Sunset Park

July 15, 2016

The New York Wheel Gets Its First Shipment of Crane Parts

Sunset Park was recently named one of the 15 coolest neighborhoods in the country, due in large part to the burgeoning success of Industry City and the Bush Terminal Park. And in addition to its booming creative sector, the 'hood can now include a revival of its shipping industry on its growing list of assets. As DNAinfo reports, on June 28th a cargo ship from Denmark carrying large crane parts for construction of Staten Island's New York Wheel arrived at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT), where it was docked for five days with around 30 union longshoreman moving the cargo. This was the first shipment to the site in more than 10 years, revitalizing it as "a working maritime port facility" that will hopefully create hundreds of jobs.
Find out more
July 6, 2016

$1.4M Townhouse in Rising-Star Sunset Park Includes a Magical Backyard Studio

While it may not be palatial, this sweet three-bedroom, two-story (plus finished basement) townhouse at 455 37th Street in Sunset Park on a lovely street of tidy 1900s row houses would make a terrific “condo alternative.” Sunset Park, which the listing reminds us was recently dubbed the nation's number one "edgy cool" neighborhood, is indeed a rising star. With exciting projects in the works at Industry City, an amazingly diverse mix of residents, proximity to transportation, parks and the waterfront and even a recent turn as the winter home of the Brooklyn Flea, Sunset Park is one of those places you might wish you’d moved to years ago. But there are still deals to be had among the just-as-diverse housing choices, like this well-preserved home asking $1.405 million. And a magical back yard with an utterly charming garden studio are definitely something you won't find in most condos.
Take a look inside
June 29, 2016

POLL: Is Sunset Park One of the 15 Coolest Neighborhoods in America?

Move over Bushwick and Williamsburg, Sunset Park is the new cool kid in the borough. Curbed shared a report from Cushman & Wakefield that names the 100 coolest streets in the country, and coming in among the top 15 neighborhoods is Sunset Park, "where boxes and independents co-exist." The report points to a bohemian exodus from Williamsburg, which has become more mainstream and pricey. And though hipsters are moving to 'hoods like Bed Stuy and Crown Heights, Sunset Park outdoes them with a unique type of retail growth and creative sector thanks to the Bush Terminal Park and Industry City. The millennial population is about 27 percent and the average household income is $81,529.
Let us know if you agree with this analysis
May 26, 2016

Design Firm Reimagines Neglected Space Under the BQE as a Food Court and Sports Center

NYC-based design firm Buro Koray Duman has come up with a series of plans to use the under-utilized space beneath the BQE in a site near Sunset Park's Industry City, the massive waterfront industrial complex which itself has recently experienced a renaissance as a hub for designers and local manufacturers. The elevated highway separates Industry City from the rest of the neighborhood, and the proposed uses would connect the space beneath with the creative and commercial energy of the complex. According to Dezeen, the firm saw an opportunity to put the empty sub-highway space to good use and add "more color and convenience to the city's daily life."
Find out more about the two ideas for the under-highway space
October 27, 2015

Look Inside NYC’s Strangely Beautiful Glass and Plastic Recycling Facility

Each day, the 11-acre Sims Municipal Recycling facility unloads up to 450 tons of waste on a city-owned pier (on what used to be an NYPD impoundment lot) in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Though this seems like a dirty job, the process of recycling all this glass and plastic turns out to be strangely beautiful. CityLab recently explored the facility's photogenic quality through Instagram photos and talked to its manager to learn that recycling in NYC is not an urban myth like some people believe. In fact, since 2013, around 7,000 guests have toured the Sims facility.
Get a look at what they saw
July 23, 2015

6sqft Behind the Scenes: Take a Tour of MakerBot’s New 3D Printer Factory in Brooklyn

MakerBot has officially opened its brand new factory in Industry City in Brooklyn's Sunset Park. The 170,000-square-foot space spans three floors, with the main production lines on the third floor of the building. The new location is four times larger than the company's previous Industry City location and will allow the company to double its production of 3D printers. This is far cry from the garage it started out in nearly two and a half years ago. MakerBot kicked off the opening of its new locale yesterday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that featured MakerBot CEO Jonathan Jaglom and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. We were on the scene to capture this latest milestone for the 3D printer company.
Have a closer look here
May 18, 2015

VIDEO: Preview the Interiors of Jean Nouvel’s MoMA Tower Ahead of This Week’s Sales Launch

