New York inks South Brooklyn Marine lease

The New York City Economic Development Corporation has invested more than $115 million to reactivate the terminal as a shipping hub.     New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has signed a lease through 2054 with developers and a stevedoring company that plan to reactivate the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal as a shipping hub.
    NYCEDC said it has signed a long-term lease with Red Hook Container Terminal and Industry City. Red Hook Terminals operates terminals in another part of Brooklyn and Newark, N.J. Industry City is a developer of the area surrounding the marine terminal, what was once known as the Bush Terminals.
   The new shipping terminal will be called the Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and will encompass 64.5 acres. The entire site encompasses 88 acres and includes a recycling facility that has been operational for several years. NYCEDC says it has invested more than $115 million to reactivate the terminal.
   The developers say they expect to move more than 900,000 metric tons of material annually through the port.
   In the short term, 250 jobs are expected to be created.
   New uses for the facility include waste paper recycling and export, the importation of lumber, salt and aggregate material, container-on barge-operations and project cargo.
   Already the terminal has served as a staging area for components for the New York Wheel, a Ferris Wheel that promoters are planning to build on Staten Island and would be similar to the London Eye. The future of that project is uncertain, however, as work stopped last year in a dispute between the developer and the contractor building it. However, a press report on Wednesday said the “630-foot observation wheel is close to getting back on track.”
   SSBMT said it also has the potential to create over 1,000 additional jobs by serving as a fabrication hub for prospective tenant Deepwater Wind, which it said “has indicated its interest in establishing a major offshore wind jobs hub on the Brooklyn waterfront to support its South Fork Wind Farm and future projects.”