Blog

Recov­ery Agen­da: May­or Bill de Bla­sio and Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Announce Plans to Cre­ate New Hub for Green Busi­ness­es and Non-Profits

Oct 21, 2020 9:41 am

NEW YORK—May­or Bill de Bla­sio and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island (The Trust) today issued a request for pro­pos­als (RFP) to devel­op a hub for busi­ness­es and non-prof­its work­ing in cli­mate and the envi­ron­ment in Build­ing 301, a his­toric water­front build­ing locat­ed on the North­ern sec­tion of Gov­er­nors Island. An ear­ly step in estab­lish­ing Gov­er­nors Island as a lead­ing cen­ter for cli­mate solu­tions, this project will serve as a beta-space for new inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy, research and pol­i­cy action with­in the cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal fields. 

The RFP released today will seek devel­op­ers and oper­a­tors to trans­form Build­ing 301, a 23K SF his­toric struc­ture, for­mer­ly used as an ele­men­tary school by the U.S. Coast Guard, into a hub for busi­ness­es, entre­pre­neurs and non-prof­its work­ing with­in cli­mate and the envi­ron­ment. Already home to like-mind­ed ten­ants and part­ners like the Har­bor School, Cli­mate Muse­um, and Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the project will expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for busi­ness­es and non-prof­its to focus on new, inno­v­a­tive research, tech­nol­o­gy and pol­i­cy action on Gov­er­nors Island. The project is expect­ed to cre­ate over 70 good pay­ing jobs once ful­ly con­struct­ed and operating. 

“The cli­mate cri­sis is already – and will con­tin­ue to be – a pub­lic health cri­sis, too,” said May­or Bill de Bla­sio. ​“It’s time to ral­ly New York City’s sci­en­tists, inno­va­tors, and big thinkers to pre­serve our abil­i­ty to leave safe, healthy lives by fight­ing cli­mate change and adapt­ing to an unpre­dictable future.” 

“Estab­lish­ing a hub at Gov­er­nors Island to lead the world in research, design, and edu­ca­tion about cli­mate change and adap­ta­tion is one of the key parts of the May­or’s COVID-19 recov­ery agen­da, and this RFP helps us get a head start on this cru­cial work,” said Deputy May­or Vic­ki Been. ​“The cli­mate cri­sis is a major threat to the health and well-being of New York­ers, and our eco­nom­ic recov­ery must both bring us back from the pan­dem­ic and pre­pare us for such future threats to pub­lic health. The trans­for­ma­tion of Gov­er­nors Island will not only cre­ate good green jobs, but will jump start inno­v­a­tive strate­gies to avoid and mit­i­gate the effects glob­al warm­ing will have on the health of our residents.” 

“Gov­er­nors Island is unique­ly poised to become a lead­ing cen­ter for cli­mate action, and we’re thrilled to begin real­iz­ing this vision now by bring­ing small busi­ness­es and non-prof­its togeth­er under one roof, with oppor­tu­ni­ties to show­case their work and engage New York­ers,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent & CEO at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This new space will cre­ate jobs and breathe new life into a trea­sured his­toric asset, while lay­ing the ground­work to estab­lish Gov­er­nors Island as an even greater resource for the long-term resilience of New York City.” 

“Cli­mate change is an exis­ten­tial cri­sis that impacts our way of life, the health of our com­mu­ni­ties, and our econ­o­my,” said James Patch­ett, pres­i­dent and CEO of New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion. ​“As we con­tin­ue to look towards the City’s recov­ery, sus­tain­abil­i­ty tied to green tech­nol­o­gy and jobs will play impor­tant roles. This new hub where small busi­ness­es, non­prof­its, and entre­pre­neurs can research, inno­vate, and ideate, is an impor­tant start­ing point that will help cre­ate a more resilient New York City for years to come.” 

“As the world works to recov­er from COVID-19, it is clear that we must put cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice at the heart of our actions,” said Daniel Zarril­li, NYC’s Chief Cli­mate Pol­i­cy Advi­sor. ​“Sup­port­ing job-cre­at­ing invest­ments in clean ener­gy, resilient infra­struc­ture, and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice will be essen­tial to the city’s recov­ery and will accel­er­ate the cre­ative solu­tions nec­es­sary to end the age of fos­sil fuels. We applaud the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island on their com­mit­ment to a liv­able future for the next generation.” 

