Brooklyn Broadside: There’s no stopping ‘Silicon Brooklyn’
Many people were surprised to learn last week that Brooklyn has created a high-tech, green-tech creative industry center within a rough triangle that includes the Brooklyn Navy Yard, DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn.
This area currently supports a $3.13 billion a year industry with about 32,700 jobs, according to a joint statement from the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the DUMBO Improvement District, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. There are about 500 creative companies in more than 1.7 million square feet of space. And all this is expected to grow significantly.
This is a “hidden” industry, and no smokestacks or storage tanks exist. Most of these companies have very small staffs, and there are no conventional 9-to-5 time-frames to speak of. These are some of the new workplaces of which President Obama speaks.