Hasta La Ideas

Even as real estate agents push Williamsburg’s eastern border deeper and deeper into Bushwick proper (at least there’s a borough line to demarcate where Ridgewood begins) and the Brooklyn Navy Yard sees a fair share of artists and designers fill its massive warehouses, the City and its commercial real estate partners are looking to revive the historic manufacturing center of Sunset Park. The neighborhood is about a mile due south of Red Hook, which is home to a number of designers who will be participating in the Factory Floor marketplace, a kickoff event for the renovated manufacturing complex known as Industry City at Bush Terminal.

L: Google Maps Streetview; R: Photograph by Brian Harkin for the New York Times

Of course, the economic investment dates back to the mid-2000’s, and as the owner of nearly six million square feet of the space in the area, the City is subsidizing the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone, which is largely situated in a complex of 16 buildings known as Brooklyn Army Terminal. (‘Southwest Brooklyn’ is relative; it’s south of well-known neighborhoods such as Williamsburg, Fort Greene and Park Slope, but it’s nowhere near the far reaches of the D/N/F/Q train, viz. Coney Island.) The Times has a fairly comprehensive report on state of the IBZ as of just over a year ago; this weekend sees the launch of Factory Floor, a new 22,000-sq. ft. pop-up marketplace.

Rendering courtesy of Factory Floor / Industry City

Clockwise from top left: furniture by David Gaynor, Colleen & Eric, Juniper, Ethan Abramson and Pickett Furniture

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