Bush Terminal, Brooklyn: industrial space and history guide

How Bush Terminal worked when it was built

Bush Terminal was a business model as much as a set of buildings. Irving T. Bush began building it on the Sunset Park waterfront in the early 1900s. The concept was that a company could rent space in one place and have the terminal handle most of the logistics: ships tied up at the piers, freight cars ran on rail tracks through the property, goods went into warehouses, and manufacturers worked on the floors of large loft buildings above.

For a tenant at the time, that meant fewer handoffs. A manufacturer did not have to own a pier, a warehouse and a rail siding. It rented what it needed and used the terminal’s shared infrastructure. That is close to how we think about a modern industrial park or a multi-tenant logistics campus, and Bush Terminal is often cited as one of the earliest large examples of it in the United States.

The physical legacy is what matters for today’s industrial users. Buildings designed for this kind of operation tend to have heavy floors, wide bays, freight elevators, and loading on the ground floor, because moving goods was the whole point. Many of the original rail lines and piers are gone or changed. Some of the old terminal land has become the Industry City campus, some is city-owned industrial space, and part of the pier area is now a park.

What the Bush Terminal name covers on the waterfront today

People use “Bush Terminal” to mean different things, and it causes confusion when tenants search for space. It helps to separate the pieces.

When we take on a search for an industrial tenant, the first step is often just sorting listings into these groups, because the leasing process, the landlord and the rules are different for each one.

The city-owned buildings and the Made in NY Campus

The city-owned portion of Bush Terminal is part of a broader city strategy of holding industrial real estate on the waterfront and leasing it to businesses that create production and manufacturing jobs. NYCEDC manages these properties on the city’s behalf. Rent is one factor. The city also cares about the type of use, the jobs involved and how the space supports industrial activity in the neighborhood.

Within Bush Terminal, the city has been developing the Made in NY Campus, aimed at film and television production and fashion manufacturing. The idea is to give those industries purpose-suited space, including production and garment manufacturing space, in one location on the Sunset Park waterfront. The details of which buildings, which phases and what space is available change over time, so confirm current availability and terms directly with NYCEDC before you plan around it.

If you run a production company, a set or prop shop, a costume workroom, a garment or accessories manufacturer, or a related supplier, this campus is worth asking about early in your search. If your business is mostly office use, it is probably not the right fit, and a private building such as Industry City or a loft office in DUMBO will likely be a better match.

Bush Terminal Piers Park and the working waterfront

Bush Terminal Piers Park sits along the water on part of the old pier area, with open lawns, paths along the water and recreation space. For employers on the waterfront, it is a real quality-of-life amenity: a place for staff to eat lunch outside or walk along the water, which is rare in an industrial district.

It also shows how the waterfront is used today. Parks, private campuses, city-owned industrial buildings, and active port and maritime operations sit close to each other. If you are a heavy industrial user, that mix can mean neighbors who care about noise, truck routes and hours. If you are a production or creative business, it can be a selling point when recruiting.

Park hours, programming and access points are set by the city. Check current information before you count on it as an amenity for a lease decision.

Industrial zoning and the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone

Much of the Sunset Park waterfront, including the Bush Terminal area, is mapped in manufacturing zoning districts. Manufacturing districts are generally designed for industrial, warehouse and certain commercial uses, and they generally do not allow new residential use. That is part of why the waterfront has kept its industrial character while upland Sunset Park is mostly residential and retail.

The area is also within the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone. Industrial Business Zones are a city designation intended to support industrial and manufacturing businesses, mainly through business services and city policy commitments. An IBZ designation is not the same as a zoning district, and it does not by itself change what you can build or operate. The zoning, the building’s certificate of occupancy and building code requirements still decide what is allowed in a given space.

For a tenant, the practical steps are the same regardless of label. Identify your use, have an architect or expediter confirm that it fits the zoning district and the certificate of occupancy for the specific building and floor, and find out what permits your fit-out will need. City programs, zoning text and incentives change, so confirm current requirements with your attorney, architect and the relevant agencies. None of this is legal advice.

How leasing city-owned industrial space differs from a private lease

Tenants coming from private buildings are sometimes surprised by how a city-owned lease works. The differences are not good or bad on their own, but they affect your timeline and what you need to prepare.

This is a general description, not a statement of current NYCEDC policy. Processes differ by property and change over time. When we help a client pursue city-owned space, we confirm the current process directly, help assemble the application materials, and keep a private-market backup option moving at the same time so the client is not stuck waiting on one answer.

Getting workers and trucks to Bush Terminal

For employees, the closest subway options are the Fourth Avenue line stations. The 36th Street station is served by the D, N and R, and the R also stops at 45th Street and 53rd Street. From any of them it is a walk west, downhill and under the Gowanus Expressway on Third Avenue, to the waterfront. For a production business with shift workers, that walk and the hours of service matter as much as the space itself, so map it for the specific building and check current MTA service.

For trucks, the Gowanus Expressway (I-278) runs along Third Avenue and connects to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. That is a real advantage for regional deliveries. Local streets near the waterfront carry a lot of truck traffic and curb space is limited, so ask about on-site loading and staging before you assume trucks can wait at the curb. Staff parking is also limited in most of this area.

