This post has been updated to reflect WXY’s planning role in the project.
This week New York City unveiled plans for a $136 million garment factory and film lot complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
New York’s WXY is planning the “Made in New York” campus, a waterside project that includes new space for film and television production, upgrades to existing facilities, and streetscape improvements at Bush Terminal.
“We have used our ‘Made in NY’ brand to grow fashion and film companies, and today, we’re committing some of our most important real estate assets to support them as well,” said Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, in a statement. “These industries support hundreds of thousands of families with good wages, and they need affordable and modern space to grow. The ‘Made in NY’ Campus represents the collision of our creative economy and advanced manufacturing. This is going to be a 21st-century working waterfront that keeps our city the capital of film and fashion.”
Other, as-yet unnamed firms will design a 100,000-square-foot film and T.V. facility with sound stages, space for shoots, plus augmented reality and virtual reality facilities. Renovations to two existing buildings will yield almost 200,000 square feet of fashion manufacturing space for marking and grading, cutting and sewing, patternmaking, and sample-making. The city says the layout is meant to encourage collaboration and resource-sharing between tenants in different sectors of the industry.
Outside, WXY-led improvements will add a new plaza, as well as energize a 43rd Street campus corridor that allows public access to Bush Terminal Piers Park. Potential food and retail tenants will have a chance to lease 7,500 square feet for their operations at the onsite SF Café Building. The 36-acre Bush Terminal, neighboring Brooklyn Army Terminal, and the Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market together comprise the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Sunset Park District, an industrial park that’s home to more than 165 enterprises. The Made in NY campus is expected to open in 2020.
The announcement recognizes the struggle core industries face in an increasingly expensive city. Five percent (182,000) of the city’s jobs are in fashion, while the film industry employs 130,000. Though both industries sustain New York’s glamorous image, many enterprises have trouble finding affordable space for local manufacturing and production. The city hopes the Bush Terminal campus will support existing companies while attracting new businesses. For some designers, it may be cheaper to work with factories abroad, but for many, a local facility allows for greater oversight and faster communication if, say, a client wants a new sample that day or a small run of a style that responds to new trends.
