If New York City keeps growing at its current pace, there will be over 9 million residents within the next two decades, up from 8.2 million last year. And they’re all going to need a place to live. Hence the Bloomberg administration’s announcement next month of a comprehensive plan to reclaim currently underused parcels of land for residential development. It could be a zoning change, an investment in a form of transportation, it could be park space, working with Con Ed and KeySpan on energy needs, said Dan Doctoroff, deputy mayor for economic development. Power plants take acres and acres of land, but if we’re going to grow we’ve got to provide that. One place the city will definitely be looking? The 1,700 acres of contaminated land, also known as brownfields. New technology may make it economically viable to reclaim the land. Obviously, a large portion of this growth is going to come in Brooklyn. What are the biggest potential ramifications of this combination of land reclamation and building boom for the borough’s current residents and the real estate market?
Photo from I’m Not Sayin, I’m Just Sayin