Food52, a premier online cooking and home brand, recently redefined its vision for the future of the workplace by bringing together the worlds of content and commerce creation. Company leaders found the perfect location for this business evolution at Dock 72 in the new Brooklyn Navy Yard. This is an innovative, cutting-edge office complex, designed and constructed with forward-thinking amenities and technical infrastructure to support more than 300 modern businesses and a perfect fit for Food52. Schimenti is supporting Food52’s upcoming move to this space, leading everything from sourcing and installing intricate millwork to managing the complicated installation of the company’s HVAC system.
With over 25 million followers, Food52 combines content, commerce, and community around the belief that the kitchen is at the heart of the home and food is the center of a well-lived life. The brand is relocating from its current space in Chelsea to Dock 72, and Schimenti is overseeing the buildout of the entire 13th floor, which spans an area of approximately 42,000 square feet. Constructed to intertwine industry-leading amenities and technical infrastructure, the expansive space features four commercial-grade kitchens and one test kitchen, as well as spacious storage and pantries, well-appointed offices, meeting rooms, and specialized areas designated for video production, podcasting, and more.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard is a fascinating new office complex developed in a location that has been a hotbed of industry in New York City for over 200 years. At its peak in World War II, the Yard supported over 70,000 workers per day building ships, including the USS Arizona and the USS Missouri. After sitting vacant since the 1960s, the Navy Yard has seen an innovation resurgence and is now home to some of Brooklyn’s fastest-growing creative companies, including artists, engineers, coffee roasters, and rooftop farmers. Food52 will complete its new space and join the Navy Yard campus later this spring. It took some innovative work to build out this innovative space, but the Schimenti team was up for the challenge.
Oliver Holland and Ryan Cook lead the Schimenti team on the Food52 project, bringing expertise, collaboration, and attention to detail to the space’s design and infrastructure needs. The extensive use of custom millwork throughout the space is a key design feature, and the Schimenti team leaned on its deep millwork experience and vendor relationships to ensure successful fabrication and installation. It was essential to Food52 to have a partner who could fabricate and execute the complicated installation with dedicated expertise in everything from filing through sign-off.
“This crane pick took six months of planning to execute successfully. It couldn’t have been done without the support and involvement of other partners, including Boston Properties, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Palco Mechanical, and Tri-State Rigging.”
– Ryan Cook, Project Manager
The HVAC system installation was another big challenge on this project. The building presented a unique set of challenges for Schimenti, mainly due to its location on a pier and that it also sits in protected airspace as part of its U.S. Navy relationship. To overcome this obstacle, a Liebherr LTM 1300 crane was used to pick three air source heat pumps and the steel dunnage onto the roof of the 16-floor building. This was the first crane pick executed in the Brooklyn Navy Yard since the project’s completion. Moreover, given the crane’s position on dry land, it was necessary to equip it with a jib arm extension to ensure the successful completion of the lift. Schimenti looks forward to seeing the final space when Food52 moves in later this spring.