The Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Green Manufacturing Center just locked in a fresh $30 million sub-leasehold mortgage, arranged by Avison Young and funded by Webster Bank, shoring up one of the Yard’s key industrial hubs. The three-building complex is fully leased to manufacturers and light-industrial tenants that together employ hundreds of workers across the campus.
Inside the loan terms and board sign-off
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation board approved a seven-year, $30 million term loan secured by a subleasehold mortgage on the Green Manufacturing Center, with the borrowing entity listed as GMC Landlord, LLC. According to the Brooklyn Navy Yard board minutes, the interest rate is tied to SOFR plus 190 basis points, with a 0.5% origination fee and prepayment provisions linked to swap breakage. The proceeds are slated to pay down existing notes encumbering Building 127. The documents also spell out a limited non-recourse guaranty from BNYDC and a debt-service coverage covenant designed to keep the project financially on track.
Avison Young steers the financing
Avison Young’s Tri-State debt and equity finance team arranged the mortgage on behalf of an entity controlled by BNYDC, with principal Scott Singer joined on the assignment by colleagues Kevin Swartz, Kathleen McSharry and David Brucker. “We’re pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. with this latest financing,” Singer said, as reported by the New York Real Estate Journal.
Green Manufacturing Center is packed to the rafters
The Green Manufacturing Center spans roughly 250,680 square feet across three connected buildings, according to CRE MarketBeat. The complex, renovated in 2015, is fully occupied by Newlab, Bednark Studio, Crye Precision and Brooklyn Roasting Company, tenants that collectively employ hundreds of workers on site, as reported by the Brooklyn Eagle.
What the deal means for Brooklyn jobs
BNYDC’s FY25 impact report shows the Navy Yard hosting more than 550 businesses that support over 13,000 jobs and generate roughly $2.5 billion in annual economic activity. That kind of scale helps explain why lenders keep circling the campus. Officials describe the new loan as a tool to preserve space for modern manufacturing and the stable, middle-income jobs that come with it, according to the BNYDC FY25 Impact Report.
A financing structure with history
The mortgage extends a sub-leasehold financing structure that Avison Young first helped set up for the Yard more than a decade ago. That framework was originally financed by Sterling National Bank and later continued under Webster after Sterling’s 2022 merger. Market coverage notes that the structure gives public landlords flexibility to refinance while preserving long-term ground-lease relationships with the city and with campus tenants, per CRE MarketBeat.
What happens next
The board resolutions authorize BNYDC officers to execute the promissory note, mortgage and related documents needed to close the Webster loan. The paperwork lists the expected suite of agreements, from assignments of leases and rents to intercreditor documents. Beyond the public board materials and the statements filed with the minutes, Avison Young and Webster have not released further details on deal economics, according to the Brooklyn Navy Yard board minutes.
