8. A Rooftop Farm is Coming to the Javits Center

Construction is on-going for the Javits Center expansion

Under construction now is a 1.2 million square foot expansion of the Javits Center between 38th and 40th street, to a tune of $1.5 billion. It will have a farm, run in partnership with Brooklyn Grange, to enable farm to table operations (technically farm upstairs to kitchen downstairs, says Rick). There will be an outdoor pavilion on the fifth level and a power plant. A new ballroom, the largest in the northeast, will overlook the roof and enable the Javits Center to offer foundation dinners, a new revenue stream for the corporation. The overall expansion will place the Javits Center at about the 9th or 10th largest convention in the country by square footage. This expansion project is part of Governor Cuomo’s $100 billion statewide infrastructure plan.

The expansion plan will also include a move of the current marshalling yard next to the High Line to an indoors location. The yard typically hosts a hundred or so trucks for each event.