New York City\u2019s latest housing development fight is approaching a decisive moment in Greenpoint, two decades and four mayors after a major neighborhood rezoning plan fueled skyscraper development along North Brooklyn’s waterfront.<\/p>\n
Unfulfilled promises from that 2005 plan<\/a> loom large in the debate over the proposed Monitor Point project<\/a>, which comes before the local community board\u2019s land use committee on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The real estate developer Gotham Organization plans to lease land owned by the MTA and construct a 1,150-unit apartment complex on Quay Street, with buildings reaching 600 feet tall \u2014 among the highest in the neighborhood \u2014 across a narrow estuary from the long-stalled Bushwick Inlet Park<\/a>. The 28-acre greenspace was a centerpiece of the sweeping land use plan that transformed Greenpoint and neighboring Williamsburg, but remains years from completion amid legal battles over cleanup of the toxins left behind by fossil fuel companies.<\/p>\n The housing plan’s opponents argue that the project doesn\u2019t deliver enough affordable housing and disrupts the area’s ecology. It has also come to symbolize the anger among residents who see yet another high-rise construction plan in a neighborhood that has produced more housing than any other over the past 15 years<\/a>, while they are still waiting for a park promised two decades ago.<\/p>\n The developer behind the project has already made concessions. In response to local opposition to the plan, Gotham Organization announced in December that it would make 40% of the planned apartments, or about 460 units, affordable for low- and middle-income renters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe listened to feedback from neighbors facing the housing crisis daily, which is why we significantly increased our commitment to both a higher percentage and deeper affordability levels than other waterfront projects,\u201d Gotham Organization\u2019s President of Development Bryan Kelly told Gothamist in a written statement.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s revised plan includes one 200-unit complex where all apartments would be priced for low- and middle-income renters earning 40% to 100% of the area median income<\/a> \u2014 or roughly $45,000 to $113,000 for a single adult. It also includes a pair of towers on a shared platform with 950 units, about 260 of them deemed affordable at an average of 60% of the area median income \u2014 $68,000 for a single adult.<\/p>\n A sign protesting the Monitor Point development proposal in Greenpoint.<\/p>\n Christopher Werth \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n The new affordability commitments earned praise from top city officials, including Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani, who was the head of the city\u2019s housing agency when the new plan was unveiled last month. But they weren\u2019t enough to win over local leaders like Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who is demanding more affordable units.<\/p>\n \u201cAs is, I do not support the project,\u201d Restler told Gothamist Friday. \u201cOn public land, we have to maximize affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n