The city has postponed a consequential vote on a $3.1 billion blueprint to redevelop a 122-acre stretch of Brooklyn waterfront with potentially 8,000 new apartments, modern port infrastructure and new parkland.
A 28 member city-appointed task force made up of elected officials, freight experts and community group leaders was expected to vote on April 11 on the Economic Develop Corp’s preliminary plan to redevelop the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which runs from Pier 7 in Cobble Hill in the north to Pier 12 in Red Hook to the south. But some members are hesitant to shrink the only port serving New York City east of the Hudson River to make way for thousands of new apartments and other uses, saying they need more time to balance those priorities and better understand how the city will fund and govern the effort.
The city had previously extended its public engagement process and pushed the vote from March into April, at the behest of the task force and public feedback. EDC officials have again agreed to postpone the vote, likely by two or three weeks, EDC President and CEO Andrew Kimball said in a Thursday interview with Crain’s. Rep. Dan Goldman, chair of the task force, confirmed that the body requested an extension to “address concerns raised by members.”
Multiple task force members are urging the city to extend the time it has to review the plan by several more weeks, possibly into June. Some members, including State Senator Andrew Gounardes, who represents the area and is co-vice chair, argue that more information and time are needed to review the city’s complex vision for the sprawling waterfront site.
“Certain fundamental elements of the site plan have still not been properly presented or explained to us,” said Gounardes in a statement to Crain’s. “Let me be clear: until the Task Force receives clarity and understanding on key issues like transportation flow, housing options, resiliency, and site governance, we can not move forward with a vote.”
Under a deal brokered by the Adams administration last year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agreed to trade the Brooklyn Marine Terminal for the city’s Howland Hook Marine Terminal in Staten Island. The EDC is in the process of crafting a development plan for the site, not through the typical city public review process that requires a City Council vote, but through a streamlined, state project plan that avoids local planning laws.
The city’s preliminary plan offers a sweeping vision for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal: 60 acres of modern port to receive and send goods, approximately 8,000 new apartments, including over 2,000 lower-income units, 30 acres of public open space, more than 300,000 square feet for commercial space, 5,000 feet of coastal flood protections, expanded ferry and bus service, and more. EDC estimates the project could generate $12 billion in economic impacts for the region.
The city says it is eager to advance the redevelopment because the Adams administration is nervous that the White House could try to claw back already awarded federal grant dollars.
A $164 million federal grant, which is eligible for city matching funds, will also go toward the redevelopment. The city and state have committed $95 million for pier upgrades, an electrified crane and to build cold storage. EDC expects it will cost up to $1.75 billion to redevelop the site’s port, including $750 million just to modernize dilapidated cargo cranes. Much of the revenue needed to redevelop and help sustain the site will come from revenue generated by developers purchasing lots to build housing, retail and other space, according to Kimball.
The task force is expected to vote on the city’s initial vision for the site, which will then kick off a year of environmental review before it advances a detailed proposal to the state for approval. The agency kicked off public outreach for a plan in September, and says it has since held 10 task force meetings, engaged more than 3,000 people through public workshops and webinars, and received 800 responses through an online survey on the site.
But in some cases EDC has presented sweeping new components of its vision to the task force with short notice for members to review and prepare questions. For example, on March 28 (two weeks ahead of the expected task force vote), Kimball proposed a potentially new investment of roughly $1.6 billion to fund community benefits as part of the project.
Those benefits — more funds for affordable housing, to invest in local industry, and for cultural space, among other things — would be financed through payments in lieu of property taxes that developers who build on the site would make to the city over 40 years, according to EDC materials reviewed by Crain’s. The truncated process and short notice has left some on the task force desperate for more time.
“Even an additional two or three weeks, I would take it,” said task force member Tiffany-Ann Taylor, who is vice president of transportation at the Regional Plan Association and who held positions at EDC and the Department of Transportation under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. “There’s been more than one instance where something changed but that news came in legitimately less than 24 hours before we’re supposed to meet,” she added.
