City allocates $7.2M for two new 50K sf tech centers

In the city’s continued push to compete with Silicon Valley, it will invest $7.2 million for two tech centers — one at the Brooklyn Navy Yards and the other at Milstein Properties’ 335 Madison Avenue.

Under a program called UrbanTech NYC, the city will open the 50,000-square-foot business hubs this summer to boost tech jobs and tackle urban problems. The two locations will cater to companies that are too big for incubator programs, but are unable to afford to market-rate office space.

Affordable rent, educational programs, display space, and access to manufacturing software such as 3-D printers will be offered, Crain’s reported.

Business incubation company New Lab will run the space at a new Brooklyn Navy Yard building. Dubbed The Hub @ New Lab, it will focus on firms that produce physical products connected to transportation and energy consumption dilemmas in large cities, Crain’s reported.

The second center, Hub @ Grand Central Tech, will be located at Milstein Properties’ office tower at 335 Madison Avenue. The building is already home to a tech incubator run by Grand Central Tech, which will also operate the new center, focused on software companies that build city-centric products.

The city hopes to attract 30 firms and up to 700 employees between the two hubs. Funding is expected to be spent over a 10-year period, with the Navy Yard and Milstein Properties subsiding respective rents.

Meanwhile, the first three buildings at Cornell’s tech campus on Roosevelt Island are expected to open in 2017. [Crain’s] — Dusica Sue Malesevic