They’re setting sail.
A Singaporean developer has opened a new private marina in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Conglomerate SUTL Group has started the soft opening of its ONE°15 Brooklyn Marina — its first such project in the U.S. — on eight acres of waterfront between piers 4 and 5 at the price tag of more than $28 million this month and will fully open the wharf in June, which will berth up to 100 boats and offer space for casual captains at the first new marina in decades, according to its developer.
“ONE°15 is proud to bring to fruition the first new marina in New York Harbor in a generation and to welcome water enthusiasts to the calmest waters in the New York Harbor basin,” SUTL Chief Arthur Tay said.
In addition to its Singapore docks, SUTL also has landings in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Vietnam, according to its website.
The semi-private Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation put up a request for proposals to develop the river space back in 2014, which Michigander maritime company Edgewater Resources accepted before SUTL took over the bid the following year, according to Lau.
The Kings County jetties will host space for boats ranging in size from dinghies to 200-foot vessels and they will keep space for their community dock where casual boaters can launch into the East River on more casual watercraft such as kayaks, according to the company’s website.
The organization will also donate two percent of its marina services revenue to support free and low-cost community boating, according to the site.
The wharf is accessible to people with disabilities and the company has a sailing club with several levels of expensive membership packages, starting at $400 per year for access to a clubhouse, barbecues, and social gatherings, all the way to a $1,200 full membership, allowing for unlimited sails as crew.
The club is already hosting its first sailing race this week, the company’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Estelle Lau told this paper.
Boats are currently moored at the pier and Lau expects dozens more to come from shores further south in the warmer months.
“We have 15-20 seasonal boats and larger boats will come up from Florida will be coming in through the next few weeks and months,” she said. “We have dozens [of] inquiries.”
The company will finish up construction in the coming months and plans to open a clubhouse on a docked boat some time in the next season, which kicks off next spring.
But to keep the boats steady while docked, engineers behind the project installed deep draft steel barges — so-called wave attenuators — to calm the tides and choppy waters.
The company worked with city, state, and federal agencies, including the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, U.S. Army Core of Engineers, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to ensure they built the pier in an environmentally friendly way and without interfering with the R train, which crosses the river from Brooklyn Heights to Manhattan in an underground tunnel below the location, according to the quay’s manager.
“ONE°15 Brooklyn’s operational team worked closely with engineers, architects and its Singapore-based ownership unit to maximize the usage of this space, conveniently located off the banks of Brooklyn Heights,” said John Winson.
