On May 3rd, 2017, Savannah, along with a team of young urban planners at Columbia University, released a plan to redevelop the Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market, an industrial property located along Sunset Park’s waterfront. Savannah and her team were originally hired by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to redevelop the site because the building technologies present there were outdated and the space was not built out to its full potential. Additionally, with building tenant leases ending in five to ten years, the property owner, NYCEDC, believed it was the right time to consider making major changes to the property.
During the design process, Savannah’s team came up with recommendations that took into consideration both the needs of the client (NYCEDC) and also the needs of the surrounding community. After careful analysis the team decided to reposition the Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market into a food distribution and manufacturing hub coined the “Sunset Park Food Terminal”. The Sunset Park Food Terminal will be a vibrant food manufacturing ecosystem that houses the existing wholesale tenants. It will also be the site for many new uses such as the co-packing, food incubator, step-up spaces, and a workforce training center. The idea behind this terminal is to build an environment where food businesses can thrive.
If implemented, the team believes that this re-development will have a large positive impact on the Sunset Park Neighborhood. There will be new food manufacturing and distribution jobs, additional open space, public access to the waterfront, and permanent food manufacturing and distribution space.
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Savannah Ryder 