NEW YORK CITY-A large project that had gone dormant has breathed new life. Plans for a sprawling 22-acre development in Brooklyn, at the northern tip of Greenpoint, were slated to be presented Monday at a public meeting, according to Crain's New York Business.
The plan calls for 5,500 apartments spread across up to two dozen buildings, including 10 luxury towers, the paper reports. The project also includes plans for 174,000 square feet of publicly accessible open space. In addition, the complex will be well protected from storms with a tiered shore public walkway along the length of the development. The design also will include a series of specific activities or amenities along the waterfront, including a natural play area, a publicly accessible lawn, and a reconstructed Green Street Pier.
Planning started over a decade ago, and developer Park Tower Group started working on honing its plan after a rezoning in 2005. But just when the developer was getting ready to build, Crain's reports, the recession hit.
“It's been challenging for anything to occur, but now the market is very strong,” Park Tower VP Al Bradshaw tells Crain's. He declined to provide additional comment to GlobeSt.com.
The developer hopes to break ground on the first tower in December or January, and then starting in June, the project will have to go through a six-month long public review process. Park Tower has not yet lined up financing but it is “in advanced discussions with a number of lenders,” Bradshaw tells Crain's.
Known officially as Greenpoint Landing, the towers could be built as of right, because of the rezoning. Park Tower will include a city-owned parcel and build up to 431 affordable-housing units that were promised by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, says Crain's.
The site also needs to be re-zoned because Park Tower has agreed to provide space for a school, which would actually be built by the city. Park Tower is also donating $2.5 million to the city to expand the adjacent Newtown Barge Park, says Crain's.
Park Tower officials also hope that a bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava that would connect Brooklyn and Queens across Newtown Creek will be included at a future time. The project is expected to take between eight and 12 years to complete, Crain's reports.
The project comes just three years after Newport Creek became a Superfund site. Just one year prior to the designation, the Environmental Protection Agency had proposed to add the site to its list of severly polluted sites.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
