Logistics firms, robotics startups and brands set up shop in Industry City, fueling a retail tech hub in Brooklyn

Highline Commerce, Ultra Robotics and a Growing Roster of Retail Tech Companies Are Now Manufacturing and Fulfilling in the Country’s Most Competitive Market

Our latest release on Highline Commerce and the growing retail tech hub at Industry City was recently featured in Robotics and Automation News — here’s the full release.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (July 23, 2026) — E-commerce is one of the fastest-growing retail subsectors in New York City, with new consumer brands launching at a relentless pace and 2.5 million packages delivered across the city each day. Now, the companies that manufacture, print, fulfill and automate for these brands are racing for space in the country’s most competitive real estate market. Chief among them is Highline Commerce, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that has just expanded to 60,000 square feet in its fourth year at Industry City and is now filling up to 30% of its clients’ orders with humanoid robots from fellow Industry City tenant Ultra Robotics.

New York has become one of the most strategic places in the country to move retail goods, with Amazon alone running more than 40 facilities across the region. But its high costs have long forced growing companies out the moment they need room to scale. Industry City is where a rising number of consumer brands, along with the fulfillment, robotics and logistics startups that power them, have found they can grow without leaving the city.

From this Brooklyn tech hub, Highline Commerce gives more than 200 brands, including those founded by celebrities, airlines and high-profile executives, a direct-to-consumer distribution backbone they cannot build on their own. It has grown from 27,000 to 60,000 square feet at Industry City, originally choosing the campus over the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Navy Yard for its space to scale.

This room to grow placed Highline Commerce alongside Y Combinator-backed Ultra Robotics and other tech companies in the retail sector, an unintended perk that has become central to how it operates. By putting Ultra’s humanoid robots to work in its fulfillment process, Highline Commerce has become one of the first 3PLs in the country to deploy them outside of Amazon. The robots can run 24 hours a day without breaks and today handle up to 30% of the pick, tote, scan and conveyor process that moves an order from shelf to shipment.

“For a long time, the story of New York was that you came here to sell things, not to make them,” said Jeff Fein, Senior Vice President of Industry City. “That’s changing. The most physical, complex work companies do is happening inside the city itself. Manufacturing, fulfillment and robotics are becoming New York industries again. And not just for retail.”

With more than 700 companies and 8,500 daily workers sharing the campus, technology, vision and talent collide at Industry City. This has resulted in complementary companies coming together to collaborate, test and iterate onsite faster than would even be imaginable across a dispersed supply chain. Highline Commerce and Ultra Robotics are an example of this, having  tested the very first robots live, in real production, rather than in a decentralized lab. Many such opportunities have been facilitated organically through shared onsite amenities, including 50+ eateries, bars and breweries, as well as industry happy hours and events like Beanstalk, where 1,000+ consumer brands recently met and Shopify’s President Harley Finkelstein famously called Brooklyn “the Mecca for merchants, builders, entrepreneurs, and Shopify app partners.”

“New York is in the middle of an e-commerce golden age, and brands are launching faster than the logistics world can support them,” said Richard Hurley, Founder and CEO of Highline Commerce. “Serving them doesn’t just take a village, it takes a place like Industry City, where on-site manufacturing, printing, fulfillment and the robots that run it all operate within feet of one another. None of that could happen in Silicon Valley, where the real estate alone would price everyone out. Being surrounded by founders and other tech companies has changed how we operate, and it’s part of why brands that came to us with a handful of orders are now doing up to $50 million a year.”

Prior to moving to Industry City, Highline Commerce was based in Chelsea, where it was paying roughly twice as much for less space. But for tech companies, manufacturers and makers, the campus is more than just affordable work space. It’s purpose built for the high-demands of creating. This means abundant loading docks, oversized freight elevators, 200-pound floor loads for hardware, and abundant three-phase power and gas, all ready for heavy prototyping and production. Industry City’s enterprise-grade connectivity spans more than 35 carriers and ISPs, plus dark fiber cabling, across the campus. 

In addition to Highline Commerce and Ultra Robotics, other businesses in the retail sector at Industry City include made-to-order automated knitwear from Tailored Industry, on-site screenprinting from Gowanus Print Lab, Alquist Robotics and live-stream shopping company Puff Media. Other 3PLs and logistics companies YSDS and Contanmar Shipping have also made Industry City their home base. And a number of consumer brands manufacture, warehouse and ship from the campus, including Le Labo, Strand Bookstore, Adafruit, Stoney Clover Lane, Roman & Williams, MPB, The Future Perfect, Miss Circle, and Walmart eyewear supplier M Factory. 

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About Industry City

Industry City is a destination work hub for technology companies, creative brands and multi-disciplinary manufacturers in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. The 35-acre campus is home to more than 700 businesses and draws 8,500 daily workers across AI, robotics, e-commerce, design, retail, food & beverage and more. Each year, Industry City attracts 3.3 million visitors to its packed entertainment and event roster, and array of dining and shopping experiences. With heavy floor loads, freight access, enterprise-grade connectivity and access to 50 megawatts of power (at up to 22.5% in energy cost savings), Industry City is built for companies that are building the future. Industry City is home to companies across industries, including Adafruit, the Brooklyn Nets, Cresilon, HelloFresh, Open Igloo, NYU Langone, Skanska, Square Design, and hundreds of others.