IDA Approves $84M for Projects Totaling 500,000 SF

NEW YORK CITY-More than 500,000 sf of office and industrial space has been approved for financial assistance through the city’s Industrial Development Agency. Leading the pack is $39.5 million in aid for Bank of New York’s planned decentralization move to Brooklyn.

BNY, the city’s oldest commercial bank, is headquartered in Lower Manhattan and was displaced from two of its four Downtown locations after Sept. 11. The bank will relocate 1,400 employees to 316,000 sf in a proposed office building slated for development at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal. The building will rise over the Atlantic Terminal retail project, currently under construction. The 10-story development will have its own lobby entrance and an internal connection to transportation outlets and the retail mall.

BNY will anchor the 360,000-sf property while retaining a Downtown presence of 6,160 employees. IDA awarded BNY a $37.5 million WTC Job Creation and Retention Program grant as well as sales tax exemptions of $2 million. In addition, FC Hanson Office Associates LLC, the Forest City Ratner Cos. affiliate that is developing the Atlantic Terminal complex, will receive roughly $2.5 million in a mortgage recording tax waiver to assist with construction costs.