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Incubator 1776 leases 30K sf at Navy Yard’s Building 77
Brooklyn Brewery, Russ & Daughters had previously signed as tenants
Tech incubator and seed fund 1776 signed a 30,000 square foot lease on the top floor of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 77, the company announced Thursday.
The 1 million-square foot building, once a windowless slab, is in the midst of a $185 million renovation that will turn it into modern office space. Brooklyn Brewery recently signed a 75,000 square foot lease at the building, which will also feature a Russ & Daughters-anchored food court.
CNN first reported the 1776 lease.
The building’s two penthouse floors totaling 150,000 square feet hit the market in November 2015 with asking rents around $40 per square foot. Initially the Navy Yard Development Corporation – the city-owned agency managing the yard – hoped to land a single tenant for both floors.
Leasing to an incubator (a company that hosts and supports startups in return for ownership stakes) appears in line with Navy Yard president David Ehrenberg’s vision for the manufacturing complex. In a 2015 interview with The Real Deal, Ehrenberg said he wants the Navy Yard to be at the forefront of new technologies entering more traditional manufacturing. “If you look around the kitchen, most of the appliances are ones your grandparents probably had,” Ehrenberg said. “The brightest minds in the technology world have said that this is going to change dramatically over the next 10 years and New York is going to be the center of it.” — Konrad Putzier