Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito last week unveiled a $115 million plan to grow New York’s manufacturing base.
The 10-point action plan includs creating new state of the art Advanced Manufacturing Center, protecting core industrial areas from encroachment, providing loans and grants for new firms, and training New Yorkers for 21st century manufacturing jobs.
de Blasio said the new and current investments will generate more than 20,000 new jobs and support the city’s existing 530,000 manufacturing and industrial jobs.
“Manufacturing isn’t just past of New York City’s past – it is a thriving part of our 21st century economy,” said the Mayor.
“We are positioning our industrial businesses to take advantage of new technology and new demand. These investments are going to generate tens of thousands of good jobs for New York City families. We are so proud to work with Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and our partners in the City Council to strengthen this vital part of our economy and make sure more New Yorkers reap its opportunities.”
The Industrial Action Plan will limit as-of-right hotel and mini-storage development in Industrial Business Zones (IBZs).
It also establishes a new $150 million loan and grant fund for new and growing industrial businesses, helps firms access advanced technologies like 3D printing, and opens new career centers to connect New Yorkers directly with industrial employers.
Since releasing its Engines of Opportunity report in November 2014, the Council has held a Land Use committee oversight hearing and Council Members Antonio Reynoso, Inez Barron and Stephen Levin continue to work with the de Blasio Administration on studies of the East New York and North Brooklyn IBZs that the Mayor said will be critical to the implementation of the Industrial Action Plan across the five boroughs.New York City’s industrial and manufacturing sector employs 530,000 people, or 15.4 percent of the city’s private sector workforce, with median wages of $50,400 a year.
In addition, more than 328,000 jobs in the sector (61.5 percent) are located outside Manhattan, 62 percent of the workforce comes from culturally diverse backgrounds, and nearly half are foreign-born.
And approximately 63 percent of industrial and manufacturing sector jobs are available to individuals who do not have a college degree.
As part of the 10-Year Capital Plan, the City will invest a total of $442 million in City-owned industrial properties. That amount includes: $115 million to develop 500,000 s/f of space at Brooklyn Army Terminal; $140 million to develop 1 million square feet of space at Brooklyn navy yard; a $37 million infrastructure investment inSunset Park and; $150 million to protect 3,225,000 s/f of space in Hunts Point.
Ahe Administration will work with the City Council to create a new special permit that will be required for any hotel developments in M1 districts within IBZs (with the exception of a portion of the area around JFK, where hotels serve airport-related businesses).
Additionally, it will implement restrictions on personal mini-storage and household goods storage facilities in IBZs through appropriate land use controls.
The Administration will work with the City Council, business groups, neighborhood associations, and other key stakeholders to develop a framework for Innovation Districts in New York City.
This framework will help determine the best ways to bring a mix of light industrial, commercial, and limited residential development to appropriate locations in a way that supports 21st century businesses and 21st century jobs. T
he City will begin developing the framework for these re-imagined Mixed Used districts with the North Brooklyn IBZ study currently underway. Developments would be facilitated through incentives and/or zoning requirements that encourage a mix of uses, with specific requirements assessed on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.
For the first time ever, the City will create an industrial and manufacturing fund to stimulate the creation of new industrial and manufacturing space by non-profit and mission-driven developers. The fund will provide $64 million in City loans and grants, which will in turn leverage an additional $86 million dollars in private investment.
NYCEDC will leverage up to $10 million in both public and private resources for the creation of an Advanced Manufacturing Center, which will provide as much as 40,000 square feet of shared workspaces and equipment, such as 3D printers and robotics, for both new entrepreneurs and established manufacturers looking to modernize their operations.
The Center will serve as the cornerstone of a new $3 million Advanced Manufacturing Network called “Futureworks NYC”. It will feature a network of citywide resources that includes grants to advanced manufacturing start-ups, virtual incubator services to connect emerging firms to support programs, business extension services to help mature firms adopt new technologies, and workforce training programs. The Mayor announced a $500,000 expansion of the City’s Brownfield Jumpstart Program, which will help businesses enroll in the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (NYS BCP) and provide grants to industrial and manufacturing businesses for site investigation and cleanup efforts.
The de Blasio Administration is providing $1.5 million per year in baselined funding to relaunch the City’s Industrial Business Solutions Providers (IBSPs) network. Participants will receive business education, financing assistance, recruitment and training support, and help navigating government and accessing public incentives.
The City will provide $750,000 in funding to launch a Career Pathways initiative for the industrial and manufacturing sector.
Led by the Office of Workforce Development, SBS and NYCEDC, this partnership will convene business leaders, service providers, and other stakeholders to create a real-time feedback loop for workforce training, align workforce and incentives programs, and secure placement commitments from businesses seeking public benefits.
“New York City’s industrial and manufacturing sectors are critical components of a diverse, strong New York City economy that provides opportunity to its residents. The land use policy initiatives announced today will work together with the financial and job-training efforts to reinforce areas of core industrial activity while also allowing for new innovation economy jobs to locate and grow in New York City,” said Department of City Planning Director Carl Weisbrod.
