The New York Economic Development Corporation has released designs for the Garment Manufacturing Hub and public realm components of the new Made in NY (MiNY) Campus at Bush Terminal in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
The MiNY Campus will provide affordable, best-in-class industrial facilities for garment manufacturing, film and media production, and related services and industries. Set to open in Spring 2021, the Garment Hub is envisioned as a center of gravity for local manufacturing, sustainable fashion and textile technology innovation in New York City, featuring a diverse fashion ecosystem that co-locates garment manufacturers and emerging designers.
NYCEDC is also delivering 5.3 acres of new public space to complement the adjacent Bush Terminal Piers Park, as well as providing new amenities to the community and campus workers. Public amenities will include landscaped waterfront access, enhanced streetscapes, pedestrianized plazas and a water play feature.
“The new Made in New York Campus brings exciting opportunities to the Sunset Park community, providing affordable workspace for innovative and sustainable companies, while also creating good jobs for local residents,” Jhaelen Hernandez-Eli, NYCEDC senior vice president and department head of design and construction, said.
In March, NYCEDC announced the selection of a Brooklyn-based team to design the garment manufacturing hub of the new MiNY Campus, transforming city-owned buildings into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
After decades of erosion and recent revival, garment manufacturing comprises 30 percent of the city’s manufacturing jobs, according to NYCEDC. To accommodate the expanding industry and workforce, the new campus will include the renovation of a 200,000-square-foot building into a cutting-edge Garment Manufacturing Hub, with workspaces ranging from 2,000 to 40,000 square feet. The Hub will support as many as 30 garment manufacturing companies, with tenants involved in pattern making, marking and grading, cutting and sewing, and sample making.
Sunset Park has the second largest concentration of garment manufacturers in New York City, after the Garment District in Midtown Manhattan. The MiNY Campus and Garment Hub builds on this foundation and will create additional opportunities for local businesses and sector workers for the future, NYCEDC said.
NYCEDC also announced a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for one or more partners to operate a research and development center and training partnership in the hub. The RFEI targets fashion brands or garment makers seeking to grow their presence in the city; science or technology firms driving research and development (R&D) in the fashion industry; academic programs in the fashion and design fields; mission-driven organization supporting the sector; and companies along the fashion supply chain or manufacturing logistics sector.
With a focus on local production, on-demand and advanced manufacturing, sustainable processes and circular fashion, material technology and textile innovation, NYCEDC said the RFEI is seeking two types of proposals–concepts for an R&D center, innovation laboratory and/or business accelerator, and proposals for programming to train garment sector workers and local workforce. Tenants in the hub will be required to utilize the City’s workforce development programs HireNYC and Workforce1 to connect New Yorkers with good, local job opportunities.
The new campus reflects the goals of the Industrial Action Plan released in November 2015 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, designed to spur thousands of well-paying manufacturing jobs through large investments in city-owned assets. The new manufacturing facilities also advance NYCEDC’s Sunset Park Vision Plan that aims to improve community infrastructure, professionalize maritime and rail service, and create new industrial jobs along the Sunset Park waterfront.
