New York

Goldman Sachs is committed to the redevelopment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Once the US Navy’s premier shipyard, the site languished in disuse during the 1970s and early 1980s. Through a series of investments that focus on preserving the site’s historic infrastructure while bringing in innovative and sustainable businesses, our efforts will help to return the complex to its former status as a major industrial center.

In September 2012, Goldman Sachs made a $7.3 million New Markets Tax Credit equity investment to finance the renovation of Building 128, converting three vacant buildings into a modern light industrial facility.

The project also includes 215,000 square feet of new construction, which will house Crye, a designer and manufacturer of camouflaging uniforms and other body armor for various branches of the U.S. Military, and Macro Sea, a shared manufacturing design and work space that will serve as a hub for learning and innovation, industry training and the commercialization of new manufacturing businesses.

Over 370 jobs are expected to be created as result of this commitment; many are expected to go to low-income workers in surrounding areas, which have suffered from high rates of unemployment and poverty as well as a decline in traditional industries.

The project contributes to the ongoing revitalization and transformation of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which has been identified as a “top priority” project in the New York City Regional Economic Development Council Strategic Plan issued in November 2011 and a key component of New York City efforts to create additional jobs in the five boroughs.

In December 2012, Goldman Sachs committed over $80 million of capital to finance the rehabilitation of Loew’s Kings Theatre. Built in 1929, the historic, 83,000 square foot facility was restored and expanded into a modern, multi-use community and live performance venue on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.

The project had been on New York City’s redevelopment agenda since 2006 and is expected to stimulate commercial activity along the Flatbush Avenue commercial corridor in Central Brooklyn, while creating 300 construction jobs and 70 permanent jobs. 

Loew’s is now the largest indoor theater in Brooklyn, and serves as a landmark and source of civic pride in a transitioning community. Its presence will dramatically alter the cultural landscape of Central Brooklyn and the Greater New York City area. 

The project demonstrates Goldman Sachs’ commitment to public-private partnerships that help transform underserved urban communities. Our partners in the Loew’s project included: ACE Theatrical Group, a private theatrical facility development and management company; the New York City Economic Development Corporation; the National Development Council, a national non-profit community and economic development organization; the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York; and the National Community Fund I, LLC, a community development entity.

In December 2014, Goldman Sachs committed nearly $200 million to Essex Crossing, a project that will transform the largest stretch of undeveloped city-owned land in Manhattan below 96th Street – totaling 1.7 million square feet – into a vibrant, mixed-use community.

The development, located near the intersection of Essex and Delancey Streets on New York’s Lower East Side, consists of nine sites, many of which have sat largely vacant for more than four decades. The three phases of the development will create:

• 1,000 housing units, over half of which will be affordable to low-, moderate- and middle-income households.
• Community spaces and facilities, including a two-generation school run by local partner Educational Alliance; a community center operated by Grand Street Settlement that will provide early childhood and senior services; and a rooftop urban farm.
• A hub of small business incubation located in Seward Park which will drive job creation and entrepreneurship in the area.
• 640,000 square feet of office and retail space
• 15,000 square feet of open space.
• An expanded Essex Street market.

The work is a result of a strong public-private partnership, including local community groups, the New York City Economic Development Corp. and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Total development costs are approximately $1 billion, providing the Urban Investment Group (as the team’s lead financing partner) with significant investment opportunities.

Goldman Sachs invested in a “social impact bond” to help fund a program aimed at reducing the recidivism rate for adolescent offenders at the Rikers Island correctional facility in New York City. The initiative – in partnership with the City of New York, Bloomberg Philanthropies and MDRC – was the first transaction of its kind in the US market.

In April 2014, Goldman Sachs closed a $6 million loan to Urban Health Plan (UHP), a network of federally qualified health centers that provides high-quality healthcare services to medically underserved communities in New York City, regardless of patients’ ability to pay.

The capital helped to finance improvements to UHP’s facilities in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx—an area hard-hit by the closing of a community health center in 2012. The loan also supported the renovation of UHP’s headquarters to respond to growing demand, now open, and several ancillary sites that are critical to UHP’s expansion.

Previously, Goldman Sachs had committed $42 million of capital in a New Markets Tax Credits transaction with UHP to finance the construction of a new 54,000 square foot facility, and to finance existing debt.

The capital raised in these two transactions helps deliver medical services to 50,000 visitors at the Soundview facility, and 20,000 new patients at UHP headquarters. The organization’s headquarters is located in a neighborhood that was designated as both a Medically Underserved Area and a Medically Underserved Population by the US Government’s Heath Resources and Services Administration.

Goldman Sachs is committed to helping small business owners receive greater access to small business education and financing through the 10,000 Small Businesses program. Through a $3.5 million fund, small business owners are able to grow their companies and hire more employees in New York.