New York City's Manufacturing Renaissance

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bloomberg Businessweek

Episode: New York City's Manufacturing Renaissance
Date: September 18, 2025
Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec
Guest: Lindsey Green, President & CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard

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Overview

This episode spotlights New York City's evolving manufacturing sector, with a particular focus on the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Hosts Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec sit down with Lindsey Green, President & CEO of the Navy Yard, to discuss the changing narrative around urban manufacturing, the opportunities and challenges for high-value production in a metropolis, workforce development, and how these efforts contribute to the city's broader economic health.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Brooklyn Navy Yard: History and Present Impact

• [01:39] Carol introduces the Navy Yard: 300 acres, 550+ businesses, 11,000 employees, and $2.5B in annual economic impact.
• Historic Importance: Originally a shipbuilding site producing ships like the USS Maine and Missouri.
• Current Focus: Home to businesses spanning medtech, green tech, materials, fashion, electric motorcycles, and ongoing ship repair (GMD Shipyard).

The Role and Realities of Urban Manufacturing

• [03:02] Lindsey Green: Urban manufacturing thrives on proximity to skilled labor and end consumers—crucial for both talent attraction and immediate feedback on products.
• Notable Quote:
  “Being in a big metropolis is a great place to see and feel the applicability of whatever it is that you make.” — Lindsey Green [03:21]
• Types of Businesses: High-value, talent-intensive, or products directly consumed by New Yorkers.

Manufacturing in America—Shifts, Skills, and Challenges

• [04:45] Can the U.S. bring back manufacturing at scale (e.g. building iPhones)? Lindsey: Possible, but will require massive investment, new skills, and time.
• Why Skills Are Lacking:
  “We, I think, just stopped investing in them decades ago all across the country. It changed our education system, it changed the way businesses invested their money.” — Lindsey Green [05:02]
• Modern Manufacturing Skills:
  • High-tech competencies—computer literacy, troubleshooting, working with automated machinery.
  • “You have to have the same mental training because sometimes the machines break. You have to be able to triage and troubleshoot. But you need to know how to work in both the analog and the new high tech environment.” — Lindsey Green [05:29]
• Storytelling: Manufacturers focus on their products, not the “sexiness” of manufacturing jobs. Navy Yard’s mission includes promoting the appeal of these careers.

NYC Politics & Economic Climate

• [06:35] Discussion about NYC mayoral politics: Governor Hochul supports Zoran Mandani; Lindsey notes she serves at the pleasure of Mayor Adams and focuses on benefiting the city regardless of political shifts.
• [07:20] NYC Economy: Businesses are resilient but feeling the effects of tariffs, managing uncertainty and adapting as needed.
• Notable Quote:
  “Like most New Yorkers, businesses here are built to grind it out and hustle and get it done.” — Lindsey Green [07:25]

Jobs, Wages, and Accessibility

• [08:09] Are manufacturing jobs at the Navy Yard well-paying? Lindsey: They’re middle-class, “life sustaining” wages, accessible even with a high school education.
• Notable Quote:
  “For a true production employee, it’s a really good life sustaining wage. It is a traditional middle class job. You can support your family with these wages.” — Lindsey Green [08:09]
• Training Support: Initiatives like the STEAM Center and advanced machinery training ensure accessibility and upskilling for all.

Vacancy and Tenant Retention

• [08:41] Occupancy rates are generally high, with tenants tending to stay and grow within the Navy Yard due to flexibility and strong support.
• Notable Moment:
  Lindsey explains their “Swiss cheese” approach—moving tenants around as they grow, creating a dynamic ecosystem [09:06].

Community and Culture

• [09:35] Carol notes quality food and social spaces at the Yard; Lindsey agrees, highlighting the vibrant community culture.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Being in a big metropolis is a great place to see and feel the applicability of whatever it is that you make.”
  — Lindsey Green [03:21]

• “We, I think, just stopped investing in [manufacturing skills] decades ago all across the country. It changed our education system, it changed the way businesses invested their money.”
  — Lindsey Green [05:02]

• “You have to have the same mental training because sometimes the machines break. You have to be able to triage and troubleshoot. But you need to know how to work in both the analog and the new high tech environment.”
  — Lindsey Green [05:29]

• “Like most New Yorkers, businesses here are built to grind it out and hustle and get it done.”
  — Lindsey Green [07:25]

• “For a true production employee, it’s a really good life sustaining wage. It is a traditional middle class job. You can support your family with these wages.”
  — Lindsey Green [08:09]

