Changes in Sunset Park

The first Salsa Sunday event at Industry City courtyard takes place between two factory buildings. Men and women dance to salsa music and sip on beers while eating Puerto Rican food. But just outside a protest is ongoing, by other local residents. Residents hold signs and wave flags reading, “No displacement”. Fearing that the development of these buildings and the community around it will eventually force them out of their homes, their neighborhood.
Industry City was once a freight-handling terminal, dealing with both sea and rail transport. It is now a 35- acre complex designed to “attract designers, makers, and content creators”, according to their website. The complex houses retail spaces, a fitness center, shopping venues, a beer distillery, five acres of open spaces, a coffee bar, a cafe, billiards, and work studios for rent. Many artists, makers, and local food purveyors are renting out these studios. Employees and creators who work at Industry City are quickly moving into the surrounding area. Helping to shift a working class family based neighborhood into a more roommate based hipster vibe.
According to Census data from the years 2000 to 2010 there was a 42.8 percent increase in roommate based. The amount of Non-family households has increased from 5,882 to 8,397, with non-relative households nearly doubling in that time. This coincides with a 24 percent increase in rental prices of the neighborhood from 1990 to 2014.
“Things have been changing in the neighborhood, pretty rapidly actually. We’re seeing more twenty somethings, yeah. In the last few years alone, with the Park slope boom declining a bit, people are starting to expand down to Sunset.”, says real estate broker Katherine Angelucci.
Industry City has brought in an immense amount of business and employment opportunities to the Brooklyn Waterfront area. Employment in the complex has more than doubled since 2013. Though that seems significant, the original number from 2013 has not been released. About half of the people working there have moved into the surrounding area, says Industry City directors.
Industry City’s CEO plans to create more than 20,000 jobs by the year 2025. They have already placed about 100 local residents in jobs by using their Innovations Lab hiring initiative.
These changes however has been met with some pushback from the local community. Residents at a community meeting expressed feeling “left out”, scared of what is happening now that new neighbors are moving in. An elderly man talked about no longer knowing the people in his building, saying “all of them work on the waterfront! You know it use to be nothing!”
The Salsa Sunday event was only one of the community events held in Sunset Park and sponsored by Industry City. Artist and makers have lived in the complex for years now. In 2014, an exhibition was held at the vast complex. The exhibit was titled “Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Year 1”. It explored the damage and rebirth that took place in the city of Manhattan after Hurricane Sandy decimated many neighborhoods. Well-known artists displayed their art amongst beginners just finding their footing in Industry City and Sunset Park. As Industry City’s notoriety grew, so did the rent on their workspaces. Many of them the founding artists featured in “Come Together”. Artist were forced to find new studios due to the rising cost of living in Industry City. The waterfront of Brooklyn became a mecca for new businesses.
Restaurants and nightlife brought new life into the once forgotten area. Old warehouses are now venues for all night dance parties. Club Lust, a hip hop oriented strip club on 47th street has hosted parties with the likes of Rihanna, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Danny Brown and even Alexander Wang in attendance. Brooklyn Hangar, another dance venue hosts independent parties well into the morning, as well as concerts. It is in a secluded location on the waterfront, allowing for loud parties with little complaints about noise. This new found energy in the community and its new influx of people have brought developers just like those at Industry City looking to bring more transportation options to the area.
The Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) is a proposed street car light rail to connect the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront. The BQX website states that it will “link neighborhoods along a 16-mile route from Astoria to Sunset Park.” And “connect to up to 10 ferry landings, 30 different bus routes, 15 different subway lines, 116 Citi Bike stations, and 6 LIRR lines. It will travel primarily in dedicated lanes, separated from traffic and bicycles along the route.”. It is being proposed by the City of New York and is heavily back by Mayor de Blasio, though many in the community don’t trust that the connector will benefit the current residents of the area. Gloria Sanchez, 62, has lived in Sunset Park for the last thirty years and she doesn’t see how these new projects are helping out her community, “All I see us people having to leave us. Whole families are leaving that have been here for generations. How is this going to benefit us when we already are having trouble just making ends meet.” Protest have been increasing within Sunset residents who believe the plan is a challenge to their intelligence. As prices of apartments rise so do try the fears of the new living situations that are popping up in the community.