“Adapt­ing the world to cli­mate change is a mam­moth task that blends sci­ence, engi­neer­ing, and design,” said Jainey Bav­ishi, Direc­tor of the Mayor’s Office of Resilien­cy. ​“This hub will cre­ate new oppor­tu­ni­ties for inno­va­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion across sec­tors, crit­i­cal ingre­di­ents in our work to build a safer and more resilient future.” 

Today’s announce­ment comes one month after May­or Bill de Bla­sio and the Trust unveiled plans to bring togeth­er a mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary com­mu­ni­ty of researchers, edu­ca­tors, advo­cates, inno­va­tors, and pol­i­cy­mak­ers devot­ed to address­ing the glob­al cli­mate cri­sis on Gov­er­nors Island, as part of the Mayor’s Recov­ery Agen­da. Those plans and pro­posed rezon­ing of the South Island entered the for­mal pub­lic land use review process this week. In 2021, the Trust plans to issue a solic­i­ta­tion to attract an aca­d­e­m­ic or research insti­tu­tion to anchor the cen­ter for cli­mate solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island. 

The com­plete RFP can be down­loaded at gov​is​land​.org/​a​b​o​u​t​/rfps. Pro­pos­als may be sub­mit­ted through Jan­u­ary 2021. 

“The release of a RFP for the revi­tal­iza­tion of Build­ing 301 marks a cru­cial point in Gov­er­nors Island’s devel­op­ment into a lead­ing cen­ter for cli­mate solu­tions and action”, said Con­gress­man Jer­ry Nadler. ​“Through this inno­v­a­tive hub, Gov­er­nors Island will con­tin­ue to pro­vide valu­able resilien­cy projects as well as eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties for New York City today and for the future.” 

“We know that small busi­ness­es and not-for-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions will play a sig­nif­i­cant part in dri­ving the inno­va­tion that will be nec­es­sary to address cli­mate change and the many inter­re­lat­ed envi­ron­men­tal chal­lenges we face,” said State Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh, who rep­re­sents low­er Man­hat­tan, west­ern Brook­lyn and Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This RFP will help assess the extent to which Gov­er­nors Island can serve as a site for such inno­va­tion with­in the con­fines of the island’s exist­ing struc­tures, even as the Trust embarks on the essen­tial pub­lic engage­ment and review process for its broad­er vision of rede­vel­op­ing a por­tion of the island to cre­ate a much larg­er amount of space for envi­ron­men­tal work.” 

“Sus­tain­abil­i­ty is the key to New York City’s future,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Cos­ta Con­stan­ti­nides, Chair of the Com­mit­tee on Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion. ​“It will get peo­ple back to work and deliv­er the envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice many New York­ers deserve. We in gov­ern­ment must find cre­ative solu­tions like Build­ing 301 to help our bright­est minds and ded­i­cat­ed inno­va­tors deliv­er that future.” 

“Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 is look­ing for­ward to see­ing our trea­sured his­toric build­ings on Gov­er­nors Island come alive and be restored as a part of the Trust’s vision for an Island that includes envi­ron­men­tal con­scious­ness and action,” said Tam­my Meltzer, Chair­per­son, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1.

In Sep­tem­ber 2020, May­or Bill de Bla­sio and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced plans to bring a cen­ter for cli­mate solu­tions to Gov­er­nors Island as a key part of the Mayor’s Recov­ery Agen­da. Lever­ag­ing the Island’s water­front loca­tion and unique envi­ron­ment, the project will con­cen­trate research and inno­va­tion, test­ing and devel­op­ment, and edu­ca­tion and pub­lic engage­ment around inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions in a sin­gle phys­i­cal hub, bring­ing togeth­er a mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary com­mu­ni­ty of researchers, edu­ca­tors, advo­cates, inno­va­tors, and pol­i­cy­mak­ers devot­ed to address­ing the glob­al cli­mate cri­sis. In total, the cen­ter could encom­pass mil­lions of square feet of mixed-use devel­op­ment to sup­port and expand pub­lic access to Gov­er­nors Island year-round, and cre­ate 8,000 direct jobs. 

Over the next sev­er­al months, the Trust and the Mayor’s Office will work with stake­hold­ers, advo­cates, local elect­ed offi­cials, agen­cies, and New York­ers to help bring the vision to life through a pro­posed rezon­ing of the South Island, which entered the City’s for­mal land use review process this week. The pro­posed rezon­ing will sup­port a mixed-use dis­trict with­in devel­op­ment sites on the South Island, includ­ing an aca­d­e­m­ic or research insti­tu­tion which will anchor the cen­ter for cli­mate solu­tions, while pro­tect­ing the Island’s park and open spaces.