Like the neighborhood it helped to reinvigorate, the [Brooklyn Brewery] is thriving, enough to justify an expansion. But the gentrification Mr. Hindy once championed has made a hostage of his company, he says. Double Edge to Brooklyn’s Success
He and his partners are willing to spend $15 million for a bigger brewery that would employ at least twice as many workers as he has now and would have a beer garden where customers could sample his growing roster of specialty brews. But after four years of searching and two failed bids to be included in redevelopment projects in Red Hook and Carroll Gardens, they have not found a suitable building in the borough at a feasible price.
Mr. Hindy has plenty of company in the hunt for affordable industrial land. Manufacturing space has become scarcer and more expensive as city officials have encouraged developers to replace crumbling factories and warehouses with amenity-laden condominiums.
“The scarcity of manufacturing land becomes a problem for manufacturers that are otherwise thriving in New York City,” said Leah Archibald, executive director of the East Williamsburg Valley Industrial Development Corporation, a Brooklyn business coalition.
Ms. Archibald said her organization “would do back flips” to keep the Brooklyn Brewery in the area. But she said there was simply no space available in North Brooklyn that would accommodate its needs, in part because some landlords are holding onto industrial property with the hope that it will be rezoned for residential buildings.
Mr. Hindy said the company could expand its local production to more than 40,000 barrels a year, and more than double its current payroll of 35 people, if it found a space that was large enough. But that quest has left Mr. Hindy feeling unappreciated by city officials.
He was a champion of the rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg pushed through in 2005. But now he contends that the changes went too far by allowing a variety of nonindustrial uses of land in areas that are labeled industrial business zones.
Mistake by Hindy: Being a lapdog for the Bloomberg administration. That sure backfired on ya, didn't it?
Mistake by Bloomberg: This was bound to happen. As mentioned previously on this blog, they were talking about this back in 1999.
15 comments:
amenity-laden condominiums
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... made of the cheapest materials, with an ackward layout, in brownfields blocks far from transportation.
Not a problem for the owner, someone with a shady 'international' background and plenty of hot money in need of a place to park, ready to satisfy a politican's all but insatiable need for campaign funds, and an infinite housing demand from the tweeded standing in line all the way back to the third world.
Fuck you for fucking with Hindy.
YOU Crapper are a lap dog for our district wide neo-conservative politico's.
You are biased, naive, closed minded and occasionaly even ignorant. Most of all you are an asshole.
"YOU Crapper are a lap dog for our district wide neo-conservative politico's."
Who is that? We have a one-party system here. And I criticize all of the roaches in office regardless of politics or phony ideology. And who is Hindy? God?
Asshole is an insult I will take. Lap dog - never.
Let's see...defending Hindy and yelling at Crapper.
You do realize that Hindy backs Atlantic Yards, a boondoggle for the taxpayer and in violation of the U.S. Constitution, all because the arena is going to sell his beer?
Hindy's a fucking anti-American piece of shit, and I am glad his stupid decisions are coming back to bite him in the ass.
Hindy's an anti american piece of shit you say???I bet with all the jokes this very questionable blogs "dialog" has about hating people who ride a bicycle(how damn childish, to be upset with those bike lanes in Astoria, cry cry)I bet this little blog thinks its funny about Hindy's son.You guys have said some brutal garbage about driving in the bike lane on Vernon and hitting bicyclists.Have fun in prison with that macho stuff.I dont think you AGAIN know who your talking about when you sit and stereotype him and others.Are you upset he was a journalist in the past? Look Fox news is on ...over there.Lock step Neo conservatives.
I honestly have no idea what bikes or Hindy's son have to do with this conversation about manufacturing space.
Well if Hindy was a journalist it explains why he would go along with the machine.
Many people on this blog concerning bike lanes,overdevelopment,bike licensing, and scooters constantly try to connect bike riders with these billionaire real estate folks and its just not true, so to say your glad it came back to bite him in the ass is nonsense.Also some post hes he's anti American??? YOU WANNA back that up neo conservative under the guise of a libertarian.You Astoria mud slingers would be perfect for the narrow minded places like oh say Idaho, or South Carolina.
He said himself he was in favor of the 2005 upzoning of Williamsburg, and that the upzoning led to the loss of manufacturing space that he now needs. That's what the comment meant. Promoting a land grab for the benefit of Bruce Ratner because his beer is going to be sold at the arena is un-American.
