Controversial Brooklyn waterfront development proposal moves closer to final vote

A controversial waterfront development proposal in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is moving closer to a final vote after the City Planning Commission approved the project in a 10-1 vote last week.

The proposal, known as Monitor Point, would transform an undeveloped industrial waterfront site, currently housing an MTA warehouse, into three residential towers with 1,150 housing units, 40% of which – or 460 units – will be affordable housing.

Support for the project

The project is being led by Gotham Organization. Developers say the proposal would create more affordable housing than could otherwise be built on the site.

"If the MTA were relocated, you could build today 250 to 300 units of all market rate housing with no affordable housing required. That's an option. Our plan, through density, unlocks affordability," said Bryan Kelly, president of Gotham Organization.

Before construction could begin, developers would need to demolish and relocate the existing MTA facility and complete a brownfield cleanup of the property.

Supporters of the project point to several community benefits, including a public waterfront plaza, storm resiliency upgrades and a permanent home for the Greenpoint Monitor Museum, which honors the neighborhood's shipbuilding legacy dating back to the 1860s.

"It's very important not just to Brooklyn, but for the United States," said George J. Weinmann of the Greenpoint Monitor Museum.

He said the U.S.S Monitor was built and launched on that very site in the 19th century.

"It's really the first United States ironclad ship," he said.

Meinmann and his wife, Janice, have been operating a traveling roadshow-style museum in the community, going to neighborhood schools to educate students about this legacy.

Housing advocates argue the project could help address displacement pressures in the neighborhood.

"We're talking about really permanent affordability for low-income households so they can either move back to the community or move into the community," said Frank Lang of Saint Nick's Alliance.

Concerns about the project

But the plan also faces fierce opposition from many community members, including Katherine Conkling Thompson of Save the Inlet, a group advocating for the completion of the neighboring Bushwick Inlet Park project, promised decades ago.

"The community benefit has to be much greater than, you know, 40% [affordable housing]," Thompson told Brooklyn reporter Hannah Kliger. "This area is in a FEMA-designated flood zone."

She and others point to broken promises made more than 20 years ago, during the Williamsburg and Greenpoint rezoning, that allowed for redevelopment of former industrial sites but also required the creation of a waterfront greenspace called Bushwick Inlet Park. Two decades later, most of the housing has been built, but most of the promised greenspace remains incomplete.

"We've really done our part in the housing crisis," said Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who represents the neighborhood. "My council district, District 33, has generated significantly more housing than any other council district in the city of New York."

Restler has also voiced concerns over the affordability levels proposed in the project and says he will not support the plan unless a majority of the units are affordable housing.

"This is public land," he said. "If we're not building the affordable housing that our communities desperately need, where are we going to build it? Public land should be held to a different standard."

The New York City Council now has 50 days to hold a hearing and vote on the application.

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