Industry City

A business and business incubation park along 36th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Industry City has been called the nation’s largest adaptive reuse of an industrial campus. Spread over more than 35 acres, it includes 16 former factory buildings and 11 old warehouses dating from the turn of the 19th century.

The original campus fell into disrepair after World War II—and in some cases fell directly into the water—and by the 1970s was used for multiple purposes, including a federal prison. Its present-day incarnation began in the 21st century as the city backed transforming much of the area into a tech hub. Those plans widened and accelerated after a venture between Belvedere Capital, Jamestown Properties and Angelo Gordon & Company purchased Industry City in 2013. The venture, which Jamestown and Belvedere lead, have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on renovations, including creating a practice facility for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets.

As of 2020, Industry City included 6 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space with around 500 companies from myriad fields—including media, technology, food, art and the nonprofit world—calling it home.

The owners want to keep expanding Industry City. A rezoning first made public in 2015 that would allow for more commercial square footage advanced past the City Planning Commission in late 2020, despite opposition from the local City Council member Carlos Menchaca. He and others object to the possible displacement of Sunset Park residents. Menchaca’s opposition could yet sink the rezoning.