Mayor Bloomberg Opens Bldg92 and Opportunity for 300 Jobs at Brooklyn Navy Yard

With the opening of Bldg92, the Brooklyn Navy Yard offers adynamic presence and bright future, as well as 300 jobs, to thecommunity, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at ceremonies kicking offthe new job recruitment and training center on Flushing Avenue onNovember 10.

The mayor praised the efforts of Alan Fishman, board chair, andAndrew Kimball, president and CEO, of The Brooklyn Navy YardDevelopment Corporation, which spearheaded the project, which alsoincludes a visitor’s center and exhibition space within therestored 9,300-square-foot former United States Marine CorpsCommandant’s residence dating from 1857, and a 24,000-square-footmodern extension.

The BNYDC is a non-profit organization which manages the Navy Yard,which also houses the expanding Steiner Studios and what Fishmantermed a highly viable industrial community.

Brooklyn Navy Yard is our city’s flagship industrial park, and atrue economic success story, said Bloomberg. As BLDG 92 shows,the Navy Yard has long been a major employer in our city. That’sstill true today, with some 6,000 people working at the Navy Yard,and will still be true for many years to come, with the ongoingexpansion and these new commitments expected to bring up to 2,000more jobs here over the next two years.

Among the honored guests at the opening ceremony were veterans ofwars from World War II to the Iraq conflict, as well as men andwomen who had worked at the shipyard during wartime.

Children from local Greene Hill School led the assembly in thePledge of Allegiance.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn – who called the Navy Yard, atestament to New York City’s resilience and creativity — notedthe Bldg92 exhibit center will be the first time in 200 years thepublic will be allowed in the Navy Yard.

Orasarie Howard offered a spoken tribute to the history, workersand community of the Brooklyn Navy Yard to end the ceremony.

The lobby of the new visitor center and exhibit hall features theanchor from the U.S.S. Austin. Oral histories are part of theexhibit.

Antonina Mauro, 86, of Bensonhurst, who worked at the Brooklyn NavyYard from 1943 to 1945 in damage control, was among those whoviewed the walls of photographs and memorabilia, which brought backmemories.

The project cost $25.6 million, with $17.5 million from citycoffers and $7.7 million from the state.

Public tours are held on weekends. For more information, checkwww.BLDG92.org or call 718-907-5992.