Herndon, Va.-based Lafarge North America announced this week it has signed a long-term lease with the New York City Economic Development Corp. (EDC) for the 25th Street Pier Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. Lafarge will develop the 6.8-acre site into a storage and shipping terminal for its cement products. The company will invest $8.5 million in renovations to the pier, including fendering systems and pile capping. It will spend another $12 million to construct silos and purchase other equipment.

Cement from Lafarge's Ravena plant in upstate New York will be transported to the pier by barge. The new distribution facility will feature a fully modern transfer system designed to move product from the barge to dock, where it will be loaded into trucks for delivery to customers in the New York metro region.

The lease for the pier is for 20 years, with two five-year extensions. Rehabilitation of the pier and construction of the new facility will begin in early 2005 and take about 12 to 15 months to complete.

Lafarge was selected to develop the site as a result of a request for proposals. In evaluating the proposals, EDC used a variety of criteria, including return to the city, development team qualifications, financial feasibility, and relation to surrounding community.