Building big on the banks
Massive distribution center set to rise near mouth of Gowanus Canal
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
Developers will erect what
they claim will be the country’s
largest distribution center
on an 18-acre site near the
mouth of the Gowanus Canal,
after purchasing the massive
swath of land earlier this year.
The four-story facility will
occupy more than 22 football
fi elds’ worth of Third Avenue
land between 19th and
21st streets, which real-estate
fi rms Bridge Development
Partners and DH Property
Holdings purchased for $255
million in early January, according
to Bridge Development
Partners executive Jeff
Milanaik.
The center will feature a
so-called “intricate ramping
system” to transport goods
to awaiting tractor trailers,
which will shuttle its yet-tobe
determined inventory on
same-day deliveries to fi nal
destinations in Manhattan,
Brooklyn, and Queens, according
to the developers.
The builders have yet to
court any prospective tenants
for the facility, said Milanaik,
and they currently do not know
how many trucks will be driving
to and from it each day.
But any increase in big rigs
on local streets is likely to rile
nearby Sunset Parkers, who
last year demanded the city
conduct a truck-impact study
as offi cials moved forward
with their plans to revitalize
the commercial shipping hub
at the neighborhood’s South
Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Work at the massive site
will begin in about two years,
and start with the demolition
of the current FedEx
Ship Center at 20th Street and
Third Avenue and more than
30 other nearby buildings,
none of which are residential,
according to Milanaik.
The builders will construct
the distribution center under
the area’s current zoning law,
he said, so their scheme will
not require city approval via
the public Uniform Land Use
Review Procedure .
The developers claim the
forthcoming facility will create
new jobs on-site and in
the surrounding neighborhoods,
but Milanaik said it
COURIER L 16 IFE, MARCH 15–21, 2019 M BR B G
is too early to determine the
exact amount or types of jobs
that may open up, adding that
the builders will keep locals
in the loop about the project’s
progress and employment opportunities.
“As we get closer to the
start of the demolition and
redevelopment phases, the
development company will
coordinate with the local community
to keep them informed
as the project starts and progresses,”
he said.
The top staffer of local
Community Board 7, District
Manager Jeremy Laufer, said
the panel does not have any information
about the distribution
center beyond the details
the developers publicly shared
when they closed the deal to
buy the land.
And one of the facility’s
builders is not new to the area.
DH Property Holdings honchos
in 2017 purchased a fouracre
plot in nearby Red Hook
from real-estate fi rm 601 West
Companies — the same company
that sold them the Third
Avenue land this year — where
they plan to build a space the
size of six football fi elds for ecommerce
tenants, according
to a Real Deal report .
COMING SOON: Developers plan to erect what they say will be the country’s
largest distribution center at an 18-acre site on Third Avenue between
19th and 21st streets.
Bridge Development Partners and DH Property Holdings