By Faaria Kherani
Sunset Park’s Brooklyn Army Terminal, the embarkation point for 3 million soldiers and massive, ocean-going vessels in years past, is carving out a future as the centerpiece of Brooklyn’s commercial biotechnology boom.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center are spearheading the ambitious biotechnology development. Until now, however, the local community itself has had little involvement in the large-scale development happening in its own backyard.
New York City and New York State have put up $12 million and $48 million, respectively, to fund the new center, called BioBAT, after its Brooklyn Army Terminal location on Sunset Park’s western waterfront between 58th and 63rd streets.
BioBAT will occupy the massive, nine-story Building A of the terminal, which has been sitting vacant for years.
According to BioBAT President Dr. Eva Cramer, the building will provide 486,000 square feet of commercial space for companies engaging in biotech research. The project is slated for completion in 2011, although the recession has slowed the process. The anchor tenant, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), occupies 36,000 square feet – approximately 7 percent – and has 40 employees working at the still mostly empty BioBAT facility.
Though the army terminal project promises to become a crucial part for local neighborhood development, Jeremy Laufer, district manager of Community Board 7 (CB7), said the Sunset Park community has been woefully left out of the process. He said the EDC did not explain the project to the community board at any point, and CB7 Chair Randolph Peers said neighborhood representatives were “not even invited to the Mayor’s announcement, or the ribbon cutting.”
BioBAT’s Cramer says not inviting any community board representative to the opening ceremonies was an oversight. “I apologize. I am extremely anxious to work with the neighborhood because I think there’s wonderful opportunity for everyone to grow together,” she said. Cramer noted that Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez, who grew up in Sunset Park, was asked to speak at the Mayor’s announcement.
To further integrate future employees into neighborhood businesses, Cramer said she is working to arrange a local van service to shuttle between the Army Terminal and Fifth Avenue, one of Sunset Park’s most lively streets. Employees will be able to eat, shop, and relax on Fifth Avenue during breaks.
Despite the recent communication gap between the developers and the community leaders, all parties involved said they fully support the project’s overall goal of developing Brooklyn as a center for biotechnology research. Laufer stressed that the community board “supports improving the economic climate in the community and bringing jobs to the community.” This will involve initiating a connection between the expectations of Sunset Park’s residents and the high hopes of biotech developers.
The development is expected to create over 1,000 well-paying jobs, according to Mayor Bloomberg. Most newly created jobs will be for scientists and researchers, but blue-collar jobs will also need to be filled.
“They would be more the secretarial type jobs,” says Cramer. “One of the wonderful things [about BioBAT] is that you can ship from there. Obviously we would need help in loading, shipping, and trucking.”
According to Cramer, the army terminal in Sunset Park was chosen because it sits on 97 acres of land and is close to the N subway line, which provides direct access to main transportation lines in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The terminal also has it’s own ferry landing with water taxi service to lower Manhattan. Researchers and employees will have the option of living in Manhattan or will be able to commute to BioBAT from Downstate Medical Center in East Flatbush.
BioBAT is the final step in Downstate Medical Center’s three-phase project for biotech development. Downstate already has an incubator, a smaller-scale facility for young companies in their nascent stages, and an accelerator facility, where larger biotech research companies can move in order to grow more quickly.
Downstate’s investment in the project allows them to find jobs and internships for students with top biotech companies without leaving New York City. Four Downstate students are currently working with IAVI at the BioBAT location.
Cramer sees BioBAT as a potential global center for biotechnology development. “My goal is to have all that space turn into an enormous science park.” According to Cramer, science parks around the world want to collaborate and establish satellite offices worldwide.
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