BROOKLYN — Brooklyn Brewery has set opening dates for its massive new brewery and rooftop bar at the Navy Yard.
The 75,000-square-foot brewery will open in February 2018, while the new rooftop bar will arrive two months later in April 2018, company executives announced Tuesday.
“The Navy Yard for us will become our long-term Brooklyn home,” Brooklyn Brewery CEO Eric Ottoway said at a Community Board 2 meeting.
The brewery is moving its headquarters to the Navy Yard’s new public food hall at BLDG 77, as it prepares for its lease at 61-71 Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg to expire in 2025.
Ottoway said the the owners of the Williamsburg location plan to redevelop the building and raise the rent.
“They would like us to be out of there yesterday if they had their own way,” he said at the meeting.
Ottoway also presented proposed plans for the rooftop bar and restaurant, which will occupy the 16th floor of BLDG 77.
The sleek, 10,000-square-foot rooftop bar will feature glass walls, with the main communal seating areas located on the west and north sides so customers can take in sweeping views of the East River and Manhattan skyline. It will initially accommodate 450 customers, but gradually expand to fit 600.
The space will include main indoor and outdoor dining areas for visitors that will be open seven days a week, as well as three different event spaces.
The outdoor area will be open seasonally and feature a walk-up, self-serve kitchen window.
The outdoor terrace — which will include a wooden deck and landscaped green space located on the north edge of the building — will be accessible only to Navy Yard staff members without a requirement they buy food or drink.
The brewery is in discussions with Brooklyn Grange, the Navy Yard’s rooftop farm, to curate the bar’s rooftop landscaping, which could include some edible plants that would be used in the food menu.
The indoor spaces will feature hand-painted murals similar to those at the Williamsburg location.
Community Board 2's Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to approved the proposed plans for the rooftop bar, which will go before the full board on Sept. 14. The plans will then go before the city's Public Design Commission on Sept. 19.
The brewery's main beer hall will be on the ground floor of BLDG 77, along with other establishments like Russ & Daughters and Williamsburg-based chocolatiers Mast Brothers.
The food hall at BLDG 77 is set to open in 2017.
