Industry City and the Rise of the Waterfront Innovation District

For decades, waterfronts like ours in Sunset Park were defined by what they used to be — working industrial ports, warehouses, freight corridors. Today, they’re being recognized for what they’re becoming: some of the most compelling office and innovation destinations in the country.

A recent Forbes piece by Jeffrey Steele takes a close look at how innovation districts across the country are increasingly gravitating toward water — and why that’s not a coincidence. Industry City is featured alongside Baltimore Peninsula and The Riverfront Cleveland as examples of how formerly industrial waterfront land is being transformed into something new.

Steele writes that these districts are replacing formerly industrial real estate, with land “transformed into high-value communities promoting attractive live-work-play lifestyles” — situated near city cores and well-connected to transit, with an eye toward long-term climate resilience.

At Industry City, that translates to more than 700 businesses across robotics, life sciences, media and production, AI, food manufacturing, and design — with office spaces ranging from flexible creative suites to large-format enterprise floorplates, all within a 35-acre waterfront campus in Brooklyn. For enterprise companies rethinking their real estate footprint, that combination — significant square footage, a built-in industry community, and a Brooklyn address accessible from Manhattan — is increasingly hard to find anywhere else in New York City.

Randy Peers, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce — which relocated its headquarters to IC five years ago — captured it well in the piece:

“At Industry City, you see media and production, artisanal manufacturing and newer AI/technology-driven companies operating alongside unique retailers and food businesses. That proximity reflects how Brooklyn’s creative economy has evolved – less siloed and more interconnected.”

Our own Managing Director Jim Somoza spoke to the broader shift underway:

“They’re no longer built around a single anchor such as a corporate HQ or downtown tower. Instead, we see communities respond best to layered ecosystems where production, public space, culture and daily activity come first.”

That’s what we’re building here. And we’re glad the rest of the country is starting to notice.

[Read the full Forbes piece here:https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffsteele/2026/04/20/innovation-districts-increasingly-drawn-to-water/]