Brooklyn Navy Yard issues third RFP for Admiral’s Row site

Development corp. wants supermarket built in project that will require a $100M investment

Admiral's Row and the front gate of the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Admiral's Row and the front gate of the Brooklyn Navy Yard

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. has issued a third request for proposals for the East River waterfront spot’s Admiral’s Row site, looking to build a supermarket there.

The development group previously dropped two winning bidders for the site, PA Associates and Blumenfeld Development Group, as Crain’s reported.

The newly-proposed project will require more than $100 million of investment and is structured so that the winning developer will ultimately lease the site long-term. Constructing a grocery store on the site, Brooklyn Navy Yard President David Ehrenberg told Crain’s, would bring the 300-acre complex a much-needed food spot.

“The area currently qualifies as a food desert,” Ehrenberg told the news site. “We wanted to provide a supermarket for the surrounding community and also give the growing number of workers at The Navy Yard A Place to eat and get a cup of coffee.”

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Currently blighted by deteriorated houses that years ago served as quarters for top Navy brass, two of the buildings on the site — a lumber shed and one of the houses — must be fully refurbished as part of the RFP. The other structures can be razed, Ehrenberg told Crain’s.

In a new twist from previous RFPs, bidders can also include plans for a neighboring 1.67-acre parcel, known as the Sands Site, on the yard’s west side. Ehrenberg told Crain’s that the Navy Yard will negotiate simultaneously with all interested bidders until a contract is signed with one of the parties. The move, he said, is intended to prevent bidders from backing out, or at least make replacing them easier.

Potential bidders must attend a tour of the site this month. Proposals are due in October. [Crain’s]Julie Strickland