The owners, who were planning to redevelop the site, building condominiums called "Gowanus Village", had the squatters removed and increased security in 2006.

In 2012, philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz purchased the property for $7 million with plans to turn it into The Powerhouse Workshop, an arts space focused on the fabrication of artistic goods.

A Sanborn map from 1886 shows the site had been home to Nassau Sulfur Works and Smith and Shaw Mattress Materials and Paper Stock.

[1] In the late 19th century, as the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) expanded, increased demand was placed on its power supply.

In the time before the Central Power Station was constructed, the system had been operated entirely by direct current, with boosters used where long distances required them.

As territory grew to be farther and farther away from the power stations, and as the company looked for ways to increase flexibility to adapt to future growth, it was decided that the best way to increase power capacity was to adopt a new system which would allow them to use large, single stations in central locations with convenient access to coal and water.

Alternating current could be distributed without excessive loss to any part of the system, and the high-tension feeders underground removed the need to string heavy overhead cables.

[3]: 11 [12] The Central Power Station's design, which combines elements of Romanesque Revival and classical styles, may have been created by Thomas E. Murray, but there is little definitive evidence in contemporary media.

[3][10] The building is made of red brick with bluestone trimmings, atop piles surmounted by a concrete bed about 6 feet (1.8 m) thick.

[3]: 15 [13] In 1939, shortly before the New York City Board of Transportation was dissolved and the BMT Fifth Avenue Line was demolished, the Central Power Station was renumbered as substation #25.

[16][15] A community formed, setting rules for conduct including disallowing hard drug use, and organizing tasks like composting and waste disposal.

[16] Around this time, within the squatting community and then among other locals, the building had begun to be known as the Batcave, named either for bats claimed to have once lived there,[17] or, according to one of the squatters, "because that seemed to have an appropriate amount of moral ambiguity".

[15] In 2004, several other squats around the city were torn down or otherwise cleared out, increasing the number of people coming to the Batcave, which led to diminishing of the community spirit.

The reporter talked with people in their teens and twenties who told stories of doing drugs, panhandling, a homeless person thrown out a window, and an addict who overdosed and was left on the street for police to find.

[23] In 2012, the Powerhouse Environmental Arts Foundation, a nonprofit founded by philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz, purchased the property for $7 million, with initial plans to turn it into studio space for artists.

[27][25] Herzog & de Meuron was known for many high-profile projects in New York and internationally, including creating spaces for the arts like the Tate Modern in London, also built in a former power station.