A massive new clothing manufacturing center is coming to Brooklyn’s Bush Terminal — and bringing 1,500 new jobs when it opens in 2021, according to city reps.
Manufacturing honchos at Made in New York — a branch of the quasi-governmental, pro-development group, the Economic Development Corporation — announced the 200,000 square foot manufacturing complex, which will house between 20 and 30 clothes-making companies along the First Avenue waterfront near 50th Street.
Currently, garment makers comprise 30-percent of all manufacturing jobs citywide, and the neighborhood surrounding the planned facility is home to the second most garment manufacturers in all five boroughs — making this the ideal spot for a sprawling new industrial complex, according to development honchos.
The new facility will include a 5.3-acre promenade with public access along the shoreline, according to the architect behind the planned public space.
“We are pleased to be part of the team which will open this significant historic campus to the public, and create a more sustainable and accessible waterfront in Brooklyn,” said Barbara Wilks of W Architecture.
With the hotly debated rezoning of nearby Industry City, many community activists have pushed for more manufacturing jobs in the area, which is zoned as an Industrial Business Zone along the waterfront.
Activists say the jobs are more accessible to the largely working-class immigrant community, and pay better than the retail jobs Industry City has offered as an incentive for their rezoning.
However, many locals say the city’s inability to provide the details on compensation for the 1,500 promised jobs makes them hard to get excited about.
“How do they expect the average working-class immigrant Sunset Park resident to answer that question ‘Are these the types of jobs that we need’ when we don’t even know the salary information?” said Jorge Muñiz Reyes, a community organizer. “This is just part of a larger pattern of big promises being made to a neighborhood without any factual basis to back up those bold claims.”
