After a more than a decade of wrangling about saving the Civil War-era homes of Admiral’s Row along Flushing Avenue at the old Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Navy Yard’s Development Corporation (BNYDC) approved a deal for the redevelopment of the site on May 12. The result will be the construction of two new buildings, the largest of which will house Wegmans as its anchor tenant. The new Wegmans, the company’s first store in the City of New York, will also be its smallest -74,000 square feet in size, which is comparable to the 80,000 square foot unit the Rochester, NY-based upscale merchant opened in Chestnut Hill, MA in 2014. The store is slated to open in late 2017.
The development of the Admirals Row site is projected to create more than 1,200 permanent jobs. Wegmans will initially hire 450 people, including 150 people in full-time positions. It is projected that the number of full-time positions may grow to as many as 250, with as many as 600 total jobs expected — twice the overall supermarket jobs and more than three times the full-time positions offered by other proposals vying for the site. In the end the BNYDC chose Steiner Studios/Steiner NYC as the developer of the $140 million project. Steiner Studios already occupies 580,000 square foot of space in the Brooklyn Naval Yard facility for its film and television production facility.
Wegmans will spend more than $2 million to recruit and train its workforce, and will utilize BNYDC’s Employment Center at BLDG 92 to recruit area residents for the jobs it will create. BNYDC’s local hiring plan includes collaboration with resident leaders from the local New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings and other community stakeholders, and includes setting up employment centers in the nearby NYCHA developments.
Wegmans will be located in one of two buildings set aside for restoration. A four story parking garage, with one to two stories of industrial space above it, will be built for use by Wegmans and other Navy Yard tenants.
The 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard, which was decommissioned in the 1960s and turned over to the city, has more than 4 million square feet of leasable space housing more than 330 tenants. Wegmans will be located in the Admiral’s Row section of the complex. Admiral’s Row will be a mixed use development. Along with Wegmans there will be 86,000 square feet of retail, commercial and office space and 125,000 square feet of light industrial space and 7,000 square feet of community facility space.
“The Brooklyn Navy Yard is proud to deliver on its promise to bring a supermarket to this neighborhood,” said BNYDC president and CEO David Ehrenberg. “But not just any grocery store. Wegmans is widely recognized as the country’s best supermarket for its affordable, quality food and is also recognized as the best retail employer in the country. And one of the reasons we selected them was because their employee compensation is consistently equal to or better than other food retailers in markets where they have stores. With Wegmans and the entire redevelopment of Admirals Row, local residents will gain needed amenities and the Brooklyn Navy Yard will further its mission to create good-paying, high-quality jobs for area residents. We look forward to working with Wegmans, Steiner NYC, and our community on this meaningful project.”
The new Wegmans will certainly heat up the already high level of competition in the area. Whole Foods in Gowanus is about two miles away from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Fairway’s Red Hook store is about three miles away.
“It is a thrill to bring Wegmans to Brooklyn, along with hundreds of new jobs. Our family started this company in 1916, and we built our business by always putting the needs of our employees first,” said Wegmans CEO Danny Wegman. “Our employees are part of our family, and they are the reason for our success. We are proud to be part of this exciting project and look forward to providing the very best quality and selection, consistent low prices, and incredible customer service to the local and wider Brooklyn community.”
