent Avenue development site. Rendering by WXY via Department of City Planning
BY CRAIG HUBERT
The managers of the Brooklyn
Navy yard are seeking a rezoning to
add more amenities to the sprawling
waterfront complex.
The Department of City Planning
reviewed an Environmental Assessment
Statement at an online meeting
on June 7 that would allow for the creation
of a Special Brooklyn Navy Yard
District to foster “the introduction of
compatible community facility and
commercial uses.”
No specifi c project is being proposed,
and the rezoning application
states that approval is “not expected
to result in new development density
beyond that which is permitted as of
right.” But the application lists three
potential areas of development, signaling
their plans: a site on Kent Avenue,
another site on Navy Street and a
third site on Flushing Avenue, which
can be seen on the map below.
Currently, the site on Navy Street
is occupied by the NYPD, who use it as
a tow pound facility, and the Flushing
Avenue site contains a warehouse that
is owned and operated by the Department
of Justice. According to the application,
if the rezoning is approved
it is expected that those tenants would
be relocated.
The application details possible development
on all three sites if the rezoning
is approved. On the Kent Avenue
site, three buildings would be
constructed with a seven-story base
and a nine- to 13-story tower on top.
Those buildings would contain approximately
1,825,011 gross square
feet (gsf) of industrial space, 436,624
gsf of commercial (both offi ce and retail)
space and 250,000 gsf of community
facility (academic) space. Open
space would also be included along
Barge Basin, next door to the planned
23-story development at 500 Kent Avenue.
At the Navy Street site, two buildings
would be constructed, one at
eight stories tall and the other 20 stories
tall (a seven-story base topped
with a 13-story tower). Here, the two
buildings would include a combined
approximate of 458,590 gsf of industrial
space, 142,617 gsf of commercial
space and 250,000 gsf of community facility
(academic and museum) space.
On the Flushing Avenue site, another
two buildings would be built,
each rising 16 stories. They would contain
approximately 773,170 gsf of industrial
space, 225,950 gsf of commercial
space, some of which would be
occupied by a health club and 250,000
gsf of community facility space.
New York City owns the Navy
Yard, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development
Corporation manages it.
Leasing has been going slowly for the
yard’s most recent addition, WeWork’s
troubled Dock72 purpose-built offi ce
space, according to The Real Deal.
The Navy Yard signaled its intention
to develop these three sites in its 30-
year master plan, released in 2018.
“I couldn’t be more excited about
this project,” said Department of City
Planning chair Marisa Lago during
the online review. “I have fond teenage
memories of wandering through
the recently shuttered Brooklyn Navy
Yard in the early 70s. I’m only admitting
this because I’m assuming the
statute of limitations for breaking and
entering has long passed.”
This is “exactly the kind of project
the city needs as part of its recovery
from the pandemic,” she added.
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