A unique redevelopment at historic Bush Terminal will cultivate the makers of the city’s future.
Half a million college graduates over the past four years chose to locate in New York City, where a college student population of 530,000 still matriculates and an equally young business roster continues to grow — one in eight firms in the city started in the past 12 months. The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2025 released in June ranked the city No. 2 in the world, driven by such factors as 130,000 new STEM jobs over the past decade and major funding activity in such areas as fintech, AI and crypto.
More than $1.5 billion in public and private investment at NYCEDC’s historic 200-acre Sunset Park District in Brooklyn features four major industrial campuses including MADE Bush Terminal.
Images courtesy of NYCEDC and NYC Municipal Archives
New York City’s vast and deep array of talent, startups, creativity and innovation requires an equally impressive menu of places for creators to do their work.
Enter Brooklyn’s Sunset Park District. No, really: Enter it.
There at Bush Terminal, a historic industrial location known for its pioneering approach to intermodal transportation over a century ago, you’ll find new modes of innovation making headway.
Located in the north portion of the 36-acre campus, MADE Bush Terminal — which stands for Manufacturers, Artisans, Designers, Entrepreneurs — is a campus that blends industrial heritage with modern ingenuity, offering white boxed manufacturing and studio space ranging from 1,500 to 35,000 sq. ft., amenities and indoor and outdoor gathering space along the Sunset Park waterfront.
The first of several buildings being redeveloped on the site was completed in early 2025 and leasing is underway. Next door, Pier 6 will welcome five additional acres of parkland space in early 2027.
The terminal’s original name comes from Bush Company, a freight handling company with six warehouses, a steamship pier and rail assets launched in the late 19th century in an area that eventually grew to encompass several hundred acres and generate more than 35,000 jobs. The Bush family’s roots go further back to 17th century immigrant Jan Bosch, part of New York City’s Dutch origins.
Fast forward to March 2025, when 463 members of a one-day choir assembled by the virally popular Gaia Music Collective entered MADE Bush Terminal to belt out Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” in a a newly refurbished event space one organizer could only describe as “awesome.”
That was in Building A, where another 140,000 sq. ft. of space that features ceiling heights of up to 14 ft., a freight elevator with 16,000 pounds of capacity and five loading docks is projected to create over 165 permanent full-time jobs and generate $2.6 billion in economic impact over a 30-year period.
Next to be redeveloped at MADE is Building C. The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget has approved $98.7 million in capital funding for full building improvements, with the design phase now on the horizon. Building C will provide 155,000 sq. ft. for manufacturing and light industrial uses and public amenity space.
As part of the district’s innovative industrial ecosystem, MADE lives alongside Brooklyn Army Terminal with its new climate innovation hub, BATWorks; and the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a future offshore wind port.
“Inextricably tied to our physical projects is our work growing the city’s most important industries to create jobs, pipelines and equitable opportunity for all New Yorkers — from climate innovation to life sciences to tech and manufacturing,” said NYCEDC President & CEO Andrew Kimball in December 2024 in recognizing the attainment of milestones across the entire Sunset Park portfolio.
Pier 6 will bring five acres of parkland to the MADE Bush Terminal campus in 2027.
Rendering courtesy of Scape Landscape Architecture
With assets like that ready to complement New York’s surfeit of talent, Sunset Park is a place where you can refine the spark of an idea or make sparks fly with your welding torch. It’s no wonder Startup Genome highlighted Brooklyn as a key element behind New York City’s No. 2 world ranking. As of 2024, New York City was home to more than 25,000 tech-enabled startups with an ecosystem value above $694 billion. While the average regional ecosystem in the ranking can claim four unicorns, New York has 150.
As investment continues to unfold in Sunset Park, look for more innovation — and opportunity — along the Brooklyn waterfront.
This Investment Profile was produced under the auspices of New York City Economic Development Corporation (edc.nyc), a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. For more on MADE Bush Terminal, visit madebushterminal.nyc.
