Wegmans Inches Closer to Reality With Construction Under Way at Admiral’s Row

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    It’s been a long time coming, but new buildings are finally rising at the Admiral’s Row site at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

    A recent visit showed three buildings under construction at the six-acre site at Flushing Avenue and Navy Street. Demolition on all but one of the historic Admiral’s Row houses was completed last year to make way for a Wegmans grocery store, parking lot, and other retail and light manufacturing.

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    Originally constructed between the 1860s and 1901, the houses of Admiral’s Row served as residences for officers of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The remaining house, constructed in 1872 and known as Quarter B, is boarded up and awaiting restoration, but the scaffolding once in place has been removed. In addition to the house, plans call for the rehabilitation of one other historic building, the Timber Shed. The building was dismantled and there’s no sign yet of its reappearance on site.

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    To the east of the historic house is the planned 74,000-square-foot Wegmans store, whose building has topped out at six stories. Just the steel structure is up; walls have yet to rise.

    Wegmans will take up the first and second stories, renderings show. Upon completion, the store will be one of the largest groceries in Brooklyn, bringing a greatly needed and highly anticipated option to the surrounding community.

    When announcing the new store in a 2015 press release, the retailer predicted an initial hire of 450 people, including 150 for full-time jobs. The projected opening date of 2017 got pushed back several times, and the store is now scheduled to open in 2019, according to the retailer’s website.

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    View from inside the Navy Yard looking toward Flushing Avenue

    Tenants for the two other buildings under construction, one to the west of the historic house and the other around the corner on Navy Street, have not been announced. Only two stories each, they have also topped out.

    Plans for redevelopment of the site took some twists and turns, going through three changes in developers. Ultimately, real estate developer Steiner NYC filed plans for the entire complex in 2016. Steiner NYC also developed Steiner Studios, a movie-making complex and the Navy Yard’s biggest tenant. Steiner will have 96-year lease from the Navy Yard on the Admiral’s Row site. The architect for the project is S9 Architecture, also behind Dock 72, currently under construction at the Navy Yard.

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    Rendering via ZDG Construction Management

    In December 2017, Steiner NYC announced they were adding another building to the development plans, this one by Dattner Architects. The building at 339 Sands Street will include a mix of parking and light industrial, while the top floor will be offices, according to DOB filings.

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    Rendering via S9 Architecture

    The ceremonial ground breaking for the building took place in June, and the building has not yet risen above its construction fence.

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    Architecture firm S9 is known for its adaptive reuse of Empire Stores and also designed a new building under construction elsewhere in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Dock72.

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    [Photos by Susan De Vries]

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