New Brooklyn Navy Yard tech hub breaks ground

Mayor de Blasio’s office and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. have announced the construction of a new innovation and technology hub that will be one of the largest new commercial buildings outside of Manhattan in decades.

Dock 72, a 675,000 square-foot building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, will bring 4,000 new jobs to the area after the 16-story center is completed in 2017, according to the mayor’s office.

“This project is going to help bring ideas, innovators and startups to the yard, where they can scale up their businesses, hire more New Yorkers and manufacture their products right here in Brooklyn,” de Blasio said.

Under a commitment that is unique to Dock 72, all tenants in the completed building will agree to pay a living wage to their employees, the first such arrangement among new developments in Brooklyn, the mayor’s office reported. By 2020, total Navy Yard employment is expected to reach 16,000 jobs across the entire 300-acre industrial park.

“Dock 72 will be a place where technology, design and manufacturing converge and the shared work space will nurture hundreds of small businesses and spark the next generation of large-scale employers in the yard,”Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation President and CEO David Ehrenberg said in a statement.

Once completed, the new building will include a health and wellness center, specialty food and beverage facilities and a rooftop conference center, according to the mayor’s office. The building’s design, which will offer panoramic views of the city, was devised to drive collaboration between tenants.