Site The site of the Brooklyn Navy Yard was originally a
mudflat and
tidal marsh settled by the
Canarsie Indians. The Dutch colonized the area in the early 17th century, and by 1637, Dutch settler
Joris Jansen Rapelje purchased of land around present-day
Wallabout Bay from the Indians. The site later became his farm, though Rapelje himself did not reside on it until circa 1655. Rapelje was a
Walloon from Belgium, and the area around his farm came to be known as "Waal-boght" or "Waal-bocht", which translates roughly into "Walloon's Bay"; this is probably where the name of Wallabout Bay was adapted from. The Rapelje family and their descendants had possession of the farm for at least a century afterward, and mostly farmed on the drained mudflats and tidal marshland. They built a grist mill and a mill pond on the site by 1710. During the
American Revolutionary War, the British held American prisoners of war on
prison ships moored in the bay. Many of the prisoners died and were buried in trenches on nearby ground. Some 12,000 prisoners were said to have died by 1783, when the remaining prisoners were freed. The
Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in nearby
Fort Greene was built to honor these casualties. In 1781, shipbuilder John Jackson and two of his brothers acquired different parts of the Rapelje estate. Jackson went on to create the neighborhood of
Wallabout, as well as a shipbuilding facility on the site. The first ship that Jackson built at the site was the merchant ship
Canton, which he built in the late 1790s.
Development and early years Land purchase The Jacksons put the land up for sale in 1800, and the federal government soon learned about the sale. Childs sold the site to the federal government 16 days later. The property went unused for several years because Adams's successor
Thomas Jefferson opposed military build-up. The Brooklyn Navy Yard became an active
shipyard for the
United States Navy in 1806, when the yard's first commandant
Jonathan Thorn moved onto the premises. It took several decades before the Brooklyn Navy Yard was fully developed; for the most part, early development was focused around the western side of the current yard. It was around the same time that
Quarters A, the
federal-style commandant's house, was built at the northwestern corner of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In 1810, the federal government acquired another of land from the state of New York. Much of this land was underwater at high tide. By the 1820s, the Navy Yard consisted of the commandant's house, a marine barracks building, several smaller buildings, and shiphouses on what is now the northwestern corner of the yard. Of these, the commandant's house is the only remaining structure. The Navy acquired an additional from Sarah Schenck in 1824, on which it built the Brooklyn Naval Hospital. The same year, it was converted into a "first-class" yard. Similarly. during the
Great Fire in Lower Manhattan on July 19, 1845, "a detachment of sailors and marines from the navy yard under Captain Hudson, were present, and did good service. The
USS North Carolina which was acting as a receiving ship for new enlisted men, also sent her sailors in boats for shore duty." The Navy Yard also sent materials for blowing up buildings and creating firebreaks. Admiral
Matthew C. Perry arrived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1831, and was commandant from 1841 to 1843. When the Lyceum disbanded in 1889, its documents and artifacts were transferred to the
U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Maryland, Wages fluctuated significantly based on the congressional apportionment for that year. For example in May 1820, the Board of Navy Commissioners, directed Captain Samuel Evans, the pay of shipyard carpenters was to be reduced 1.62 1/2 cents per day to 1.25 per day, likewise laborers pay was reduced from 90 cents per day to 75. The Brooklyn Navy Yard soon became a large employer because of the expansion of shipbuilding. 1835 was an important year for American labor, with workers in major Northeastern cities petitioning for higher wages; better working conditions, and a ten-hour workday. On March 26, 1835, the mechanics in the New York Navy Yard petitioned the Board of Navy Commissioners to reduce the workday to ten hours, which was "signed by one thousand citizens of New York and Brooklyn." On April 24, 1835, the Board, rejected their petition, because "it would be inconsistent with the public interests, to regulate the working hours in the Navy Yards as proposed in the memorial". The ten-hour workday would not be implemented until March 31, 1840, when President
Martin Van Buren finally mandated a ten-hour workday for all mechanics and laborers employed on public works." In 1848, the yard had 441 employees who typically worked a ten hour day, six days a week.
Creation of street grid In 1826, the
United States Congress required all of the United States' naval yards to procure a master plan for future development. Because of various issues such as the muddy geography, the narrowness of the nearby shipping channel, the Brooklyn Navy Yard's small size, and the density of existing development in the surrounding area, the Navy was unable to submit a feasible master plan for the yard.
