Five developers submitted proposals to build 500 – 1,000 units of housing on Brooklyn’s contaminated Public Place, a nearly six-acre site that hugs the Gowanus Canal, the Eagle has learned. At the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s annual awards ceremony held last week, the Eagle chatted with The Related Companies about their proposal, and Bob Zuckerman on the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation’s decision to partner with all of the respondents.
Real Estate Round-Up, November 12, 2007
Manhattan developer The Related Companies chose the Gowanus Canal’s contaminated Public Place as its first attempt at developing in Brooklyn. The company — which also has projects in Florida, California and the Midwest — is partnering with the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, local firm Monadnock Construction Inc., Catholic Charities and Donna Walcavge Landscape Architect on their proposal to develop the nearly 6-acre site hugging the canal. Proposals, due last month, are under review by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Bob Zuckerman, executive director of the Community Development Corporation and its offspring, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, said the group partnered with four of the five respondents to the city’s request for proposals, and is in talks with the fifth. Noting a precedent for non-profits partnering with more than one developer, Zuckerman said, “We want to have a new home for ourselves and do some interesting new programming so, yes, it is designed so that we have a role.”
The Community Development Corporation has spent 30 years advocating for the cleanup of the canal and development in its surrounding neighborhood, while the Conservancy was created in June 2006 to focus solely on environmental issues.”
Besides The Related Companies, the other teams include Two Trees Management, Strategic Development with Avalon Bay Communities, The Hudson Companies with Fifth Avenue Committee, and The World-Wide Group, said Zuckerman, adding that he’d just learned about World-Wide.
“We like all of the proposals,” which include 500 – 1,000 units of housing, he said. According to city guidelines, proposals must include at least 50 percent affordable housing not including those units earmarked for senior citizens, ground-floor retail, open space with public access to the canal, and a community facility.
Related Companies Associate Frank Monterisi, Jr. told the Eagle that the company wasn’t deterred by the extensive environmental cleanup that would have to take place or a potential downturn in the real estate market. Public Place is “no more complicated than any other real estate development project in this city,” said Monterisi. As for the looming slowdown, he said, “We operate in a cyclical industry, and we understand that. The fact of the matter is, there’s always a need for affordable housing in New York and there’s always a need for more market rate housing.”
Patrick Plunkett, director of acquisitions for The Related Companies, said Gowanus “is an emerging part of Brooklyn. It’s been affected by increasing rents and a difficulty in home ownership.” Though the canal “is not where it needs to be right now,” Plunkett said as the canal gets cleaned up, and as they build more market-rate housing there, Public Place would turn into a great investment. Handel Architects designed The Related Companies’ proposal, said Plunkett. Although he couldn’t give too many details about the project due to a confidentiality agreement, he said the design “is really progressive and environmentally friendly, with a very interesting energy efficiency plan.”
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According to an Independent Budget Office report, released last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has funded 40 percent of the 165,000 units of affordable housing he planned to preserve or create over a 10-year period, starting in 2003. The agency “found that considerably more progress has been made towards the 10-year goal of preserving 73,000 units of existing affordable housing than the goal of creating 92,000 new affordable housing units.
“By the end of fiscal year 2007, the city had financed 55 percent of its target for preservation and 26 percent of its new construction target. Of the $7.5 billion in funds projected over the 2004 – 20013 period, $2.5 billion had been spent through 2007.”
A potential slowdown in the city’s housing market, which in turn would decrease the city’s budget, could hinder the number of affordable units built, warned the report. “Assuming the 2007-2007 average per unit costs under the plan’s programs remain the same through 2013, we estimate this city capital funding is enough to complete about 66,000 units — nearly two-thirds of the number necessary to meet the 10-year goal. Under this assumption, about 92 percent of the plan’s preservation goal would be met but only 49 percent of the new constriction goal.”
— By Sarah Ryley, Brooklyn Daily Eagle
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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