A grassroots organization is at odds with a new development in Sunset Park, and the issue has even come to what’s in the air above it.
The advocacy group UPROSE wanted to fly a banner in protest over the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)’s unveiling of Brooklyn Army Terminal’s new BATWorks Climate Innovation Hub. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight restrictions delayed their scheduled flyover on September 25 because President Trump was in the area, but the flyover did take off on September 27. It gave UPROSE a chance to broadcast its concerns with the $100 million development’s plans for the community.
Tethered to the tail of a small plane circling above Sunset Park’s industrial area, their banner carried the message “DON’T SELL OUT SUNSET PARK — GO #GRID @ BAT.” The banner expressed UPROSE’s frustration with how BATWorks appeared to have been developed without real community input on potential climate solutions, despite the project’s impact on local residents.
“The threat of what the New York City Economic Development Corporation just did to Red Hook and wants to do now to Sunset Park is to bring corporations to use public spaces that should be committed and dedicated to building for climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience,” Elizabeth Yeampierre, UPROSE executive director, told the AmNews. “They should be using the industrial waterfront to build for our climate future and to build and create green jobs for our community.
“Instead, they are bringing in these little incubators that are not run or owned by our community, but create an economic resource for the privileged who will come and take our spaces,” Yeampierre continued. “You saw that in the Brooklyn Navy Yard: You go and look at those incubators, very few are owned and run by Black and Brown people, and they want to do that here, and they’re moving quickly. They moved quickly because they wanted to get in under the election, which is what Andrew Kimball at EDC is trying to do.”
Kimball, NYCEDC’s president & CEO, has been tasked with finding ways to repurpose the city’s old industrial areas and turn them into spaces for modern green tech jobs. He is widely lauded for transforming Downtown Brooklyn’s Navy Yard and Sunset Park’s Industry City. Yeampierre believes that Kimball’s vision for BATWorks might follow a similar path: “So they call it innovation, and … for us, their definition of innovation is our definition of displacement.”
In 2019, UPROSE released a draft of a Green Resilient Industrial District (GRID) plan for Sunset Park, a work it had commissioned from the Collective for Community Culture and Environment. “There is a plan,” Yeampierre noted. “It’s really important for you to know that there is an operational plan to decarbonize Sunset Park and bring green manufacturing to the industrial waterfront. It’s not like we’re saying no to change; we’re saying there is this plan that took 10 years for the community to develop [that] would transform our industrial waterfront into a green reindustrialization.
“That green reindustrialization would turn the largest significant maritime area in New York City into a model that can be replicated across the country. We can’t just continue to have these industrial areas harming us and displacing the communities that live here.”
In a statement to the AmNews, an NYCEDC spokesperson said they were disappointed with the protest, claiming the organization shares many values with UPROSE regarding the need for climate innovation and the green economy.
“NYCEDC celebrated the release of UPROSE’s Grid 2.0 Plan in 2023 and has since engaged them in several productive discussions, including around our climate innovation RFP launched in March 2024 and the unveiling of BATWorks in May 2025,” the statement said. “We share many values with UPROSE about the critical need for climate innovation and the potential of the green economy, and have partnered with them on several key initiatives –– from the installation of Sunset Park Solar this past summer to building the nation’s largest offshore wind port at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.”
The spokesperson added that “It is disappointing to see this display as we continue working in good faith toward our shared goals. While the proposal UPROSE submitted in response to the 2024 RFP was withdrawn, we remain committed to collaborating with UPROSE and other stakeholders across Sunset Park on BATWorks programming and ensuring an equitable transition to a green economy for all New Yorkers.”
Push for community inclusion
The BATWorks development is designed to create “green collar” and innovative climate technology jobs, but UPROSE argues that the project’s creation sidelined the voices and needs of the local predominantly Black and Brown community.
Five companies were announced as part of the BATWorks pilot program for emerging climate technology companies. According to a recent NYCEDC press release, they will be encouraged to “test their products in a live built environment and ultimately grow their business and impact throughout the five boroughs to confront the climate crisis. Piloting technology ranges from biobased building materials to EV charging station retrofits.”
UPROSE’s Yeampierre criticized the city’s approach. She argued that public spaces along the industrial waterfront should be used to promote climate adaptation, mitigation, and community resilience, instead of being handed over to external corporations and incubators that may not serve the needs of Sunset Park residents.
UPROSE specifically pointed out the participation in the project by companies like the Cambridge Innovation Center. “While the project is being pitched as an opportunity for growth, it raises serious concerns for nearby communities, particularly those living in Sunset Park who are already dealing with environmental and land-use pressures,” noted Ahmad Perez UPROSE’s infrastructure coordinator. “The Cambridge Innovation Center, a member of the selected consortium, has driven up property values and displaced residents in areas of operation — including Philadelphia.
“Despite several conversations with senior leadership at EDC and other land-use experts, there is still little clarity on how BATWorks will affect housing, affordability, and the potential for displacement. The community deserves a transparent process, yet most of the information made public has focused on developer priorities rather than resident needs.”
NYCEDC countered that it has been monitoring gentrification in New York City by using the Department of City Planning’s Equitable Development Data Explorer tool. Although Sunset Park has a high risk of future displacement, they note that there has been no displacement in the neighborhood over the past decade. Since business hubs, rather than new housing units, are being proposed for the area, “we are confident BATWorks will not add to displacement pressure in Sunset Park.”
Yeampierre warned that without long-term investment in community well-being, large-scale developments ultimately harm working-class neighborhoods. “The BATWorks plan reflects a top-down model that sidelines frontline leadership and accelerates displacement,” she insisted. “New York City cannot build its climate future on the backs of communities most impacted by environmental injustice.”