Mid- and late 19th century Civil War By 1860, just before the
American Civil War, many European immigrants had moved to Brooklyn, which had become one of the largest cities in the United States (it was not part of New York City until 1898). The yard employed 6,200 men by the end of the war in 1865. During the Civil War, the Brooklyn Navy Yard manufactured 14 large vessels and retrofitted another 416 commercial vessels to support the
Union's naval blockades against the
Confederate Navy. was rumored to have been retrofitted within less than 24 hours. The screw steam sloop , launched on November 20, 1861, was the first vessel built at the Navy Yard that was specifically intended for the American Civil War. Another vessel that was outfitted at the Navy Yard was , built at the
Continental Iron Works in
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Later that year she fought (originally ) at the
Battle of Hampton Roads. Other vessels built for the Union Navy during this time included , , , , , , , , , and .
After the Civil War In 1866, following the end of the Civil War, there was a large decrease in the number of people working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, although the yard continued to finish off the vessels that were already under construction. Shipbuilding methods had improved greatly during the war, and the shipbuilding technology that the Navy used was now obsolete; this was compounded by a series of other problems that the Navy faced in general, such as corruption. Likely as a result, the Brooklyn Navy Yard did not start construction on any vessels between 1866 and 1872. Some boats were launched during this period, such as , which was launched in 1868. By the late 1860s and early 1870s, the Navy Yard was creating iron steam vessels, as they were faster and easier to maneuver compared to wooden vessels. An iron plating shop had been constructed for the construction of such vessels. was the final wooden vessel with sails that was constructed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Workers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, who were employees of the federal government, received employment protections that were considered novel at the time. For instance, an act passed in 1867 protected Navy Yard employees' rights to political free speech, and an act passed in 1872 restricted laborers, mechanics, and workmen from working more than eight hours per day. The Navy also constructed two additional dry docks, and was rebuilt in masonry in 1901. Shortly afterward, Dry Dock 3 was found to be too short by four inches and too shallow by two feet, so it was fixed. Both dry docks still exist, but are now inactive. The Brooklyn Navy Yard required large quantities of national flags, naval pennants and canvas gunpowder bags. The task of sewing these materials had historically been performed by men, but the yard began hiring women for the task due to a need for skilled labor. By the late 1890s, many of the yard's newly hired flag makers were women, and most of these women were widows of soldiers killed in war. The flag makers, working up to 14 hours a day, had to sew 30 to 40 flags per ship. One of these women was Mary Ann Woods, a seamstress flag maker first class who was hired in 1882 and promoted to "Quarterwoman Flag Maker" in 1898.
20th-century operations 1900s and 1910s After Brooklyn was annexed to New York City in 1898, it experienced rapid development, including the construction of the
Williamsburg and
Manhattan Bridges to Manhattan, as well as the first
New York City Subway lines, which were constructed by the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company. The Brooklyn Navy Yard benefited from this, as it was very close to the Manhattan Bridge, and residents of Manhattan could easily access the Navy Yard. There was a large labor force, which was mainly composed of immigrants who had recently come to New York City through
Ellis Island. she was also the flagship vessel of the s. To accommodate the construction of
Connecticut, Building Way 1 was rebuilt in 1903. Another slipway, Building Way 2, was built in 1917, at the same time that Building Way 1 was enlarged. Building Ways 1 and 2 were collectively referred to as the Connecticut building ways. Other lead battleships launched from the
Connecticut building ways included in 1912, In conjunction with Dry Dock 4's construction, it was also proposed to lengthen the wooden Dry Dock 3 from long. A paymasters' office, a construction and repair shop/storehouse, and a locomotive shed for the Navy Yard's now-defunct railroad system were also constructed. The
Secretary of the U.S. Navy,
Josephus Daniels, argued that the Brooklyn Navy Yard had to be expanded even further to the west to allow for more shipbuilding activities. In the meantime, non-essential activities were moved to the
Bush Terminal in
Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Several new buildings were built in response to the U.S.'s entry into World War I, including a locomotive roundhouse, supply storehouse, boat shed, structural shop, and light machine shop, as well as Pier C and Machine Way 2. Most of these structures were connected to the four dry docks and two shipways via the Brooklyn Navy Yard's railroad system.
