From left: EDC President Seth Pinsky and Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Now in its 20th year of existence, the city’s Economic Development Corp. has transcended simple real estate development and used its increased power to boost the New York City economy, according to Crain’s.

Initially formed to build structures for job creators and lure manufacturers to the city with tax incentives, the EDC has also begun to create new business incubators, training programs and venture funds for entrepreneurs. [more]

Ironstate Development President David Barry and a rendering of the Homeport developmentThe city has sold the Staten Island development site that formerly housed a U.S. Naval Base to Ironstate Development for $11 million, the city’s Economic Development Corporation announced today.

New Jersey-based Ironstate will build a $150 million complex on the 7-acre waterfront site known as Homeport, in the Stapelton section of the borough. It will include 900 residential rental units, 30,000 square feet of retail, 600 parking spaces and a public plaza.

The city will also invest $32 million for infrastructure improvements to create a new waterfront esplanade in Homeport and Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro has set aside $1 million for improvements on the Staten Island Rail Road’s Stapleton station. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

From top: David Lebenstein, senior managing director of Cassidy Turley, Sharone Levy, executive managing director of Greiner-Maltz and the Brooklyn Army Terminal

The New York City Economic Development Corporation enlisted the services of commercial real estate brokerages Greiner-Maltz and Cassidy Turley Tuesday to lease the remaining 350,000 square feet of available space at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, EDC told The Real Deal today.

With a total of 3.1 million leasable square feet, the property is already 90 percent leased, with 70 businesses employing 2,400 people. Over the past two months, five new businesses have set up shop at the terminal, EDC said, signing on for a total of 85,000 square feet.

“In recent years, we have seen the Brooklyn Army Terminal become a premiere destination for companies in the city’s critical industrial sector looking for affordable workspace,” said EDC President Seth Pinsky in a statement. [more]

A Hell’s Kitchen development site that’s been stalled for more than 30 years has finally closed on financing and begun construction, the Wall Street Journal reported, for 1,258 apartments, more than half of which are affordable, a new school and stores.

The $520 million four-building complex, called Gotham West, sits along 45th Street near 11th Avenue, and is being developed by the Gotham Organization. It will have a 31-story market-rate apartment building with 556 units, 682 affordable units across the other buildings, 20 condominium units, a 670-seat school, stores and private gardens. [more]

NYC Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky and the Brooklyn Army TerminalThanks to large industrial sites on the Brooklyn waterfront, in particular the Brooklyn Army Terminal and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the city’s Economic Development Corp. is making good on its effort to retain and expand New York’s industrial workforce. The Wall Street Journal reported that three new firms have signed leases at the Army Terminal, bringing the total count to 68 companies and 2,400 in the 90 percent-occupied, four million square-foot area.

“It’s an industrial landscape, which a lot of places in America have just given up on, but thanks to strategic investments by the city, unlike many of those other places, we’re actually bringing industrial uses back,” said Seth Pinsky, president of EDC. [more]

The Steeple Chase ride at Coney Island’s Scream Zone

Central Amusement International, the firm behind the redevelopment of the old Coney Island amusement park, has had two profitable years from the $25 million it spent to build Luna Park and Scream Zone, and plans to spend an additional $5 million to build up the final 60,000-square-foot lot it leased from the city by next summer, Crain’s reported. Central Amusement, a subsidiary of Italian ride manufacturer Zamperla, will also upgrade the Cyclone and much of the retail along the boardwalk, to the dismay of old-timers.
The firm pays $100,000 in rent to the city per year in a lease through 2020, and also relinquishes a percentage of its revenues to the city. [more]

From left: Joe Chan of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, 210 Joralemon Street and 345 Adams Street (building credits: PropertyShark)

Downtown Brooklyn’s long-standing push to attract more national retailers is about to take a huge step forward, as the city’s Economic Development Corp. closes in on selecting a developer for the first-two floors of the Brooklyn Municipal Building. The Wall Street Journal said the city has been vacating its office spaces in the lower levels of prime Downtown Brooklyn buildings and moving to higher floors to free retail space and bolster local development. The EDC issued a request for proposals for the 37,000-square-foot space in the municipal building at 210 Joralemon Street in December, and also vacated nearby 345 Adams Street, which has already signed leases with Panera Bread and Morton’s Steakhouse.
[more]

35-20 9th Street (source: PropertyShark) and Pain D’Avignon’s Essex Street Market outlet

Artisanal bread manufacturer Pain D’Avignon will be the beneficiary of a city program aimed at strengthening small industrial businesses, and will purchase a 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Long Island City thanks to city aid. The firm will close its current manufacturing facility, and expand its business into 35-20 9th Street, the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced.

The financial assistance package comes in the form of real estate and sales tax benefits that total $1.1 million.

The company, founded by Serbian and Bosnian immigrants Bane Stamenkovic, Teofil Surovac and Uliks Fehmiu, has a retail location in the Essex Street Market, and delivers bread to Eleven Madison Park, Momofuku Ssam Bar and Dean & Deluxa among other well-known city restaurants, according to the company’s site. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

A massive project that would upgrade Flushing’s Long Island Rail Road station at Main Street and create new housing units around it is now taking a back seat to higher-priority projects like Flushing Commons, the Macedonia Plaza and Willets Point, city officials told the Daily News. The plan, first proposed by the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp. during the fall of 2009, calls for new station elevators and a platform extension, plus housing and commercial space on a parking lot adjacent to the station and currently owned by the city’s Department of Transportation. [more]

Officials from the city’s Economic Development Corp. met with the leaders of several Chinese firms yesterday for a Midtown Manhattan real estate office tour that included One Bryant Park and the Empire State Building, part of a larger, recent effort to attract foreign tenants to New York. According to the Wall Street Journal, the city is focusing on companies it sees as having big potential for growth. It has already courted a group of technology start-ups from London, and has plans to host businesses from Singapore and India in the coming months. [more]