The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership manages an office building that is home to local nonprofit arts groups. Located at the corner of Hanson Place and South Portland Avenue, 80 Arts is a 30,000-square foot building transformed by the BAM Local Development Corporation (BAM LDC) into an affordable office space with shared amenities for its tenants. With offices that range in size from 400 to 3,000 square feet, the building includes a lunch room, conference rooms, rehearsal space, and a landscaped garden.
The James E. Davis Building
As part of the renovation of 80 Arts, an aggressive plan was initiated to maximize the participation of local businesses owned by minorities and women. Over 70% of the contractors that worked on the building’s rehabilitation adhered to these guidelines. Because of the success of this effort, this model will be followed for all future projects that are started within the BAM Cultural District. In coordination with the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, the building’s reconstruction also followed a model “project labor agreement,” which helped contain project costs and led to the hiring of local workers for construction jobs.