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Segment Timestamps

| Topic | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------|---------------| | Intro to Navy Yard & Economic Impact| [01:39-02:17] | | Manufacturing’s Urban Advantage | [03:02-03:45] | | Types of Manufacturing at the Yard | [03:48-04:20] | | Challenges of Scaling US Manufacturing| [04:45-05:16]| | Workforce Skills & Storytelling | [05:18-06:35] | | NYC Politics & Economic Mood | [06:35-07:48] | | Wages and Accessibility | [08:09-08:41] | | Vacancy and Tenant Retention | [08:41-09:35] | | Community and Closing Remarks | [09:35-09:54] |

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Tone and Takeaways

• Optimistic yet Realistic: Both Lindsey and Carol recognize the hurdles but emphasize the city’s and the sector’s resilience.
• Community-Oriented: Repeated focus on supporting diverse companies, workforce development, and fostering a dependable jobs pipeline for New Yorkers.
• Forward-Thinking: Emphasis on the future of high-tech manufacturing in cities and the ongoing need to invest in education and skills.

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This episode delivers a nuanced look at New York’s “manufacturing renaissance”—rooted in the past but focused on high-value modern production and workforce readiness for the future.

Transcript

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[Carol Massar]

You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Radio. On the Brooklyn waterfront, sandwiched between South Williamsburg and Dumbo, bordering Fort Greene, you can find the the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It's 300 acres. It's an industrial park. It's home to more than 550 businesses and employs 11,000 people. The businesses do, and according to the Navy Yard, it generates more than $2.5 billion per year in economic impact for the city. Now, before it was home to firms in medtech, green tech, materials and more, it was a shipbuilding site that built and launched ships including the USS Maine, USS Arizona, and USS Missouri.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Such a great history, right?

[Carol Massar]

It's pretty cool. Yeah, it's really cool. Back with us here in the studio is Lindsey Green. She's President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Lindsey, good to see you. Welcome back.

[Lindsey Green]

Thank you.

[Carol Massar]

You know you were in here over a year ago. Yeah, I couldn't believe it had been that long. Actually when I was looking at the notes from our producer Ari, a lot has changed in the narrative around manufacturing in the United States since you were last with us. Just to contextualize this, Joe Biden was running against Donald Trump when you were last in our office. So, you know, so it was a completely different world. The President won the election. He's talked about bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Talk about manufacturing in the context of what's happening in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, because you are a big believer that manufacturing needs to happen in cities.

[Lindsey Green]

It does. It needs to happen all over the country. And we believe that there's a slice of it that always makes sense to happen in urban settings. And that's what the Navy has been about since the Navy started. And it's really about businesses who capitalize on the talent that is here in New York in particular. And that's both shop floor workers and talented engineers of different types and a proximity to their customer base. That's big corporations that are based here, the eight and a half million consumers. Just being in a big metropolis is a great place to see and feel the applicability of whatever it is that you make. And so that's what a lot of businesses, that's what they want to be attracted to when they locate at the yard. And we offer them a home base to do that.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Remind us about the manufacturing that is at the yard.

[Lindsey Green]

So the yard is home to a wide variety of manufacturing businesses. They do everything from ingredients for food companies to custom couture and fashion like Lafayette 148, to people making electric motorcycles, medical device companies. We have a still functioning shipyard there using the infrastructure that the Navy built. That's GMD shipyard. It kind of pretty much everything you think of, short of like mining.

[Carol Massar]

They're not building iPhones and they're not sewing soccer balls and they're not making shoes.

[Lindsey Green]

No. It tends to be high value things that require the talent and can candidly justify the expense of operating inside a big city. Or it is things that are directly consumed by the big metropolis that we are all a part of.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Is that the reality of manufacturing in the US it's got to be a higher end manufacturer. I mean, we kind of talk about this when certainly the President stresses bringing manufacturing back to the United States.

[Carol Massar]

He wants iPhones built in the US Yes.

[Lindsey Green]

And can we at some point? Possibly. It requires a lot of Runway and investment because that is just a whole set of skills from the types of plants, the type of machinery use in an iPhone plant, the type of skills that workers in an iPhone plant have.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Why don't we have those skills here.

[Lindsey Green]

We, I think, just stopped investing in them decades ago all across the country. It changed our education system. It changed the way businesses invested their money and a lot of that expertise and new manufacturing techniques just located overseas.

[Narrator/Announcer]

What are the skills, though?

[Lindsey Green]

So it's the type of, I think.

