Little Manufacturers Take 14K SF at Brooklyn Army Terminal

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The Brooklyn Army Terminal is beefing up its roster of small manufacturing tenants. The New York City Economic Development Corporation, which manages the complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, has inked deals with four firms for 14,000 square feet of industrial space in its new micro-manufacturing hub, Commercial Observer can first report.

Rvinyl, a small company that designs, produces and sells vinyl vehicle wraps, dash kits and tints for windows and taillights, signed on for 5,400 square feet of industrial space at the city-owned property last week, according to an EDC spokesman. The car accessory maker will move in early March from its current space up the street at 14A 53rd Street, which is between First Avenue and the East River waterfront, just like the army terminal.

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Other tenants in the micro-manufacturing hub include Green Mustache, a smoothie and snack maker, Pour Steady, a commercial coffee maker, and Modo Fashion, a firm that cuts, sews, fuses and prints labels on garments. The three outfits occupy 1,600 square feet, 2,800 square feet, and 4,100 square feet, respectively. They began moving into their spaces last month.

“We’re creating critical space and support for companies who want to manufacture and grow their business in New York City,” said Julie Stein, EDC’s executive director of Sunset Park, in a statement. She added that the hub “will establish an ecosystem for small industrial firms to collaborate and grow within our 3-million-square-foot campus.”

All four tenants have five year leases, and asking rents range from $18 to $22 a square foot. No brokers were involved in any of the deals. The mini-manufacturers fill part of the seventh floor of the terminal’s Building B at 140 58th Street, a massive, iconic structure with a skylight and freight tracks that fills five blocks from 58th to 63rd Streets between Second Avenue and the waterfront.

The EDC is currently leasing up another 14,000-square-foot micro-manufacturing cluster and hopes to begin marketing another 55,000 square feet for small makers later this year.

As part of his administration’s mission to create “good-paying jobs,” Mayor Bill de Blasio has pumped $115 million into renovating the former military supply base into a modern industrial facility. Last June, the city opened a 55,000-square-foot food manufacturing hub in the army terminal’s annex building. The space hosts the likes of Konery, a hand-rolled waffle cone maker, a Japanese salad dressing maker called MOMO Dressing and Salty Road, a salt-water taffy company.