1920s and 1930s In 1920, after World War I ended, the Brooklyn Navy Yard started constructing
South Dakota and
Indiana, both of them s. Work on the partially completed
South Dakota and
Indiana was halted in February 1922, and both vessels were ordered to be
scrapped. Congress did not allocate funding for the construction of any other ships. As such, until 1929, the workers who remained were tasked mostly with repairing ships at the dry docks. and she was completed and commissioned the next year. The completion of
Pensacola occurred at the start of the
Great Depression, and as a result, the workforce of 4,000 was reduced by one-quarter immediately afterward. By the end of 1935, ten cruisers were being constructed. Dry Dock 4 was lengthened slightly to accommodate the keel-laying of the battleship in 1937. The new construction required extra workers. The Brooklyn Navy Yard employed 8,200 men by mid-1936, of which 6,500 were constructing ships and 1,700 were hired through WPA programs. By 1938, the yard employed about 10,000 men, of whom one-third received salaries from the WPA. Workers erected a garbage incinerator, garage, a coal plant office, and a seawall; in addition, they paved the Navy Yard's roads and laid new railroad tracks. while in another, workers unearthed a skeleton thought to be from one of the prison ship martyrs. The first World War II-era battleship built at Brooklyn Navy Yard was , and was commissioned in April 1941. A second battleship, , started construction at Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1939 and was completed in 1942. and was the site of the
surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. The docks were ultimately built at a length of , which still made them longer than any of the other dry docks. Dry Dock 5 was completed by 1942. Following Pearl Harbor, the U.S. officially entered World War II and the number of employees at Brooklyn Navy Yard increased. The Brooklyn Navy Yard started
24/7 operations, and three shifts of eight hours were implemented. In addition to shipbuilding, workers at the yard created uniforms and flags, as well as packaged food and combat provisions for sailors and soldiers. The yard was nicknamed "The Can-Do Shipyard" because of its massive output in constructing dozens of ships and replacing hundreds more. Other women worked in the
WAVES division where they operated communications equipment and decoded messages. There were 200 women employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard by 1942. However, women working in the yard faced
sex discrimination and a
gender pay gap, which prevented them from advancing to higher-level positions, and many women held "helper" positions to the remaining skilled male workers. After the passage of the
Fair Employment Practices Act of 1941, African Americans were also hired for trade work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a sector in which they previously had been banned from working. minorities, mostly African Americans, made up 8% of the workforce. The minority workforce continued to grow through the 1960s, when minorities made up a fifth of all workers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They fabricated sections of the ships before the completed pieces were joined to the hull, which, along with the introduction of
welding, allowed for increased efficiency in the shipbuilding process. Another large structure constructed at the Navy Yard was
Building 77, a sixteen-story building that served as the yard headquarters, as well as storage space. A motion picture exchange for armed forces was constructed at the eastern end of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, near the naval hospital, and served to restore, review, and distribute films for use by U.S. Navy troops around the world. From the yard's establishment in 1801 until the name change, the yard had been officially named the "New York Navy Yard", but the public popularly referred to the yard as "Brooklyn Navy Yard", and the government called it "United States Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn". According to one naval officer, the name change was conducted because "it would lead to better efficiency". The New York Naval Shipyard celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1951. By this time, the yard had mostly shifted to manufacturing aircraft carriers, three of which were under construction. A contract for the construction of , a super aircraft carrier, was awarded to New York Naval Shipyard in August 1952. The Naval Shipyard was also contracted to build and in the late 1950s, as well as six amphibious transports in the 1960s. The keel of
Constellation was laid in 1957.
Constellation was nearly complete when she was damaged in a large fire on December 19, 1960, killing 49 people and injuring another 323. This caused her commissioning to be delayed by several months, to October 1961. In addition to the damage suffered from the
Constellation fire, the New York Naval Shipyard was gradually becoming
technologically obsolete. Newer ships were too large to pass under the nearby
Manhattan and
Brooklyn Bridges, and so could not get to the yard.
