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City seeks proposals for industrial-use lots in parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. On June 25, 2012, the Economic Development Corporation issued a rolling request for proposals for the purchase or lease of four City-owned industrial parcels in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. The sites are: North Zerega in Unionport, Bronx; Chestnut-Dinsmore in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn; Moore McCormack in Sunset Park, Brooklyn; and College Point in the College Point Industrial Park section of Queens. The RFP is a part of EDC’s efforts to support the retention and growth of industrial businesses in the City, and complements the 22 industrial initiatives announced by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn in June 2011. The goals of the RFP include increasing access to affordable industrial spaces and aligning City resources with industrial businesses’ needs. All four lots are eligible for the City’s Brownfield Incentive Grant program and federal Environmental Protection Agency grants. The sites are zoned for manufacturing, which allows manufacturing, industrial, and most commercial uses.

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Waterfront site is occupied by three buildings that EDC will demolish prior to execution of ground lease. On November 1, 2010, the City’s Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals seeking developers to lease and redevelop a 130,000 sq.ft. portion of the Bush Terminal Complex along the Gowanus Bay in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The redevelopment site is generally bounded by 44th and 47th Streets to the north and south and is adjacent to the future site of the Bush Terminal Piers Park. The site contains three buildings occupied by tenants with short-term leases. EDC intends to demolish the buildings prior to executing a ground lease. In March 2007, EDC issued a request for proposals to purchase the site and existing buildings. 4 CityLand 47 (April 15, 2007).

The redevelopment envisioned in EDC’s current request for proposals is related to the City’s Sunset Park Vision Plan, which created a framework for developing an environmentally sustainable and modern industrial waterfront. The area’s M3-1 zoning permits heavy manufacturing and industrial uses. EDC anticipates that any project would provide between 100,000 and 260,000 sq.ft. of floor space and include accessory parking spaces. According to EDC, it will not consider noxious uses on the site. Proposed projects are required to qualify for the United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification or achieve equivalent green-building and energy-saving standards. EDC intends to execute a lease for the parcel by Summer 2011. (more…)

Owner made substantial progress on rear addition and commercial conversion prior to Sunset Park rezoning. In June 2009, the owner of a four-story residential building at 517 53rd Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn obtained an alteration permit to build a 1,768 sq.ft. addition to the rear of the first floor and cellar in order to convert the two floors to commercial use. Nearly four months later, the City Council approved a rezoning in Sunset Park that rezoned the owner’s site from C4-3 to R6B. 6 CityLand 135 (Oct. 15, 2009). The new district did not permit commercial uses, and the proposed addition would violate rear yard and lot coverage requirements. Since the owner had not completed the enlargement at the time of the rezoning, the alteration permit automatically lapsed. The owner applied to BSA to complete the project.

At BSA, the owner claimed to have substantially completed the work, including 100 percent of demolition work, 100 percent of the underpinnings for the existing foundation, and 73 percent of the plumbing and sewer work. The owner submitted evidence that it had expended nearly 60 percent of the enlargement’s $170,000 budget prior to the rezoning. The owner stated that if required to comply with the residential zoning, it would need to restore the cellar and the first floor apartments, which would cost an additional $95,000 and the loss of the money already spent. (more…)

Former Navy warehouse to be retail/light manufacturing. EDC chose a joint venture comprised of Time Equities Inc. and the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation to convert a 1.1-millionsquare- foot former Navy warehouse between Second and Third Avenues and 30th and 32nd Streets in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The details released by EDC state that under the conversion plan, the eight-story building would contain retail on its lower floors with light industrial uses above at a total development cost of $205 million. A 100,000-square-foot accessory parking facility would be constructed next to the site. Time Equities and the Brooklyn EDC agreed to provide a 10,000-square-foot onsite day care center, a gym and food service as incentives for businesses to relocate to the site. The plan calls for the federal government to transfer the property to the EDC for its eventual disposition to Time Equities and the Brooklyn EDC. (more…)

Proposals due May 21, 2007. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals on March 26, 2007 seeking developers to purchase and redevelop 130,000 sq.ft. of the Bush Terminal complex, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The site, bound by 43rd and 47th Streets on the north and south and the 51st Street Rail Yard and Bush Terminal Piers on the east and west, contains three buildings totaling 37,100 sq.ft. Four tenants on month-by-month leases currently occupy the buildings. EDC anticipates proposals will seek to demolish the buildings.

The site is located in an M3-1 zoning district, allowing heavy manufacturing, and is also in a waterfront area, imposing additional limitations on development. The RFP requests plans for industrial uses to support the goals of the Bloomberg administration’s Industrial Business Zones. 3 CityLand 133 (Oct. 15, 2006).

Current City projects in the area include redevelopment of the nearby South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and plans to establish Bush Terminal Piers Open Space, an 18- acre park to be located just southwest of the site. (more…)