The Brooklyn Navy Yard (www.brooklynnavyyard.org) is a modern industrial park in a historical setting, dating back to 1802. With tenants representing a variety of industries like construction, theatrical set design, computer and office supplies, contracting, refrigerated distribution facilities, media communications and promotions, motor overhauling, and metal fabrication, the Navy Yard "is capable of handling any type of business." They're building steadily, and their occupancy rates- and the number of jobs being generated- are encouraging indeed.
MGB spoke with CEO Andrew Kimball about the Navy Yard's recipe for success.
When the Perry Avenue Building opened, Mayor Bloomberg remarked that "sustainable developments at the Navy Yard show that PlanNYC's goals of green buildings and renewable energy make sense economically as well as environmentally." Could you fill us in a little on the cost/benefit analysis involved in creating industrial space to LEED standards? How much of a differential is it up front, and how long does it take before the extra investment pays off?
People want to invest in green jobs; we've proven we can create them here. I think there is general across the board growth in green jobs. Consumers are demanding green products, and many business owners not only see the financial upside but believe that they have a positive role to play in helping the environment. There’s a social aspect incorporated into the mission.
When we started greening the Navy Yard three years ago, we had multiple reasons; one was to be a good neighbor. An industrial park in a dense urban area, to succeed and grow, needs to be doing everything possible to minimize its carbon footprint and green its infrastructure. New York City has been very good in terms of investing in the infrastructure- water sewer, electric- and we set out to make every investment as green as possible. As we ripped up roads, we did it with an eye to reducing storm water runoff.
Our search for renewable energy streetlights led to our own tenant, Duval Visual Solutions, who is developing a prototype wind and solar streetlamp, completely off the grid. We’re buying 90, and reducing our installation costs by $600,000- there is no wiring, no conduit pole to pole. Each individual pole is more expensive, but that’s a major savings, and it will save another $18,000 a year in electricity costs. It’s about being a good neighbor to the surrounding community.
We strive to meet and exceed state and federal standards. Using public funds means we must build to LEED standards. We decided to go above and beyond and say any building, whether we are using government money or not, will be built to at least LEED silver. We wanted to make a statement. Our new Perry building is being built with all private funds- it's a three story 90,000 square foot green building.
We began by going for at least silver, and then realized we could get to gold without too much trouble. And we decided, as we built out green elements, to take the chance to do some unique things. We have the city’s first building mounted wind turbines, a solar array on the roof. We capture the rainwater and use it in the toilets.
When we first decided to require green building, the usual estimate was that there would be a 2-3% premium on the front end which we'd earn back in 3-5 yrs. We were willing to take that gamble. We hoped to achieve other things too- by building green buildings, we hoped to encourage growth of green manufacturers in the Navy Yard. We wanted to become the destination of choice for that kind of industrial building, by going above and beyond. We hoped it would generate higher rents. Even though we are a private not-for- profit, we have to generate profit to reinvest and build more.
And on the first building, we did both- we leased the entire building to Surroundart, a tenant that treats and restores fine art and has greened a lot of its operations. Their clients, both private ones and cultural institutions, cared that they would be in a green environment. Surround Art was willing to pay a 15% premium to be in that building. We knew we’d get payback in energy savings, and we hoped for even more by attracting quality tenants who would pay more. When you look yard-wide at all the investments- new landscaping, street lamps, demo projects that highlight the greenness of the yard- demand for our space is high and it’s only going to increase.
When people think of creating industrial jobs in NYC, they think big- large scale manufacturers like the kind we had in the 1950s. Those jobs are not coming back, but small entrepreneurial businesses with relevance to the economy of today and in the future are coming up- for example, businesses serving the arts and culture industry. The sets that go into cultural venues, many are built at the Navy Yard.
The creative class is capitalizing on a good quality workforce- they tend to be people who live near their work, and hence care more about the environmental quality of both their business practices and the location. Many of the businesses are real green manufacturers- our green roster includes 30 businesses, including Duval.