I dont like Ratner and either does Hindy.Concerning my previous post you guys are making some very bad choices with you nasty comments about how hes "un American". Thats nonsense you probably read in the right wing tabloid paper the New York Post hes for that Atlantic yards land mess.You little wanna be politicos on this blog dont even know that the left is not for corporate welfare to over build and push people out.Those are A political wealthy folks. But your attempts to make connections on here are just tabloid talk like the rag New York Post. The Crapper folks should get jobs working for Halliburton and KBR that keeps screwing over our troops in Iraq with dirty water and shady electricity.How sad your ignorant comments are on here crappers.Almost as bad as the bloombergs politics.
Proof that you know nothing about what you write:
Should Brooklyn Brewery support developer Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards project?
YES
By Steve Hindy
I started Brooklyn Brewery with my downstairs neighbor Tom Potter in 1987, and we struggled mightily to establish our business. At about the same time, developer Bruce Ratner was building the Metrotech project in Downtown Brooklyn. We applauded his multi-billion dollar investment in Brooklyn — the largest single investment in the history of the borough. We thought it was about time that new buildings were going up in Brooklyn instead of Jersey City. We thought it was about time that someone was bringing business to Brooklyn. Ratner delivered when nearly every other developer was sitting out Brooklyn. His success gave us confidence in our dreams.
Tom and I and our two employees made beer, sold beer, drove delivery trucks and collected money all over Brooklyn. We learned a great deal about our borough. We learned that many people in Brooklyn were suffering in substandard housing. We learned that Brooklyn always lagged behind the rest of the city in employment. We learned that much of Brooklyn was poor. We had some of our own tough times: We were burglarized, robbed at gunpoint and threatened by thugs.
Meanwhile, the homes we bought in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn escalated in value, and our business eventually made a profit. My kids attended public schools in Brooklyn and went on to college, but I wondered how they would ever be able to afford to live in this new Brooklyn.
When Ratner unveiled his plan to buy the New Jersey Nets and bring them to Brooklyn, we were thrilled. The departure of the Dodgers in 1957 had left a hole in Brooklyn’s heart. We believe that the Nets could give Brooklyn a team to rally around again. And we were very impressed by the housing and commercial development surrounding the arena, designed by Frank Gehry. The development promised to bring 15,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent new jobs to Brooklyn, as well as seven acres of new public open space. Ratner’s subsequent commitment to affordable housing promised that many working middle-class families would find new housing in a vibrant new center of Brooklyn.
Of course we have questions about the environmental impact. And we hope that the use of eminent domain will be minimal — as it was with Metrotech. Some of my friends oppose the project. But I ask: How else is Brooklyn going to develop jobs? How and where else is Brooklyn going to develop housing? Who else is going to provide a big league Brooklyn team to unite around?
So the Brooklyn Brewery supports the development. Not because of any short-term financial reasons (we sell plenty of beer at the New Jersey Nets’ Continental Arena), but because we think it would be good for Brooklyn. And what is good for Brooklyn is good for all Brooklyn families and the Brooklyn Brewery.
Steve Hindy is president and co-founder of the Brooklyn Brewery.
Thats unfortunate he did support Ratner and his land steals with corporate welfare.I stand a little corrected.NOW lets see you folks and you Crapper make some flimsy dumb connection with real documents that bike riders support overdevelopment and trendy condo's, because it doesnt exist.But i dont think anyone on here is going to APOLOGIZE or grow up for threatening to DRIVE in the bike lane on Vernon blvd which has been said on two different posts here and hit cyclists.Cute. That bike lane is not taking over the road and is not taking away anyones privilege to drive.In the early 90's there was many empty warehouses in greenpoint and Williamsburg from industry that left to Mexico or SE Asia.Good ol NAFTA from Bush and Clinton. The artists who lived there then and now dont want expensive condos in that area. You should flag and take notice crapper when someone posts threats like that.Really
When did I ever post anything that said bike riders are responsible for overdevelopment? I can't wait for strike two from you. This post is about manufacturing, not bike lanes. I know you're a dense Streetsblogger, but please try to read and understand better.
Crappy,
For an overdevelopment blog, you sure do post a lot of "anti-biking" articles.
Am I correct?
Why do you continue to post about bikes on this thread? For your information, out of more than 4,200 posts, maybe 4 or 5 have been about bikes. I have never posted anything saying bikes are bad. I have posted about bike lanes taking away needed parking along Vernon Blvd, I posted about an unused rail line in Forest Hills being possibly converted into a bike lane, about the idea of bike licensing, and today why - because many bike riders are inexperienced and we all might benefit from training them. If you feel that it makes this blog "anti-bike" then you are being knee-jerk defensive for no reason.
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