The crumbling Admirals Row will finally be transformed into a giant supermarket and retail and industrial space under the latest redevelopment plan unveiled by the Brooklyn Navy Yard this week.
“We are thrilled to be one step closer to delivering on our longstanding commitment to create 500 industrial and retail jobs on the Admirals Row and bring access to fresh, affordable produce in the community,” Navy Yard CEO Andrew Kimball said on Monday.
Admirals Row, which overlooks Flushing Avenue near Navy Street, sits on six acres of federally owned land in the otherwise city-controlled Navy Yard.
City planners have eyed the site for decades, but jumpstarted the effort in 2007, with a plan to build a major supermarket topped with four stories of industrial space.
Preservationists demanded that the Navy Yard save all 12 of the majestic Admirals Row structures, a relic of the days when naval officers and their families lived on site. Such objections led the National Guard, which owns the buildings, to begin an arduous and protracted review process that led to a 2009 compromise between the feds and the Navy Yard to save the Timber Shed and Building B, a former officer’s mansion.
But even that deal was delayed after the city fired a previous developer after he was implicated in the state Sen. Carl Kruger bribery scandal in March.
But this week, local elected officials were cheering the plan, which will bring a supermarket — and jobs — to residents of the nearby Farragut, Ingersoll and Walt Whitman public housing developments.
“These are the folks who have the most to benefit,” said Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Fort Greene). “The Navy Yard has a responsible plan.”
Actually, it has nothing yet.
The Navy Yard must first acquire the land — and to do so, the land swap must first go through the seven-month public review process, which will start with hearings by Community Board 2 before reaching Borough President Markowitz, the City Planning Commission and the Council Council for a final vote.
After the Navy Yard acquires the land, it will request proposals from developers to design and build the supermarket and save the crumbling Timber Shed, a structure used to store ship’s masts and the last of its kind, and Building B.
