Brooklyn Navy Yard Makes Sweet Deal

A new lease for the Navy Yard’s Green Manufacturing Center makes that facility fully leased.

NEW YORK CITY—The Brooklyn Navy Yard has inked a lease with  chocolate maker MAST CHOCOLATE for 65,000 square feet in the third wing of Green Manufacturing Center. The LEED-certified manufacturing facility, which formerly was a ship building space, is now fully leased. MAST joins a growing list of food and beverage manufacturers at the Yard, including Russ & Daughters , Brooklyn Roasting Company, and Kings County Distillery. The chocolatier is shifting production from 46 Washington Ave., which is right outside of the Brooklyn Navy Yard but not part of the facility, a property spokesman tells GlobeSt.com.  The move will allow the company—which was founded by brothers Rick and Michael Mast—to more than double its existing workforce of nearly 75 people, with a long-term plan to create 100 more jobs. In addition, the move is expected to bring 800 jobs to the Yard. The chocolate maker will increase production capabilities significantly with its new factory. It also will debut the first-ever chocolate brewery where the company will brew, bottle, keg and distribute its non-alcoholic chocolate beer. The move also will mark the introduction of the MAST CHOCOLATE community programming initiative called M.A.S.T. (Math, Art, Science, Technology), which will bring grade-school students from local Brooklyn public-schools into the production facility throughout the year and will offer programming in conjunction with BLDG 92, the Yard’s public exhibition center, to provide public tours and other programs. “When MAST CHOCOLATE moves to the Yard, it will quickly double their existing workforce, creating good jobs for dozens of New Yorkers,” says Brooklyn Navy Yard president and CEO David Ehrenberg. “With nearly $700 million in development currently underway at the Yard, we’re thrilled to complete the first step of our larger redevelopment plan, which will add over 2.5 million square feet of space and more than 9,000 additional jobs on the Yard by 2020. Mast, and all the tenants at the fully-leased Green Manufacturing Center, will continue to boost the entire Brooklyn and New York City economy.” Adds MAST co-founder and CEO Rick Mast, “We are humbled by the opportunity to grow our family business in such a stunning, historic, and state-of-the-art facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.” “It is a dream come true to be a part of the incredible Brooklyn Navy Yard community and have the chance to create many more delicious jobs,” says Michael Mast, co-founder and President of MAST. “We’re excited to be bringing good jobs and food manufacturing to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and hope to attract even more iconic New York businesses to ensure that local brands are making their products here at home,” notes Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen.