Brooklyn Brewery won’t be moving to the Brooklyn Navy Yard after all. The Williamsburg institution has had a change of heart about leaving its home base in 2025 when their lease expires, much of which has to do with their new landlord expressing interest in extending the brewery’s lease. The building sold in June to a new owner, after hitting the market in February. At the time, Brooklyn Brewery COO Eric Ottoway said the chances of the brewery renewing its lease when it expires were “zero.”
The brewery, like many other area businesses, have felt the pinch of an ever-gentrifying neighborhood. But in the end, the brewery decided to forgo taking over 75,000 square feet in the Navy Yard’s hub for food manufacturing because, as Brooklyn Brewery co-owner Steve Hindy told the Times, “people know we’re here.”
The brewery nets around 3,000 to 4,000 visitors each weekend, including New Yorkers and visitors from across the globe. Switching their location with a move to Brooklyn Navy Yard would disrupt that visitation. Brooklyn Navy Yard has, for a long time, been viewed as notoriously inaccessible—and not to mention it’s a real schlep to get there from the closest subway.
Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation President David Ehrenberg remains bright-eyed about the prospects for the former Brooklyn Brewery space, telling the Times that “[w]e are very confident that we are going to find a fantastic food manufacturer to take that space.”
Russ & Daughters, Brooklyn Roasting Company, architecture and design firm Matter Practice, Kings County Distillery, chocolate purveyors Mast Brothers, suspender and tie manufacturer Sartorous, WeWork and the city's first Wegman's (along with a laundry list of other businesses) are still poised to set up shop within the Navy Yard.
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