The Brooklyn Tech Triangle could become the next Silicon Valley -- if the strategic plan to bolster the emerging tech hub comes to full fruition. The plan was developed over a six-month period by a multidisciplinary team led by WXY Architecture + Urban Design and the Brooklyn Tech Triangle coalition (Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the DUMBO Improvement District, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation). The Tech Triangle is projected to bring immense growth to the local economy as soon as 2015.
In 2012, local tech and creative firms participated in a study conducted by the coalition that revealed the Triangle's potential for economic impact and innovation. The Triangle contains Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Key objectives in the strategic plan include enhancing workforce development, increasing availability of affordable real estate, improving infrastructure and transportation routes, and public-space creation. In summation, the plan aims to attract more startups to set up shop and allow current businesses to grow.
If all goes well, the revived Brooklyn Tech Triangle can become a new model for NYC's economy and the next generation of tech hubs. For starters, the Triangle is expected to bring in at least $3 billion annually to New York's economy and will support nearly 18,000 direct jobs and 43,000 indirect jobs in tech-driven businesses. The strategic plan also mentions additional workspace up to 4 million square feet will be needed by 2015, considering the 523 "innovative firms" already based in the Triangle and that many more are looking to relocate there.
However, the plan could easily be stifled by several factors that would cause firms to invest elsewhere, like a lack of office space, job training, support from government, and other economic resources.
So far, it looks like the plan has garnered plenty of attention and local support since its recent release this past June. To read the complete plan, click here.
Do you support the strategic plan? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Photos courtesy of The Brooklyn Tech Triangle and WXY Architecture + Urban Design
2 Comments
I'm moving into that neighborhood soon, and will probably be working there, either from home or in the yard. I'm not sure I want the currently quiet and unassuming parks and other areas to be re-designed and then swarmed with tourists. I also don't see why we need a tech hub like this, when NYC as a whole can be the hub. For me, anyway, the charm of NYC is that you have several extremely intense professional communities, all interpenetrating on a daily basis -- not isolating themselves into little incubators.
But to the extent that this vision of the future of the area may be correct, I think it should be allowed to happen organically. Basically, if they build office space in the 'tech triangle', it will be filled, period, guaranteed. The Watchtower properties will be huge for this. Those new working bodies will then generate demand for services which businesses will try to fill. The retail scene will get better. THEN maybe we can talk about parks etc. It's not like you need to do all this prep work to rent offices at high rates in downtown Brooklyn. Even the businesses in Metrotech will start staying open later if there are 8,000 more workers in the area.
The key moves that would be valuable in this neighborhood, in my opinion, would be:
1. Introducing storefronts and retail on blocks currently dominated by huge institutions (CUNY, the post office, etc.). There are too many 'dead blocks' in the area, which are impossible to animate without some kind of concerted effort.
2. Noise mitigation around and below the Manhattan Bridge. This may be impossible. Are there any precedents?
3. Transit-related work (buses, bikes) is probably worthwhile also.
I also understand and appreciate the desire to provide connections between the area's schools and its business sector. These schools need to get better, and they need support to do that. But again I'm not sure that a kid going to college at City Tech needs to find a job a few blocks down the street in Dumbo. He or she will be willing and/or even pleased to commute anywhere in the city for the right kind of work.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.