Closure In 1963,
Department of Defense Secretary
Robert S. McNamara started studying the feasibility of closing redundant military installations, especially naval ship yards, in order to save money. The Department of Defense announced in May 1964 that it was considering closing New York Naval Shipyard, as well as
Fort Jay and the
Brooklyn Army Terminal. Workers protested against the yard's proposed closure in
Washington, D.C., as well as in
Madison Square Garden. As a result of the shipyard's anticipated closure, new shipbuilding contracts were awarded to private shipbuilders rather than to the New York Naval Shipyard. In October 1964, after lobbying from yard workers and local politicians, the shipyard received several shipbuilding contracts; at the time, the number of employees was 9,100 and decreasing. However, the next month, McNamara announced that the New York Naval Shipyard would be one of nearly a hundred military installations that would be closed. When the shipyard's closure was announced, it employed 10,600 civilian employees and 100 military personnel with an annual payroll of about $90 million. The closure was anticipated to save about $18.1 million annually. Despite these attempts, in January 1965, officials announced that the yard's closure date was scheduled for June 30, 1966, and began laying off the remaining 9,500 workers. By the middle of the year, the New York Naval Shipyard only had 7,000 workers on payroll.
Seymour Melman, an engineering economist at the
Columbia University's Graduate School of Engineering, devised a detailed plan for converting the Brooklyn Navy Yard into a commercial shipyard which could have saved most of the skilled shipyard jobs. The administration of Mayor
Robert F. Wagner Jr. looked to the auto industry to build a car plant inside the yard. Yet another plan called for a federal
prison to be built on the site. In August 1965, the Navy launched its last ship from the New York Naval Shipyard, the . The last Navy ships were commissioned at the yard in December 1965. The formal closure of the New York Naval Shipyard was marked by a ceremony on June 25, 1966, and the Navy decommissioned the yard on June 30. The state's bipartisan congressional delegation began negotiations with the federal government to receive this aid. Soon afterward, the city announced plans to purchase the yard and convert it into an industrial complex, despite challenges from several federal agencies who also wanted to use parts of the yard. In July 1966, the city moved to purchase the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The
Johnson administration initially refused to sell the yard to the City of New York. The administration wanted to sell the yard at $55 million, while the city wanted a lower price. In May 1967, the federal government and city agreed on a sale price of $24 million. The
Nixon administration, which took office in January 1969, was more amenable to selling the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the city, and offered to sell the yard at more than $1 million below the previously agreed sale price. The next month, ownership of the yard was transferred to the city. Final congressional agreement for the sale was given in November 1969, and the next month, the city received a formal contract to purchase the yard for $22.5 million. The city government made its first
down payment for the property in June 1970.
First leases The Commerce Labor Industry Corporation of Kings (CLICK) had been established in 1966 as a nonprofit body to run the yard for the city. The first lease inside the yard was signed in May 1968, even before the sale to the city had been finalized. By early 1969, there were 300 people working at four companies within the yard, and more companies were moving in. The city gave CLICK control of the Navy Yard once the city's purchase of the yard had been finalized. However, CLICK and the city soon came to an impasse in which CLICK refused to allow the city to participate in the management of the Navy Yard.
Employment peaks Seatrain Shipbuilding, which was wholly owned by
Seatrain Lines, was established in 1968 and signed a lease at Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1969. The lease had a provision that Seatrain hire local workers whenever possible, Seatrain became one of the largest tenants at Brooklyn Navy Yard, with 2,700 employees by 1973, most of whom lived in Brooklyn. Seatrain planned to build five
very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and seven
container ships for Seatrain Lines. It eventually built four VLCCs, which were the largest ships ever to be built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as well as eight barges and one ice-breaker barge. Coastal Dry Dock and Repair Corp. leased the three small dry docks and several buildings inside the yard from CLICK in 1972. Coastal Dry Dock only repaired and converted US Navy vessels. Seatrain temporarily fired 3,000 employees in 1974 due to the
1973 oil crisis, resulting in a steep decline in the number of people employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Soon after, Seatrain began venturing out of the shipbuilding business. that vessel was renamed
Kuito and is operating for Chevron off of the coast of Angola in of water in the Kuito oil field. Employment inside the yard peaked in 1978. By that point, CLICK was leasing space inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard to 38 tenants, who collectively employed 5,500 tenants and occupied of space. The yard had another of space, but only was considered to be usable at the time. Total occupancy at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was at 97%, up from 50% in 1972.
