B&H Photo To Undergo $50 Million Expansion in Brooklyn Navy Yard

B&H Photo, the photo and video mega store on Manhattan's West Side, yesterday announced plans for a 400,000-square foot expansion of its industrial space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Construction of its $50 million warehouse on the Brooklyn piers is set to break ground this summer.

B&H Photo opened over 30 years ago as a Lower East Side film shop run by Herman Schreiber and his wife, Blimie (the store's name comes from their initials). Today the store has a staff of more than 1,000 employees, and its showroom spans a full city block. Mr. Schreiber says he has no plans to sell his business, which turns an annual profit of about $700 million a year.

The B&H warehouse has been a tenant of the Navy Yard for over a decade. This summer's expansion would more than double its warehouse space. The store also plans to double its Manhattan retail space by the end of the year, according to a spokesman.

The new warehouse would boost the Navy Yard's total industrial expansion to more than 1 million square feet of space over the next three years, and is expected to create about 300 new jobs in the area, officials said.