A 97-year-old Bushwick manufacturer is bucking citywide trends: rather than selling itself off into lofts or nightlife space, Aron’s Manufacturing (460 Troutman St.) wants to rise from one to seven stories, per a rezoning application and presentation at October’s Community Board 4 meeting in Bushwick.
Rather than providing market-rate housing for PMC jobbers, the rezone—which CB4’s Land Use Committee voted to endorse on April 26th—would provide over a hundred new industrial jobs for workers without college degrees, among other positions, per a presentation by lawyer Elyse Foldare from firm Eric Palatnik P.C., which represents Aron’s.
Foldare said at the meeting that Aron’s produces “belts for police, and other uniforms.” Beyond being listed as a leather goods store on Google, and sourcing wholesale leather from India and China, this is some of the only public information I could find about what Aron’s actually does. The only publicly accessible document shows Aron’s Artcraft belts appearing on a purchase order for Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation.
Martin Aron, listed as Aron’s Manufacturing’s CEO and manager in ACRIS documents, did not respond to multiple requests for comment to explain Aron’s future plans and verify existing clients.
Conversion from M1-1 to M1-5 zoning to account for an additional six stories, which were designed by the offices of architect Gerald J. Caliendo. The expansion, if approved, would create a sort of structural exoskeleton around the factory on which additional stories would be built. During most of that construction, Aron’s preexisting productive capacity would be in full use, with minimal disruptions from building predicted.
During the construction process, graffiti on the side of the Aron’s building would be removed. “We’re open to whatever the community thinks would be great on that side,” Foldare said at the meeting. “It’s better to do artwork, obviously, than any graffiti.”
A replacement mural would join the cluster of paintings arranged by Bushwick Collective that surround the block and provide much fanfare to the French.
If the rezone goes through, it would be used to fulfill a contract to supply leather apparel to the U.S. Military, per CB 4’s Land Use Chairperson Anne Guiney.
Guiney said that Aron’s is close to securing “Contracts with the [U.S.] Army to make leather goods for the Army… which it sounds like they have reasonable confidence that they will, if they have expanded capacity.”
Brooklyn has been and still is home to several military and federal contractors, including the recently evicted drone manufacturer Easy Aerial and ICE and alleged IDF apparel supplier Crye Precision.
CB4 appears to be in full support of the rezoning effort. Guiney said, “Preservation of manufacturing is hugely important for us in the community,” in reference to the Bushwick Community Plan, a 2018 rezoning plan which sought to maintain some industry in Bushwick.
The board’s main concern appeared to be nightlife. Community Board 4 member Latif Bunting asked, “Is there anything in place that will make them [Aron’s] abide by this [maintaining manufacturing exclusivity].”
Guiney recounted concerns from residents. “Could this, like so many manufacturing spaces, become a nightclub?… Because that area is super saturated… On a Friday, Saturday night, your ears blow out.”
“The limited nature of both the commercial and manufacturing zoning in the neighborhood prevents the full potential of local economic development in Bushwick from being realized,” notes the language in the Bushwick Community Plan.
But, in addition to their expansion plans to service the U.S. Military, Aron’s has no legal obligation to not convert their manufacturing space into retail or residencies. “We hope that they are good faith actors. We think they are good faith actors,” said Guiney, “but in 25 years, down the line, they’ve retired, who knows? I can’t promise you that.”
Aron’s, whose DBAs in the past included Artcraft Belt Co. and Image Accessories, rang no bells in an over-the-phone survey of five police surplus stores in New York City, despite Foldare’s claims of who Aron’s produces belts for. The lack of customer-facing digital footprint (either business-to-business, or direct-to-consumer) implies the outfit is a white label manufacturer, though they are not listed as a sub-vendor in NYPD’s publicly listed expenditures. The NYPD did not respond to a Freedom of Information Law request at the time of publication.
Aron’s Manufacturing’s doubling down on Brooklyn manufacturing runs as much against larger citywide trends moving away from manufacturing, and toward addressing the city’s chronic housing shortages, as it does, presumably, local enmity toward the military and its suppliers.
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