Controversial Brooklyn Towers Move Closer to Reality

BROOKLYN, NY— A contentious proposal to remake a stretch of Greenpoint’s waterfront with three residential towers moved closer to approval after the New York City Planning Commission voted 10-1 to advance the project.

The proposal, known as Monitor Point, would replace an MTA warehouse at 40 Quay Street with 1,150 apartments, including 460 affordable units, along the edge of Bushwick Inlet. The City Council is expected to vote on the project June 25.

Developers with Gotham Organization say the project would deliver housing, public waterfront access and funding for nearby park maintenance on land that could otherwise hold only market-rate apartments.

“If the MTA were relocated, you could build today 250 to 300 units of all market rate housing with no affordable housing required,” Bryan Kelly, president of development for Gotham Organization said at the subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. “Our plan, through density, unlocks affordability.”

The proposal has split the neighborhood, where residents packed a City Council subcommittee hearing and debated whether the project would deepen strains on a waterfront community already reshaped by luxury development.

Some residents argued the project asks too little of developers building on public land.

“The community benefit has to be much greater than 40 percent,” Katherine Conkling Thompson of Save the Inlet, a group pushing for completion of Bushwick Inlet Park said. “This area is in a FEMA-designated flood zone.”

Current plans would reserve apartments for households earning between 40 percent and 100 percent of area median income

. Rents for affordable one-bedroom units would range from roughly $1,200 to $3,050 a month. Market-rate apartments would start around $4,000 for studios and climb to about $9,500 for three-bedroom units.

Councilmember Lincoln Restler, whose district includes the site, said he would oppose the proposal unless developers increase the share of affordable housing.

Restler also tied the proposal to long-standing frustrations over Bushwick Inlet Park, a waterfront greenspace promised during the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning.

Much of the housing envisioned in that rezoning has been built, while major sections of the park remain unfinished.

At a City Council hearing, residents warned the towers would overwhelm the inlet and intensify pressure on open space.

Developers pledged to negotiate with city officials before the June vote. Kelly told council members Gotham Organization would spend “the next three to four weeks to try and tick that number upwards” on affordability levels.

He also said the project would contribute $300,000 annually toward park maintenance.

The project could become the first major test of the city’s new Affordable Housing Appeals Board if the Council rejects the zoning changes.

Voters approved the appeals process last year. It allows developers to challenge rejected housing applications before a panel made up of the mayor, City Council speaker and borough president.

The City Council has 50 days to hold hearings and vote on the proposal.