It’s been a hard year for everybody. A lot of our businesses connected to home furnishings, for example, are hurting but they’re small and nimble and they’ll make it through. Out of 240 tenants, we probably lost 20 in the last year, but we immediately filled almost all those spaces, and we’ve had 100 requests in the past 12 months. Despite the economy, the requests are continuing to come in. And it’s the fact that we are aggressively redeveloping with a big emphasis on sustainability that makes us more attractive.
Do you think there is a tipping point out there, where green companies creating sustainable technology and materials in green facilities will actually dominate the market? How far are we from that possibility?
The shift is happening, no question. Whether they’re small or big businesses, companies are realizing that going green is simply good business. They may or may not have a sense of social mission but it’s just good business. The consumer demand is there now- we are at that tipping point. I'm not sure how long it'll take to outright dominate, but everything's moving in that direction, and it’s especially evident in our little microcosm of the Navy Yard.
What does it mean to the Brooklyn and NY metro community to have one of the most environmentally sustainable urban industrial parks in the nation doing business there? And when and how was the decision reached to make this a sustainable facility?
Three years ago we began to invest in basic infrastructure upgrades funded by the city through the mayor, and decided we would progressively seek to green infrastructure and create green policy for all new buildings going up. In addition to the new building we just finished, there are another six that are in various phases of design and moving toward construction. They’re all silver LEED or above- two are gold and one is a platinum Tenants putting up new buildings or doing massive retrofits, those are going to be LEED certified also.
It all dovetailed nicely with Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to green the city as much as possible. I think what it means for Brooklyn and NYC is that we are a showcase for how well-paying local industrial jobs play a very important role in the creation of sustainable communities and a sustainable city. Industrial jobs tend to pay 25% more than service sector jobs. That leads to a stronger, more vibrant middle class, better communities, better schools- there’s a positive ripple effect that can be replicated elsewhere in NYC and around the country, in terms of creating spaces and attracting some of the great creative talent that we have in New York to start businesses and grow them.
Do you know of any other places that are engaged in re-purposing and renovation of this kind of municipally owned facility on this kind of a scale? And whether or not you do, what advice would you offer?
There are some examples of repurposing former military facilities. The Philadelphia Navy Yard is a good example. One thing that is unique about what we are doing is that we are not doing any housing. Often, green projects are mixed use with housing included, which limits your industrial possibilities somewhat.
The second thing I think is key is very aggressive greening, not only to be good neighbors but to encourage and attract green businesses here, which I think is a model that could be replicated elsewhere. I know of places where they have set aside property to have just clean tech, which is good, but the tenants aren't there yet. It’s hard to find another place with thirty going green businesses.
We're trying to get up more buildings as fast as we can. It’s hard to make the economics work on industrial buildings, particularly multi-story-n that’s another unique thing happening here, Modern industrial construction is typically one story with a mezzanine. Our first building is three stories. We’re finding ways to chop up the upper stories to attract smaller businesses that want the light, but it’s very hard to make the economics work. Our new buildings are primarily privately financed, but we're trying to attract some public monies to get the numbers down as far as rents. That’s why the commitment from the state of sixteen million dollars for new green buildings is so important. It will help subsidize new industrial buildings in the Yard.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard dates back to 1801, and $200 million in adaptive reuse projects to renovate historic Navy-built buildings for their original industrial intent; using green technologies for renovations and maintenance, are under way. As any builder knows, renovating historic buildings can be challenging. Is it more so when we're talking about a green renovation?
A big part of sustainability is to adapt and reuse buildings that are old but not so decayed that they can’t be adapted and repurposed. For example, we’re taking three old machine shops that go back to the 1800s and reusing the steel and foundation materials to create multitenant spaces for green manufacturers. That's a key part of sustainability, reusing what you already have.
Comments, Pingbacks:
No Comments/Pingbacks for this post yet...
This post has 1 feedback awaiting moderation...
