Shovels strike promise for future of Brooklyn navy yard.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) President and CEO Andrew H. Kimball this week broke ground on an 89,000 s/f industrial building on Perry Avenue in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The project is part of a seven-building expansion initiative over the next three years that is expected to generate up to 800 new jobs at one of the City's largest and most successful industrial centers. It will create 401,900 s/f of additional industrial capacity at the 300-acre Navy Yard.

BNYDC, along with Navy Yard tenants, will bear expansion costs associated with construction of the seven new buildings, which will have an estimated value of $106 million. Construction of the $20 million Perry Avenue project is expected to be financed through JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. with the participation of other locally based banks. The City's capital budget is providing $140 million for infrastructure improvements at the Yard over the next three years.

Partial demolition and rehabilitation work will soon begin at Building 128 to create three new industrial buildings focused on the food manufacturing and processing sector.

Two new buildings totaling 175,000 s/f will also be built using land to be made available through shrinkage of the NYPD tow pound at the corner of Sands Street and Navy Street.

The 401,900 s/f expansion represents Phase I of the Navy Yard's growth plans. Phase II will include up to 1.5 million square feet of added industrial space in the eastern portion. BNYDC will apply to the U.S. Green Building Council for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver rating and aims to transform the Navy Yard into America's "greenest" industrial park. TDX Construction Corporation of Manhattan is construction manager for the Perry Avenue project.