[Narrator/Announcer]

We have like this old. A lot of us, maybe it's me, guilty as charged in terms of what manufacturing is today. So educate us.

[Lindsey Green]

So it's high tech. You have to be very computer literate, but not really any more computer literate than the rest of us have to be to function in daily life. But you have to have a familiarity with it because something that you used to do with your hands as a trades craftsman is now done with a machine. And you have to know how the machine is, is, is using that same skill set. But it means that a worker's safety risk is much lower because they're not putting their hands or other body parts in tiny places and they can work much faster. So it allows them to be economically competitive and keep up with the heavily automated factories that might exist elsewhere. So it's principally that you're doing the same thing. You have to have the same mental training because sometimes the machines break. You have to be able to triage and troubleshoot. But you need to know how to work in both the analog and the new high tech environment. And it's hard to tell that story. And most manufacturers are so focused day in and day out on producing the thing they make. They're not marketing the sexiness of what it is that they do. They're marketing their thing and it's hard to expect them to do both. So it's storytelling that we take on at the Navy Arch because it, it's about our mission and supports what they're doing.

[Carol Massar]

On Sunday, Governor Kathy Hochul endorsed Zoran Mandani for to be the next mayor of New York City. I said we're at interesting times right now compared to when we last spoke with you. I know that Mandani is going out and reaching out to a lot of business leaders and meeting with them. Have you had a chance to speak with him?

[Lindsey Green]

I have not. No. I'm aware of his campaign. Obviously I serve at the pleasure of, of Mayor Adams. And what we do is, I think, a boon for all everyone in the city.

[Carol Massar]

Do you. Would your job change? Would you. Would it be likely that you would. He would bring somebody new in?

[Lindsey Green]

It's up to him. I am an appointed position just like most other agency heads. It is city Property and it's, it's about good news for the people of New York.

[Carol Massar]

Go ahead. I just wanted to ask about the New York City economy because you have such a good view of it. How would you characterize it right now?

[Lindsey Green]

I'd say like most New Yorkers, like businesses here are built to grind it out and hustle and get it done. And that's what you see people doing. The tariffs have an impact, I think principally on the uncertainty level right now, but they also have had an impact on how people manage their inventory and how they plan. And I think some folks are feeling pinched, but they're getting by. It's painful.

[Narrator/Announcer]

But I want to talk about the people who feel pinched because we're going to talk about New York housing in just a moment. It's expensive.

[Lindsey Green]

Yes.

[Narrator/Announcer]

And we're not even talking about ownership, we're talking about renting. And I'm just curious. So many of the people who work at the Navy Yard who are manufacturing, what kind of jobs are these? Are they well paying jobs? Are they jobs that give you an easy life in New York City or you're living outside New York City?

[Lindsey Green]

For a true, I think production employee, it's a really good life sustaining wage. It is a traditional middle class job. You can support your family with these wages and there's lots of research.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Living in New York City?

[Lindsey Green]

Living in New York City, yes. You know, not. You don't make as much as you do as a tech worker or someone with degrees, but you can do well here. And that's why we support it and try to make sure that as the jobs get more high tech, they're still super accessible to someone with a high school education. It's why we have the Steam center and it's why we connect adults to some of these advanced machinery trainings.

[Carol Massar]

What's vacancy look like there? Right now?

[Lindsey Green]

Vacancy is generally low. We are pretty occupied, but we always have room for new people.

[Carol Massar]

Where does it compare with other parts of your tenure?

[Lindsey Green]

As far as I know, the Navyard's always done a pretty good job being occupied. The only time it's been higher, it's because we didn't have a chance to renovate a building the Navy had built and it maybe had a tree growing through it.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Tenants who come in, they stay.

[Lindsey Green]

Yes, very much. It's part of our special sauce that we help tenants grow. And you know, we call it the, the Swiss cheese of moving people around between different buildings in different, different spaces as they grow. Sometimes we bring them all back together, sometimes they have one set of operations in one building and a different set of operations in another. It's we make it work for them. We have an ecosystem, we have a campus. We let, we want them to succeed and run their business and employ New Yorkers and we do what we can to help them do that.

[Carol Massar]

And there's also some good food there. I'll just throw it out there.

[Lindsey Green]

There's good food, there's, there's good, you can get good food, there's good 21 plus beverages. Also.

[Carol Massar]

Lindsey, always good to see you. Thanks so much to see you both. Thanks. Joining us here in the studio, Lindsey Green, President CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

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