Decline Despite the commercial success of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the former shipyard was also beset by accusations of corruption and racketeering. Additionally, the introduction of large
container ships, which were too big to access the Brooklyn Navy Yard, meant that potential tenants operated in New Jersey instead, which had been investing in container shipping terminals. As a result, most of the 30,000 to 40,000 jobs never materialized. Seatrain endured a $13.5 million financial loss in 1978 because of various strikes and a decline in demand for oil tankers. This caused a sharp decrease in the number of employees at the yard, and after Seatrain's employees had been terminated, the Brooklyn Navy Yard employed 3,970 people. After Goldin's report was published, CLICK's director was forced to resign. In subsequent reports, Goldin found that contracts were poorly managed, and that the city was not getting rent money from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The number of people working at the yard continued to decline, and by October 1980, the yard hired 2,900 people, of which nearly half worked at Coastal Dry Dock. The most optimistic estimates proposed that the Navy Yard would see 10,000 new jobs added if its redevelopment were to peak. Local residents expressed frustration about the lack of job creation in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as well as concerns about CLICK's lack of transparency, since residents were prohibited from attending CLICK meetings. In addition, companies at the Navy Yard were accused of having exceedingly high job standards that disqualified most residents from positions at the yard. CLICK was replaced by the nonprofit Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation in 1981. but withdrew in 1988.
Incinerator plan A garbage
incinerator was proposed at Brooklyn Navy Yard as early as 1967. The city proposed that the incinerator double as a
cogeneration plant, generating both heat and electricity from the burning of garbage, and supplying that heat and energy to utility company
Consolidated Edison. The incinerator would not only reduce the amount of waste being placed in
Fresh Kills Landfill on
Staten Island and the
Fountain Avenue Landfill in eastern Brooklyn, but would also generate electricity for the city. In 1976, Mayor
Abraham Beame proposed building a combined incinerator and power plant at Brooklyn Navy Yard. A contract was awarded later that year, at which point it was estimated that the incinerator would cost $226 million to construct. A "temporary" cogeneration plant, which generated steam for the Navy Yard's tenants, opened in late 1982 as a stopgap until a permanent incinerator was built. The project garnered large community opposition from the
Latino and
Hasidic Jewish residents of nearby
Williamsburg. Mayor
Ed Koch withdrew two contract offers in 1982 due to objections from comptroller Goldin, who stated that the health effects of the proposed plant would be detrimental to the community. In December 1984, the
New York City Board of Estimate narrowly approved the installation of the proposed incinerator in Brooklyn Navy Yard, one of five sites to be built in the city in the coming years. However, the state refused to grant a permit for constructing the plant for several years, citing that the city had no
recycling plan. The proposed incinerator was a key issue in the
1989 mayoral election because the Hasidic Jewish residents of Williamsburg who opposed the incinerator were also politically powerful.
David Dinkins, who ultimately won the 1989 mayoral election, campaigned on the stance that the Brooklyn Navy Yard incinerator plan should be put on hold. The state denied a permit for the incinerator in 1989, stating that the city had no plan for reducing ash emissions from the plant. Once elected, Dinkins took actions that indicated he would not oppose the construction of the incinerator. By then,
Rudy Giuliani had been elected as mayor, and he was opposed to the construction of the incinerator, instead preferring that the city institute a recycling plan. In November of that year, community members filed a lawsuit to block the incinerator's construction. Further investigation of the incinerator's proposed site found toxic chemicals were present in such high levels that the site qualified for
Superfund environmental cleanup. The next year, the city dropped plans for the construction of the incinerator altogether, instead focusing on expanding its recycling program and closing Fresh Kills Landfill.
