Adaptively Reusing Brooklyn's Industrial Spaces

"'Demolition is incredibly wasteful,' [Lisa Kersavage, the director of advocacy and policy at the Municipal Art Society] said. 'In New York City, 60 percent of our waste stream is demolition and construction debris which is significantly higher than the rest of the country, and we have to ship our demolition debris to other mid-Atlantic states.'

Andrew H. Kimball, the president and chief executive of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, talked about job creation in the 300-acre Navy Yard between the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, which at its peak employed some 70,000 workers. In the last seven years, 2,000 jobs have been created in the former navy complex - where ships like the Maine, the Missouri and the Arizona were built – is now home to artists and furniture makers, entertainment companies, green and light manufacturing companies."

"Industrial jobs pay 25 to 30 percent more than service sector jobs. 'This stabilizes our community,' he said. 'Obviously we've got to continue to not rely as much as we do today on Wall Street.'"