page_title: Brooklyn Army Terminal
section_title: Closure of military base
hierarchical_section_title: Brooklyn Army Terminal / History / Closure of military base
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking south from 58th Street Pier of en:Bay Ridge, Brooklyn at en:Brooklyn Army Terminal on a clearing afternoon of June 15, 2008. See also File:Brooklyn Army Terminal Atrium Building B2.jpg.
context_page_description: The Brooklyn Army Terminal is a large warehouse complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City. The site occupies more than 95 acres between 58th and 63rd Streets west of Second Avenue, on Brooklyn's western shore. The complex was originally used as a United States Army supply terminal called the Brooklyn Army Base or Brooklyn Army Supply Base. It is now used for commercial and light industrial purposes, and also serves a NYC Ferry stop.
  The Brooklyn Army Terminal was designed by Cass Gilbert. It contains two warehouses, three piers, several smaller administrative buildings, and rail sidings for loading cargo. When built, the warehouses were among the world's largest concrete structures. The Brooklyn Army Terminal adjoins the former Bush Terminal, which was used by the United States Navy.
  The Brooklyn Army Terminal's construction was originally approved in 1918, during World War I, and was completed the following year after the conclusion of the war. The terminal was subsequently leased out and used for various purposes, including as a dock, a military prison, and a storage space for drugs and alcohol during Prohibition.
context_section_description: The United States Department of Defense announced in May 1964 that it was considering closing Brooklyn Army Base, as well as Fort Jay and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as part of an effort to downsize unnecessary military installations and to save money. Immediately after the announcement, local officials and labor union leaders started advocating to save the military base from closure. Despite advocacy efforts to save the base from closure, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara announced in November 1964 that the Brooklyn Army Terminal would be one of nearly a hundred military bases that would be closed. Only the military function would be decommissioned, and 90 percent of civilian workers at Brooklyn Army Terminal would retain their jobs after the base was closed. By 1965, it was confirmed that the Brooklyn Army Terminal would close to military use on January 1, 1967. Port of Embarkation activities would be relocated to the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey. Some of the base's remaining activities would be relocated to the nearby Federal Office Building at 29th Street and Third Avenue in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
  Officials held a decommissioning ceremony on December 9, 1966. Immediately afterward, the New York City government announced that it would acquire the terminal for maritime redevelopment. The city planned to relocate its foreign-trade zone from Staten Island to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, where there would be more room for the foreign-trade zone's operations. In addition, U.S. Senator Jacob Javits and the Brooklyn Army Terminal Development Committee discussed possible uses for the Brooklyn Army Terminal, including for the United States Post Office Department or for the Department of Defense. A dispute arose between local business owners, who wanted a large post office facility in the terminal, and the city. In June 1969, it was announced that the U.S. government would lease a 20-acre (8.1 ha) section of the base to the city for two years. Afterward, the city continued to lease part of the base, and in turn, sublet the space to private companies.
  After a fire destroyed the Morgan General Mail Facility in Manhattan in December 1967, some of the Morgan Facility's operations were temporarily moved to the newly vacated Brooklyn Army Terminal. Soon the Brooklyn Army Terminal facility was handling 18,000 bags of international mail every day. The facility employed four thousand workers, 75% of whom lived in Brooklyn. A permanent facility to replace the Brooklyn Army Terminal operation was originally planned for Murray Hill, Manhattan, but in 1970 the planned facility was moved to Jersey City, New Jersey. In December 1970, the government announced that it was going to close the post office facility at Brooklyn Army Terminal.
  Shipping operations at the Brooklyn Army Terminal resumed in 1970. That same year, the federal government quietly proposed building a federal detention facility at the terminal to replace an overcrowded facility in Manhattan. The Navy moved into the terminal in 1972, and renamed it the Military Ocean Terminal. The former Brooklyn Army Base now served as the headquarters for the Military Sealift Command (MSC) Atlantic. Army shipping activities were permanently moved to Bayonne starting in 1974, saving the federal government $2 million per year. The U.S. military had completely vacated the space by October 1975.
caption: Seen from the New York Bay shorefront
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