By Orlando Lee Rodriguez
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) announced today that they intend to invest $80 million into renovating Building 77, a16-story, 1 million square feet former ammunition depot.
The 250,000 s/f of the building will be leased to Jack Basch, owner and CEO of Shiel Medical Laboratories, who intends to take one floor and sublease the rest of the space.
BNYDC will invest $60 million into renovating the remaining 750,000 s/f of building, through a loan using the federal EB-5 program and will leverage Federal and New York State historic rehabilitation tax credits.
Shiel intends to invest approximately $20 million along with its sub-tenants. Construction will be completed by the Fall of 2014.
“Once again, public investment by the Bloomberg Administration in basic infrastructure — water, sewer, electric and roads — throughout the Navy Yard has leveraged enormous private investment in new and renovated buildings,” said Andrew Kimball, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. “Thanks to $80 million of private investment from BNYDC and investors, Building 77 will come back to life as a hub of manufacturing and technology innovation.”
Shiel Medical Laboratory is a full service clinical facility that provides molecular, anatomic pathology and clinical testing services. It is currently the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s largest job provider.
The renovation is expected to create of up to 1,500 new jobs at the Navy Yard over the next five years.
“A redevelopment of this magnitude being funded 100% with private sector money is proof positive that the innovation economy in Brooklyn is thriving,” said Alan Fishman, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. “Investments such as these will ensure that the technology industry will have ample room for growth.”
The 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard is 99 percent occupied and has a total of 4.5 million square feet of leasable space. It is made up of 40 rentable buildings with more than 300 tenants.