Since it started making news in 2006, the starchitect-designed condominium tower at 53 West 53rd Street, officially known as 53W53 along Manhattan's "Billionaire's Row," has progressed slowly, stalled until last September when developers were able to obtain 240,000 square feet of development rights from MoMA and the St. Thomas Episcopal Church for $85.3 million and secure a $860 million construction loan. The Jean Nouvel-designed 1,050-foot asymmetrical tower, often called MoMA Tower, is adjacent to the museum and will occupy three of its lower floors. Now Bloomberg brings us a video interview with Nouvel and interior designer Thierry Despont from the building's sales gallery that opens the door on the building's interiors–or at least those of the building's furnished model unit, which is more than we've gotten so far. We also get to behold a sleek model of the tower's facade surrounded by its neighbors. The architect says that there are "...almost no two similar apartments in the building because on every floor the shape and the layouts are different."
Check out the interiors and the video this way
May 9, 2015

May Design Agenda: 6sqft’s Guide to Navigating NYCxDesign Week

NYCxDESIGN, New York City’s official celebration of all things design, hits town from May 8–19, 2015. Home to more designers than any other US metro area, NYC is one of the world’s design capitals. Now in its third year, NYCxDESIGN spotlights the city’s diverse design community and its contributions to our economy and everyday life and increases awareness of and appreciation for design with a collaborative mix of cultural and commercial offerings. The seemingly endless program lineup offers exhibitions, installations, trade shows, talks, launches, open studios and receptions all across the city to celebrate the efforts of everyone from students to stars of the local and international design community. This year will see hundreds of events covering topics from graphic design to architecture, technology and urban design to fashion and product design, interiors to landscape, furniture to design thinking and more. It will be hard to head in any direction and not stumble into a design-related event, but we've compiled a guide to a few of the top collaborative efforts and highlighted some of our picks.
Check out our Design Week picks, this way
April 17, 2015

New Yorker Spotlight: Getting the Scoop with Jennie Dundas of Brooklyn’s Blue Marble Ice Cream

Spring may have taken its time this year, but the sun is shining, the trees are finally starting to bloom, and this means one thing–it's officially ice cream season. If you're looking for the perfect local scoop, which also happens to be consciously sourced and organic, then you might just stop by Blue Marble Ice Cream's Cobble Hill or Prospect Heights shops or pick up one of their pints on your next grocery store trip. Blue Marble Ice Cream was co-founded in 2007 by former roommates turned entrepreneurs Jennie Dundas and Alexis Gallivan. For Jennie and Alexis, who originally connected on Craiglist, a love of ice cream inspired them to open a scoop shop. And while neither had a business background, they were determined and opened up in Brooklyn. Fast forward several years, and Blue Marble is ready to expand nationwide after being picked up by a number of major supermarket chains. On a local scale, they're part of a wave of businesses helping to transform Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, something of which the company is extremely proud. We recently spoke with Jennie to get the scoop on Blue Marble's founding, its headquarters in Industry City, and of course, to find out why ice cream is everyone's favorite warm-weather (or year-round!) treat.
Read our interview with Jennie here
March 10, 2015

Renderings, Details Revealed for Massive $1B Industry City Redevelopment in Sunset Park

For the past year or so we've heard plenty of chirpings about Industry City, the former Bush Terminal on the Sunset Park waterfront that Jamestown Properties plans to transform into "a dynamic 21st century innovation and manufacturing community that balances existing manufacturing tenants with those centered on creative and innovation economy fields." But now, Jamestown, along with fellow owners Belvedere Capital, and Angelo Gordon, have announced that the overhaul of the 32-acre complex's 16 buildings will cost $1 billion and include a hotel, along with a huge amount of retail and tech start-up space. They also want an additional $115 million in infrastructure improvements like a massive new parking lot, as well as some rezoning concessions.
Find out more about the future of Industry City
January 13, 2015

Making the Cut: Is NYC Still the World’s Fashion Capital?

Will 21st century New York City be able to retain its fashion capital status? How does an aspiring fashionista build a brilliant career? The answers come from a winning combination of education, innovation and inspiration, plus financial and media support. Though styles come and go with dizzying speed and designers fall in and out of favor, New York City has held the title of global fashion capital since the mid 20th century, when it rose to prominence with the unprecedented idea of developing sportswear as fashion. Today’s NYC is home to some of the world's top fashion schools whose famous graduates add to the city’s fashion culture and networks. Foreign designers choose to live and work here because of this status and creative energy, adding even more to the fabric. We may share this pedestal with quirky London–and trés chic Paris, the brainy Belgians, the stylish Scandinavians and the ascendant Aussies make things more interesting–but NYC is known as the place where style ideas and trends are born and exchanged.
But is NYC still the world's fashion capital?
December 15, 2014

Daily Link Fix: A History of the Rockettes; Journalists and Researchers Have Different Ideas of Gentrification

