Development

Can This Mega-Development Save High-Paying Jobs in Brooklyn? Or Is It a Trojan Horse?

The behemoth office development planned for 25 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg is supposed to help save high-paying manufacturing jobs in the area. But critics argue that the development could harm New York City’s manufacturing jobs, not protect them.

Rendering of 25 Kent Avenue by Steelblue

by Barbara Eldredge

03/23/2016 4 minute 0

The behemoth office development planned for 25 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg — the borough’s first spec office plan in decades — is meant to be a prototype for saving high-paying manufacturing jobs in New York City. But at a ULURP hearing Monday evening, critics argued that the development could harm the area’s manufacturing jobs, not protect them.

Manufacturing is currently threatened by hotel development

Brooklyn’s Industrial Business Zones (IBZs) are protected districts meant to foster industrial and manufacturing businesses with tax breaks and zoning regulations. But in recent years, the areas have become flooded with hotels, nightclubs and restaurants rather than the light manufacturing they were created to support. The de Blasio administration is working to close this loophole, and the developers of 25 Kent have a possible solution.

Developers of 25 Kent want the city to incentivize manufacturing space

Helmed by Toby Moskovits — one of the city’s few female and Orthodox Jewish developers — Heritage Equity Partners and co-developer Rubenstein Partners want to include light manufacturing in place of “community space” at the 25 Kent development.

Currently, developers in the area can build bigger in exchange for including additional “community space” like nonprofits, schools, or medical offices. But Heritage and Rubenstein would like to get the added square footage for building more manufacturing space rather than community space.

They already have support for this idea:City Planning is a co-applicant with them for a rezoning text amendment that would give the developers an additional 156,533 square feet in exchange for building 63,714 square feet of space for light manufacturing.

The developers argue that the additional space would bring even more high-paying manufacturing and creative jobs to the IBZ block rather than bars or nightclubs.

Critics say there’s no way to enforce the use of space for manufacturing

Tanu Kumar of the Pratt Center for Community Development called the proposal “deeply flawed” and said it would “destabilize other industrial areas” if replicated elsewhere, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

Leah Archibald, the Executive Director of a North Williamsburg organization supporting industrial businesses, expressed concerns that the rents at 25 Kent wouldn’t be affordable to local companies and that there was no way to enforce the light manufacturing requirement, reported the Brooklyn Eagle.

What do you think?

Everyone can agree that more jobs in Brooklyn is a good thing. Because this rezoning text amendment already has City Planning support, it’s likely to proceed. Most likely, the critics and the proponents will hash out a compromise to address concerns.

Do you think it’s good as is? Or should more enforcements and concessions be written into the deal?