1776 will open a New York City campus, the latest in a recent flurry of new expansions for the tech startup incubator. 1776 will be the anchor tenant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard according to the announcement on Wednesday, and will officially open in 2017.
New York City invested more than $100 million into the Brooklyn Navy Yard in recent years, with the goal of attracting tech and startup companies, the kinds of businesses with which 1776 is often involved. The announcement about the New York campus comes just a few weeks after 1776 said it will have a campus in Dubai, and after taking over spaces in Arlington and San Francisco last year.
The incubator will take over the top floor of the building when it is ready, but will occupy some temporary space in New York until then. It's also not the first presence that 1776 will have in New York. Former New York City and State chief digital officer Rachel Haot joined 1776 as managing director back in January, and has mainly worked remotely.
"With our expansion to the Brooklyn, 1776 will build on New York’s momentum and work to remove the stubborn barriers that hold it back, helping our city reach even greater heights," Haot wrote in a Medium post about the expansion. "New York City’s economy is among the world’s strongest, but we can do better."
"Rachel's first task was to find a space for us," 1776 communications director Erin McPike told DC Inno in an interview. "Brooklyn Navy Yard is really in line with our mission and [the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio administration] wanted us to be there."
"With our expansion to the Brooklyn, 1776 will build on New York’s momentum."
The new space is a project carried out by successive New York City administrations that Haot has a deep history with. It also fits with the kind of global ambitions that 1776 has talked about for a while. In terms of international connections, D.C. and New York are arguably the most important hubs to have a presence in in the U.S.
"The Navy Yard is a big 21st century space for innovative companies," McPike said. "It goes beyond just New York or one city. We're looking at it as part of a uniform worldwide innovation."
