Ikea to build a 346,000-square-foot waterfront store in Red Hook. The City Planning Commission approved an application by Ikea Property, Inc., for the development of a 346,000-square-foot furniture store and three ancillary buildings on a 22-acre site along the Red Hook, Brooklyn waterfront. The store, Ikea’s first in New York City, will be its largest store in the United States. The Commission also approved 70,000 sq.ft. of retail and restaurant space and a 6.3-acre public esplanade/bikeway.

Red Hook is primarily zoned M3-1 for heavy manufacturing. Recently, the neighborhood has begun a slow revitalization with the opening of the Community Justice Center in 2000 and with increasing private renovations to its residential and neighborhood retail buildings. (read more…)