Industry City's Newest Tenant Dedicated to "Seriously Delicious" Living

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN, NY — Industry City has a new tenant dedicated to the art of eating well, as reported last week by the Sunset Park Voice. Serious Eats, a website which describes itself as providing "definitive recipes, hard-core food science, trailblazing techniques, and innovative guides to essential food and drink anywhere and everywhere," will move into the complex in September.

The company, which will leave its current Chinatown office, signed a seven year lease for a 9,000 square-foot space in IC, according to a press release the property put out last week. The internet business will also run a photo studio and a test kitchen at its new home.

IC said that Serious Eats plans on expanding, and will "begin hiring for a number of new positions following the activation of their new space."

Spokespeople for IC and Serious Eats did not immediately return requests for more information about how many positions, and what kinds of jobs, the company intends to fill.

In a statement, Serious East CEO Ed Levine said that "Brooklyn was our first choice" for a new office location.

“It’s where many of our employees live," Levine continued, "and it’s become the epicenter of New York's constantly evolving food culture.”

IC suffered a setback in April, when 3D printing company and tenant Makerbot announced it would shutter its factory there and ship its manufacturing operation to China.

But the complex has continued to present a positive assessment of its growth and hiring. According to IC, 4,500 people currently work out of its buildings, of which almost half "live nearby." IC, owned by Belevedere Capital and Jamestown, says its aiming to eventually host 20,000 jobs.

Earlier this year, IC opened Innovation Lab, billed as a space where local residents can train for positions with tenant companies. According to IC, over the last 30 months, 100 local individuals have been hired at the complex's businesses.

But those numbers haven't assuaged the vocal concerns of some community members, chief among them the activists at long-standing area organization UPROSE.

In May, the group protested a wine and food tasting at IC, and it picketed an afternoon of free salsa lessons hosted there in July.

The organization has argued that IC's development plan is focused on attracting white-collar companies and high-income customers, excluding the area's working class residents in the process.

Development along those lines, UPROSE says, will mean rising area rents — and no new jobs — for existing residents and businesses, leading to displacement.

As Sunset Park resident Antoinette Martinez, 29, told Patch at July's protest, "The rents around here are ridiculous," adding, "Ever since [IC] started coming here, that's when things started turning bad."

Martinez said she fears that by the time local people grasp the picture UPROSE is painting, "it's going to be too late."

Pictured at top: Industry City. Image via Google Maps