(Read more on the industrial market.)
BROOKLYN, NY-B&H Photo-Video has a huge expansion plan in the works. The retailer of imaging products has plans to build more than double its space with the construction of a green facility that will be between 400,000 sf and 600,000 sf.
The company is currently located in a 160,000-sf building in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, and plans to construct the new multi-level location nearby. Construction for the $50-million project is slated to begin this summer and finish by 2009. The new facility is needed to handle B&H's growing business. "The new green distribution building will enable the company to expand its work force and better serve its customers in the metropolitan area and around the world," says Herschel Jacobowitz, CIO of B&H.
Once construction is complete, the building will apply for Silver LEED certification. The silver certification is now a requirement for any new buildings being built at the Navy Yards, a movement that is due in part to the mayor's greener New York plan called PlaNYC.
The Navy Yard has housed B&H, which is one of the park's largest tenants, for more than 10 years. "For more than 30 years, B&H has provided jobs for hard working New Yorkers and over that time, grown to become not just a New York success story, but an industry leader," says Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in a statement. "Their expansion is proof that our five borough economic development strategy is working and creating jobs and it's a testament to the critical role that the Brooklyn Navy Yard plays in providing space to meet this demand in a way that is consistent with the green building goals we laid out in PlaNYC."
The up to 600,000-sf facility is expected to add 300 employees to the 160 that already work for the company at the Navy Yard location. "They are a terrific local employer that will make every effort to fill these new jobs with Brooklyn residents, particularly those living in the communities surrounding the Navy Yard," says Andrew Kimball, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yards Development Corp. "The B&H expansion, when combined with expansions previously announced, will result in over one million sf of new industrial space constructed in the Navy Yard over the next three years creating over 1,500 new jobs."
The Navy Yards are 99% occupied, and plans are in place to expand the 300-acre, 40-rental-building site. The expansion will produce more than 400,000 sf of additional rental space and includes a 60,000-sf supermarket on the edge of the site. Earlier this year, Steiner Studios announced its plans to build a 289,000-sf expansion facility. It is said the studio's new site will create 550 jobs. With the expansion plans of Steiner and B&H, and the Navy Yards planned growth this industrial area of Brooklyn will add more than one million sf of space to the area in the next three years.
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