Industrial redevelopment 1990s and 2000s After the decline of shipbuilding at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, it became an area of private manufacturing and commercial activity, though a naval detachment remained at the Brooklyn Navy Yard until 1993. By the early 1990s, there was a large increase in the number of small businesses at the yard due to its proximity to Manhattan, as well as a large availability of space at a relatively low cost. In 1990, twenty-two small businesses signed leases for , and by the next year, the habitable portions of the Brooklyn Navy Yard were 97% leased. The Navy Yard had 180 tenants who hired a combined 3,500 employees by 1991. The redevelopment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn Army Terminal spurred ideas for revitalizing Brooklyn's waterfront. Because of community opposition, a medical-waste treatment plant at the Navy Yard was not built. In 1995, construction started on a new cogeneration plant, the first in the United States to be constructed through the specifications of the federal
Clean Air Act. The new cogen facility, located at Building 41, Also in 1996, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation received $739,000 to study possible uses for the Navy Yard. Community leaders supported the construction of housing on the yard, while they opposed the construction of the proposed trash incinerator. The city started including the Navy Yard within its capital budget in 1997, taking over maintenance of the yard. However, the deal with De Niro's group fell through later that year, in part due to a lack of commitment. The city selected a new developer,
Douglas C. Steiner, who signed a 70-year lease with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation in October 1999. The proposal was initially controversial among the Hasidic Jewish population of the surrounding area, whose leaders objected that the film industry was too immodest for the Hasidic Jewish principles. Ultimately,
Steiner Studios was built at a cost of $118 million and opened at the yard in 2004. In 2015, artist
Bettina WitteVeen used space at the Navy Yard to mount the fourth installation in her series "When We Were Soldiers … once and young", after trying to get permission from the owners for five years; this was the first time an exhibit had been held at the Navy Yard. In early 2000, the New York City government launched a program called
Digital NYC to convince technology companies to move to seven "technology districts" around the city, including Brooklyn Navy Yard. Initially, this effort was not successful, since no companies signed up to move to Brooklyn Navy Yard at first. In 2004, New York City mayor
Michael Bloomberg announced that the city would develop the western side of Brooklyn Navy Yard with of space for manufacturing, retail, and industrial uses. The development would cost $71 million, to be paid for by investors, while the city would also spend $60 million to upgrade infrastructure in the area. At this time, there was a wall enclosing much of the Navy Yard, but this was going to be partially demolished as part of the upgrade. The former main gate at Sands Street, on the western side of the yard, was to be restored, and the
New York City Police Department (NYPD)'s tow pound there would be relocated. During renovations, planners consulted some of the 32,000 blueprints in the Navy Yard's archive, some of which dated back two centuries. By 2007, the Navy Yard had over 230 businesses in 40 buildings, with about 5,000 employees between them. At that point, the Bloomberg administration had already spent $30 million on renovations and was proposing to spend an additional $180 million, representing the Navy Yard's largest expansion since World War II. Although the Navy Yard had been 99% occupied for the previous five years, it faced a few setbacks, such as its long distance from the nearest subway stations. Further upgrades to the Brooklyn Navy Yard called for spending $250 million to add of retail and manufacturing space as well as 1,500 jobs by 2009. As part of these upgrades, Admiral's Row was to be demolished and replaced with a supermarket and industrial tower, though a controversy developed over whether Admiral's Row should be preserved. There were about 40 preservation projects proposed for the Navy Yard by 2010, and the yard had a full-time archivist.
2010s to present offices when completed In 2011, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation began a large-scale program to develop the Navy Yard. As part of the corporation's long-range plan, it proposed to renovate the Green Manufacturing Center, Building 77, the Admiral's Row site, and the
Brooklyn Naval Hospital. That November, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, a museum dedicated to the yard's history and future, opened on Flushing Avenue. By 2015, more than 330 businesses were located at the yard, collectively employing about 7,000 people. Steiner Studios had become one of the United States' largest production studios outside of
Hollywood. Many artists had also leased space and established an association called Brooklyn Navy Yard Arts. Branding agency CO OP Brand Co had been hired to rebrand the area. The redevelopment of Admiral's Row was approved in 2015; as part of the plan, most of Admiral's Row would be demolished and redeveloped. The 250,000-square-foot Green Manufacturing Center, inside former building 128, was completed in 2016. Dock 72, a 675,000-square-foot office building, topped out in October 2017 and houses offices for
WeWork, a co-working space. A renovation of the , 18-story Building 77 was undertaken at a cost of $143 million, Construction on 399 Sands Street, a manufacturing complex on the site of Admiral's Row, started in June 2018 and was completed in 2020. An adjacent
Wegmans supermarket opened in 2019, along with part of 399 Sands' parking lot. The Admiral's Row redevelopment would include of light industrial and office space and of retail space. In January 2018, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation released an updated master plan with an estimated cost of $2.5 billion. An additional of space would be added at Brooklyn Navy Yard; most of this would be manufacturing space, but a small portion of the space in each new building would be dedicated to office uses. This space, to be built as part of a new technology hub, would be able to accommodate 13,000 extra workers, and would roughly double the amount of manufacturing and office space within the Navy Yard. That December, the development corporation started soliciting applications to renovate the last undeveloped pier at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Pratt Institute established the first phase of the Research Yard in 2023 within Building 3 of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Subsequently, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation issued a
request for proposals for the second phase of the Research Yard in 2025. The same year, the Navy Yard received $28.7 million from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency to repair damage caused by
Hurricane Sandy more than a decade prior. Plans for a material lab at Building 20 were announced in 2026. == Description ==