Industrial user checklist for Bush Terminal and the waterfront

Older waterfront industrial buildings can be very good space, but each building and floor has its own limits. These are the items we check for industrial clients before any lease discussion gets serious.

Power

Get the electrical service available to your space in writing: voltage, phase and amperage. Three-phase power is common in industrial buildings, but capacity per tenant varies. If you need more, find out who pays for the upgrade, whether the utility needs to be involved and how long it might take.

Loading

Ask whether loading is dock-height, grade-level, or both, how many doors serve your space, and whether they are shared. Confirm the size of truck that can actually reach the door, turning room, and any limits on hours. Walk the route from the street to your space.

Column spacing

Column grids in older loft buildings are often tighter than in modern warehouses. Lay out your equipment, racking and aisles on a floor plan that shows the actual columns before you commit. A space that looks large can lose a lot of usable area to columns.

Floor loads

Ask for the rated floor load in pounds per square foot for your floor. Ground-floor slabs and upper floors can differ a lot. Heavy machinery, dense storage, vehicles or point loads may need an engineer’s review.

Ceiling heights

Measure clear height to the lowest obstruction, such as beams, sprinkler mains or ducts, rather than to the underside of the slab. Clear height decides racking height, crane or hoist options and whether lighting rigs will fit for production users.

Everything else

• Freight elevator size, capacity, hours and booking rules for upper-floor space.
• Sprinkler system type, and if your storage or process will need changes to it.
• Gas service, water, floor drains, compressed air and ventilation for your process.
• Exhaust routes for dust, fumes or cooking, and any permits they require.
• Flood exposure. Parts of the Brooklyn waterfront flooded during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Check flood maps for the specific building and plan where to place electrical equipment and inventory.
• Certificate of occupancy and permitted use for the floor.
• Security, yard or outdoor storage rights, and parking for staff and vehicles.

Bush Terminal compared with Industry City and the Brooklyn Army Terminal

These three are often confused because they sit close together on the Sunset Park waterfront and two of them share history. In general terms:

The Brooklyn Army Terminal was built as a military supply base around the end of World War I, designed by architect Cass Gilbert, and is now a city-owned industrial campus to the south. Our Brooklyn Army Terminal guide covers it in detail, and our Industry City guide covers the private campus next door.

Two hypothetical searches on the Sunset Park waterfront

These examples are hypothetical and are here only to show how the decision tends to go.

A hypothetical garment manufacturer with cutting tables, industrial sewing machines and a small showroom needs steady power, a freight elevator or ground-floor loading for fabric deliveries, good light, and a workforce that can reach the site by subway. City-owned space at Bush Terminal aimed at fashion manufacturing would be a natural first call. In parallel we would look at private industrial lofts on the waterfront and in Gowanus so there is a fallback if timing does not line up.

A hypothetical scenic and set fabrication shop needs tall clear height, a large door, heavy floors, dust collection and room for trucks to load finished pieces. Ground-floor space matters more than amenities. That business might fit the production focus of the city-owned buildings, or it might fit better in a single-story industrial building in Red Hook or elsewhere in Brooklyn with its own yard.

How DiBe Real Estate helps industrial tenants here

We represent tenants and buyers, not the city and not the waterfront landlords. That lets us put city-owned space, private campuses and standalone industrial buildings side by side and recommend what actually fits.

Sal DiBenedetto is a Brooklyn native, a licensed real estate broker in New York and Florida, a Florida Certified General Contractor and a licensed Florida plumbing contractor, with hands-on construction and development experience in Brooklyn, including Gowanus. For industrial users that background is practical. We look at electrical service, gas, water and drains, slabs, loading and sprinklers on the first tour, and we can tell you early whether a fit-out is likely to be simple or expensive.

Our work typically includes defining requirements, surveying private and public options, helping prepare application materials for city-owned space, comparing proposals on total cost, negotiating terms, coordinating with your attorney and, if you want, managing the build-out. See Brooklyn tenant representation, project management and our Sunset Park guide. To start, use the contact page, call or text 239-256-5005, or email info@diberealestate.com.

Mistakes we see industrial tenants make on the waterfront

• Waiting on one option. City processes can take time. Tenants who stop looking at private space while an application is pending can end up with no lease when their current one expires.
• Trusting the listing on power and loading. Electrical capacity, door sizes and floor loads should be confirmed on site and in writing, not taken from a flyer.
• Underestimating the fit-out. Older industrial floors often need electrical distribution, ventilation, plumbing and fire protection work before production can start. Price it from a layout before agreeing to terms.
• Ignoring the certificate of occupancy. A use that fits the zoning can still conflict with the building’s certificate of occupancy or require permits that take months.
• Forgetting the commute. Shift workers, early starts and weekend production all depend on transit hours and the walk from the Fourth Avenue line.
• Leaving flood planning for later. Where to put panels, servers and inventory is much cheaper to decide before construction than after a storm.

Most of these are avoidable with a few weeks of extra diligence at the start. That is the part of the process where we spend the most time with industrial clients.