Did you  know the Rockettes were originally the Missouri Rockets? Read this full history of the leggy holiday dancers. [Bowery Boys] A neighborhood guide to the Latino and Chinese cultures of Sunset Park. [Brooklyn Based] There seems to be a disparity between what journalists report as gentrification and what research actually finds. [City Lab] This […]

November 13, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Paris Hilton Buys Noho Penthouse; $51M Tribeca Condo Could Set Downtown Sales Record

Paris Hilton buys a $5 million Noho penthouse at 738 Broadway. [TRD] A crazy waterfront compound in Brooklyn’s Mill Basin drops its price from $30 million to $17 million. [Curbed] Developers are offering to build a high-tech elementary school at Sunset Park’s forthcoming mega complex. [Brooklyn Paper] Bed Stuy is getting two Karl Fischer-designed apartment buildings. […]

November 7, 2014

Bush Terminal Piers Park Opens on the Sunset Park Waterfront

Sunset Park has gotten people's attention in recent months–ours included–thanks to an influx of creative and commercial opportunities, as well as the major Industry City development. Located in the former Bush Terminal, the 16-building, 6.5 million-square-foot complex is being remodeled with the intent of creating “a dynamic 21st century innovation and manufacturing community that balances existing manufacturing tenants with those centered on creative and innovation economy fields.” And adjacent to the site is Liberty View Industrial Plaza, an eight-story, 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse that will offer work space. These waterfront developments are touting Sunset Park as a walk-to-work neighborhood, and now residents will have a new park to stroll through on their way in to the office. Bush Terminal Piers Park opened this week after being in the works since the '90s. Extending from 45th to 50th Streets along the waterfront, Brooklyn's newest park sits atop a former toxic waste site, but was cleaned up over the past decade and now offers an esplanade overlooking tide ponds and restored wetlands.
More on the park and its surrounding neighborhood
October 2, 2014

Real Estate Wire: Listings Hit for 160 Imlay; Mega Mixed-Use Development Coming to Sunset Park

Listings hit for 160 Imlay, the Morris Adjmi-designed conversion in Red Hook. [Brownstoner] Commercial building sales expected to top $52 billion this year, the highest since 2007. [Daily News] Jets owner Woody Johnson lists 834 Fifth Avenue duplex for $75 million. [New York Post] Developers bring back plans for mixed-use complex in Sunset Park. [Brooklyn Paper] […]

September 20, 2014

Weekly Highlights: Top Picks from the 6sqft Staff

The East River Skyway is revealed, and it could bring commuters from Brooklyn to Manhattan in under four minutes. Could it be the solution for increasing public transportation congestion? We talk to architect Adam Kushner about building the world’s first 3D-printed estate. See how a former Tribeca automotive garage was transformed into a space for living, art, and commerce. Sunset […]

September 17, 2014

Sunset Park: How Creativity and Commerce are Transforming This Waterfront Neighborhood

With plans in place that call for a public waterfront bustling with creative industry and commerce rather than luxury residential developments, Sunset Park is not on its way to becoming the next hip NYC residential neighborhood–and that’s a good thing. Located on Brooklyn's western waterfront flank, there are really two sides to Sunset Park. The neighborhood, generally defined as the area between 65th Street, the Prospect Expressway, Eighth Avenue and the East River, has long been a thriving residential community. Sunset Park is also home to about 15 million square feet of warehouse and light industrial space. The key to the neighborhood’s future may be the point at which the two meet.
Find Out How Fashion May Give Sunset Park a Chance to Shine As the New Garment District
June 5, 2014

Jamestown Properties Wants to Turn Sunset Park’s Industry City Into the Next Chelsea Market

If you renovate, will they come? It’s been less than a year since Jamestown Properties, the developer behind the successful Chelsea Market, acquired a 50% stake in the mostly abandoned industrial warehouse complex in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park known as Industry City. Along with investment partners Belvedere Capital and Angelo, Gordon & Company, Jamestown plans to translate the success of Chelsea Market on a scale six times the size – 16 buildings encompassing over 6 million square feet formerly known as Bush Terminal. But while Brooklyn is currently the darling of the five boroughs, Sunset Park doesn’t quite have the cache of Chelsea – yet, and the viability of such an enormous undertaking is ten years in the making.
Watch a video interview with the developers this way
May 19, 2014

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, No… It’s Sebastian Errazuriz’s Giant Golden Cow Piñata!

Undeniably, there is much symbolism attached to artist designer Sebastian Errazuriz’s giant golden cow piñata on display in Industry City in conjunction with NYCxDESIGN, New York City’s official citywide celebration of – you guessed it – design. One look at the suspended shimmering beast and you’re likely to be reminded of the infamous golden calf Bible story about idolatry (Exodus 32:1–6, if you’re interested) or notice its uncanny resemblance to Wall Street’s iconic charging bull.
See more of this oversized golden pinata