Battery Maritime Building Historic Tax Credit

This 140,000 sq. ft. Beaux-Arts landmark building was completed in 1909 when ferries were still a vital means of transportation in New York City. Its many unique architectural assets include nearly 8,800 elements of cast iron, riveted rolled steel plates and angles, sheet copper ornamentations, ceramic tile and stucco paneled walls, and a copper panel mansard roof system.

The Brooklyn ferry service shut down in 1938 and the under utilized ferry terminal suffered severe deterioration due to a lack of maintenance and loss of significant architectural features during a 1957 alterations and addition. The BMB was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967.

The building was then handed off to a series of New York City agencies, most recently the Department of Transportation, where it used some rooms to store mothballed files until 2000.

From 2001 to 2006, the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) spent nearly $60 million to renovate the BMB’s exterior, also restoring and replicating the historic windows, doors and light fixtures. Its distinctive sheet metal facade was painted green to resemble copper verdigris. The area surrounding the Battery Maritime Building is now the focus of major redevelopment efforts by New York City. To the south, the Whitehall Ferry Terminal is being totally re-built, Governor’s Island has been transformed into a major cultural and commercial center, and plans to convert the East River waterfront from a commercial shipping center to a recreational area well underway.