Brooklyn Brewery Chief Bemoans Lack of Industrial Space
The lack of affordable industrial space in some sections of Brooklyn is impeding one local business’s expansion. Brooklyn Brewery owner Steve Hindy, who started leasing a property on North 11th Street in Williamsburg 12 years ago, tells the Times that his quest to find a bigger space for the brewery in places like Red Hook…
The lack of affordable industrial space in some sections of Brooklyn is impeding one local business’s expansion. Brooklyn Brewery owner Steve Hindy, who started leasing a property on North 11th Street in Williamsburg 12 years ago, tells the Times that his quest to find a bigger space for the brewery in places like Red Hook and Gowanus has been fruitless, and he feels burned by the current administration. Hindy supported the 2005 rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint but now thinks the city didn’t retain enough manufacturing space in the neighborhoods; Hindy’s plan to move the brewery to a pier in the Red Hook container port, meanwhile, fell through after the Port Authority decided to renew American Stevedoring’s lease for the pier. We are the Brooklyn Brewery, and we want to be in Brooklyn, says Hindy. If we can’t find a place, then who can? We’re about as perfect an example of light manufacturing as you can get. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fewer than 100,000 manufacturing jobs remain in the city.
Double Edge to Brooklyn’s Success [NY Times]
Photo by wallyg.
As I was reading the article, I kept thinking, Why not the Sunset Park waterfront? Seems ideal to me–would love a beer garden in Sunset Park, as I currently travel to do my drinking. Makes a lot of sense to me. Gorilla Coffee roasts its beans on 41st Street–why can’t Brookyn Brewery brew its beer nearby? Are there zoning regulations that prohibit that kind of industry/business in Sunset Park?
“We are the Brooklyn Brewery, and we want to be in Brooklyn,†says Hindy. “If we can’t find a place, then who can?
As a Brooklyn Brewery (and beer) lover, I think Hindy misspoke. He meant to say, “we want to be in one of the up and coming and lucrative Brooklyn neighborhoods.”
I’m quite sure there’s real estate all over Brooklyn he could move to. It just might not be in Williamsburg or DUMBO.
While they could move their local brewing operations elsewhere, part of the “retail” operation is a brewery tour, which is hard to do if your brewery is in Bushwick and your retail is in Williamsburg! (I’m assuming people want to see the brewery tour and not just quaff ale…)
Slopenick – its just a matter of taste – I actually enjoy a Pilsner like a Yuengling or even a Rolling Rock to a Lager like Brooklyn. Maybe its because I tend to drink 3-4 a night (AA here I come)
The reality is that with ZERO large AMERICAN Beer Breweries (now all own by foreign companies) – there exists an opportunity for regional breweries to expand from their craft business and become larger national brands – using “Americana” and history as a marketing pitch. Certainly re-occupying an old Bushwick Brew House (if feasible – I only drink the stuff not brew it) might help Steve (or another Brewery) tap into this. Although with Brooklyn cut of from the main rail lines The Bronx may be a more economically feasible option.
There really is no reason that they cant keep the Williamsburg location for their retail/public face and move all (or most) of the brewing to another (cheaper) NYC location. Considering that the bulk of their beer is now brewed upstate I don’t really think they lose any credibility with such a move. -. is it a nice as a consolidated operation in Red Hook or Gowanus – no of course not but in the end it may actually be more economical and better for buisness. (You know alot of grapes for “Long Island” wines comes from upstate too)
Bushwick was definitely my first thought here, but then I thought about all those great former industrial buildings in Prospect Heights, like Ward’s Bakery, the Spalding factory (although converted to condos), etc. Ooops! Steve’s pal Bruce is tearing them down and isn’t building his stadium soon enough for Steve to cash in on those promised sales. Karma’s a bitch, man.
fsqr — I don’t agree about Brooklyn Lager — I like it, it’s the Brown that’s way too heavy — but you are right that he should look elsewhere in the borough. Times change. The reason he went to Williamsburg when he did was that it was cheap. So, now that the area has grown up, its not cheap anymore. Do what you did earlier, Mr Hindy, and go further out in search of cheap space that will be highly sought after in another 10-15 years. This is actually a really good problem to have…….I loved his line about how naming your business “Brooklyn Brewery” makes it hard to move to Jersey (but I’m sure there are plenty of bozos who would do it anyway).
Part of the problem seems to be that Steve wants to have a thriving retail operation (e.g.: beer garden), which rules out many industrial neighborhoods because he is just not going to get the kind of traffic he would in Williamsburg, on Pier 7 or in Gowanus or DUMBO.
And, with all due respect for what Steve has accomplished and his philanthropy to Brooklyn and New York not-for-profits, for locally-brewed beer I cast my vote for Chelsea, especially that fruity, flowery Hop Angel.
While I do sympathize with the loss of manufacturing jobs nationally, there isn’t much that can be done about that in New York City. There is still plenty of perfectly fine industrial space here, but the waterfront areas are being reclaimed.
Montrose: Schlitz was in Milwaukee, it’s “The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famouse” It was the largest brewery for most of the 20th century, but the company collapsed after a union strike in the early 1980s. The brand is owned by some company in San Antonio now.
You’re right about Bushwick though. If the Brooklyn Brewery guys were seriously concerned about the brewing history of the borough, they would open up a brewery there. There are literally thousands of acres of underutilized industrial land, and even a few gutted former breweries. It has the hip cache, and a much larger impoverished population that could use such good jobs.
The New York Times should have taken a drive around the borough and talked to a few industrial brokers. They maybe should have even researched where breweries used to be.
Also, the city is keeping much of Sunset Park industrial. New phases of the Brooklyn Army Terminal are going to be brought online in the next few years with several million square feet of space. It ain’t over yet.