The Grand Opening of Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 77
The Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 77 is a 1,000,000 square foot, state-of-the-art industrial / manufacturing, tech and design hub and the largest building on the 300-acre campus. Located at the corner of Vanderbilt and Flushing Avenues at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building 77 is projected to add 3,000 jobs and will expand employment at the Navy Yard by more than 40%. The 16-story Building 77 includes a 60,000 square foot ground floor public food manufacturing hub, which will serve as a public gateway to the Yard, and the central gathering point for Yard businesses, employees and their guests. New York institution Russ & Daughters recently signed on to be a ground floor anchor tenant and other food production businesses will lease smaller spaces throughout the ground floor to enhance and complement the food and beverage offerings.
Based on its past work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Empire was engaged to produce the grand opening in a two part event: a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, and later that evening, a celebration with activations that included tenants from Building 77 and the rest of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Empire worked closely with the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s External Affairs team to curate activations that highlighted not only the diversity of the tenants, but also their tremendous contributions to education, engineering, technology, fashion, art and rehabilitation.During the press conference and ribbon-cutting, invited guests dined on delicious bites prepared by tenants including Rustic Tavern, We Rub You, Food Sermon, Pizza Yard, Jalapa Jar, Grandchamps, Brooklyn Greenery, Russ & Daughters and the Brooklyn Roasting Company.
Speakers included New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn Navy Yard Board Chair Henry Gutman, Brooklyn Navy Yard President & CEO, David Ehrenberg and others. The evening event was a Brooklyn Navy Yard-wide block party held inside Building 77’s cavernous ground floor. The party was a true celebration of the diverse community of Brooklyn Navy Yard’s people, its businesses, artists, designers, innovators, creatives and technologists.
Those in attendance and activating within the event included:
ARTISTS: Nadia Beladia, Steph Mantis Designs, Susan Woods, Jacqueline Meier, Dieu Donne, Clay Industries
FASHION/GARMENT: Hip Hop Closet, Akiko et Atsuyo, Lafayette 148
TECH/INTERACTIVE: 10x Beta (New Lab Company), December Box, Refoundry (Interactive Hand Print Project), OgoSport, A Heirloom, Abby Lichtman (Portrait Demonstrations & Painting Demonstrations), Bridge Cleaners (Hand Sewing Demonstrations), New Lab, RockPaperRobot (New Lab Company), Nova Concepts (VR Experience), HITN (Hispanic Information & Telcom Network with Live Mock Broadcast), SITU Studio, Ecologic Solutions, Ferrara Design, Care Of, Turnstile Tours, Consortium for Research & Robotics (Demonstrated a Robot),
FURNITURE: Bien Hecho, Scott Jordan, Asher Israelow, Lost & Found Props, Patina (Provided all Furniture for Tenant Exhibits)
TRAVEL & TOURISM: Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Turnstyle Tours, MUSIC: NORTON Records (Played 1950s & 1960s Rock & Roll).
SIGNAGE & PRINTING: Duggal Visual Solutions
In addition to providing overall event design and management, staffing, technical production, permitting and planning, Empire coordinated all food and beverages, custom activations & exhibitions representing over 50 tenants from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Building 77.
Guest took home a Brooklyn Navy Yard Tote Gift Bag that included a custom, handmade sketch of Building 77 by Abby Lichtman, Coffee by Brooklyn Roasting Company, and a Brooklyn Navy Yard Water Bottle & Mug.
Empire is honored to have produced this milestone event in this historic and once-again vibrant location.
To learn more about the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Building 77, visit https://brooklynnavyyard.org/leasing/bldg-77/
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
