Public Records Bringing New Live Events Venue to Brooklyn’s Sunset Park

The team behind the Gowanus live music space Public Records will bring a new 1,000-capacity music and events venue to the MADE Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, according to an announcement from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). 

The new venue, which has not yet been named but will not be called Public Records, is expected to open in late 2026. Christine Nebiar and Taryn Brandes with Brand Urban represented NYCEDC and MADE Bush Terminal. Nebiar and Emily Green, also with Brand Urban, represented Public Records. 

The venue — to be located within the seven-building campus’ Building A — will host live music as well as large-scale art installations and public and private events. Public Service, the creative studio of Public Records, will guide the project, working in collaboration with nARCHITECTS, the architects for MADE Bush Terminal, along with design consultancy Arup and lighting designer Ben Kreukniet with BK Studio, according to the announcement.

“We’re honored to partner with NYCEDC and support their vision to bring new cultural infrastructure to South Brooklyn. Our creative practice is particularly inspired by opportunities to re-envision and re-enliven historic spaces through design, hospitality and artistic curation,” Shane Davis, co-founder of Public Records, said in the announcement earlier this month. “To do so in concert with a project dedicated to supporting the greater arts and production community in New York aligns perfectly with our organizational interests and aspirations.”

The venue will not be operated through a traditional lease agreement, but rather as part of a 10-year management agreement between NYCEDC and Public Service.

“It has a 1,000-plus-person capacity and triple-height ceilings, along with views of the New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty,” said Waverly Neer, vice president of asset management for NYCEDC. “We knew that something really special and important could happen here.” 

Neer emphasized that the space is expected to prosper for far longer than the 10 years it’s currently contracted for.

“NYCEDC and Public Records are not landlord and tenant. They’re really our business partner, our operator for this space,” said Neer. “The deal itself is 10 years, but we’re really in it for the long run with Public Records, and I think that’s mutual. We hope to see this flourish and grow far beyond just the 10 years that we’ve committed to each other.”

The venue will be the first new space to open on the MADE Bush Terminal campus. Neer sees it as vital for helping to activate the community.

“Public Records has a great corner in the market in terms of live music events,” she said. “But I think they also envision this space being an opportunity to bring arts events and other community events to the ground floor.”

MADE Bush Terminal, formerly known simply as Bush Terminal, was an early 20th-century pier complex where ships would unload goods into warehouses. Prior to World War II, the complex employed upward of 35,000 people, according to Neer.

“It was an economic workhorse not just for Brooklyn and New York City, but for the country,” said Neer, noting that changes to the industry after the war led to decades of decline for the complex.

The city, which had taken control of the site in the 1980s, announced a revisioning plan in 2017 led by NYCEDC, intended to support small-format manufacturing, small businesses and public open space. MADE was added to the name to stand for “manufacturers, artisans, designers and entrepreneurs.”

NYCEDC completed development on the campus’ first building, which is around 200,000 square feet and will house the new venue on the ground floor, at the end of last year. It included a new waterfront esplanade that is currently open to the public. 

“It’s pretty incredible. You can just walk right onto campus and be right on the New York Harbor,” said Neer. “It’s all part of the mission to open up this site to the surrounding neighborhood and other Brooklynites, and for people to come and enjoy beautiful waterfront space. Then the upper floors of that building are small format manufacturing spaces.”

The new venue, restored from a former warehouse, will be around 10,000 square feet. The ground floor of the building is 30,000 square feet, with the rest expected to be occupied by various community organizations as well as food and beverage outlets. 

The overall campus redevelopment will continue with six more buildings to be restored, and the conversion of a 5-acre pier into a public park. Neer expects the rest of the development to take five to eight years.

“There are four core buildings between 41st and 43rd streets, all ranging approximately between 150,000 and 250,000 square feet, all old multistory industrial buildings,” said Neer. “Then there are three small auxiliary buildings along 43rd Street. The plan is for those to be more amenitized buildings for the campus.”

Given the development’s proximity to Industry City and the similar missions and makeup of the complexes, Neer notes that the expanse of the initial Bush Terminal includes both the current MADE Bush Terminal and Industry City. Long separated, the key difference is that Industry City was subject to private development, while MADE Bush Terminal is city-owned.

“We’re neighbors, and I think there is quite a bit of shared mission around supporting small businesses and folks in the manufacturing space on the waterfront,” Neer said.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.