Nathan Kensinger Photography: 11/1/07

November 28th, 2007 -

The GMD Shipyard lies within the Brooklyn Navy Yard and is rarely - if ever - open to the public. The shipyard houses three graving docks and at least eight cranes. After Ikea's recent destruction of the Todd Shipyard in Red Hook, GMD has become a vital resource on the waterfront. It is Brooklyn's last industrial ship repair facility and one of New York City's last remaining shipyards. Recently, according to workers in the Navy Yard, it was threatened with destruction, to be replaced by an extension of the film studios in the Navy Yard.

These photos were taken during a Portside New York event, a group that "seeks to breathe life into the relationship between landside communities and the maritime sector—to the advantage of both."

For more photoessays from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, click here.

November 14th, 2007 -

Brooklyn's Bush Terminal is located on the Sunset Park waterfront. It houses a collection of warehouses and train tracks. Behind this industrial area lies a fenced off "brownfield" - including a decades-old apple orchard, two unnatural ponds and a series of man-made bays. As explained by the NYC Council's Waterfronts Committee in an oversight document, the area was an active port until 1974, when its series of piers was filled in with "illegal disposal of liquid wastes at the landfill including oils, oil sludges, and wastewaters."

A total of $36 million has now been dedicated to redevelop this 23 acre site into a park. According to the official press release, this includes "the largest brownfield grant ever awarded by the state" of New York. A proposal map of the development included in a remediation document by the Department of Environmental Conservation includes plans for a mini golf course and children's soccer fields where this poisoned apple orchard now exists.

The redevelopment of Bush Terminal, like the nearby South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and the Brooklyn Army Terminal, is controlled by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

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For more photo essays from Brooklyn's Sunset Park please visit the Brooklyn Army Terminal (2008), the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (2009), Empire Electric (2009), S & S Machinery (2010) and the 68th Police Precinct (2011).