Should Brooklyn Sell off Its Ports to Be Turned Into Housing?
A new report says the Port Authority should sell off two of its Brooklyn ports to developers to build housing and help generate some cash, Bloomberg reported. Selling the two money-losing shipping terminals would help the bloated agency make up the $80,000,000 in revenue it lost last year while operating New York City’s ports. The two ports are…
A new report says the Port Authority should sell off two of its Brooklyn ports to developers to build housing and help generate some cash, Bloomberg reported. Selling the two money-losing shipping terminals would help the bloated agency make up the $80,000,000 in revenue it lost last year while operating New York City’s ports.
The two ports are the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal, just south of Brooklyn Bridge Park, and the Red Hook Container Terminal next door, according to the report by nonprofit watchdog group Citizens Budget Commission. Both are located in the Columbia Street Waterfront District, west of Cobble Hill, and the Red Hook Container Terminal also extends south into Red Hook. They lost $205,718 and $184,788 per acre last year, respectively, but only support 9 percent of New York’s cargo volume.
Obviously any housing built right on the water would go for megabucks and raises the possibility of a variance for extremely tall luxury towers, a la Williamsburg and Greenpoint. No doubt affordable housing will be part of the mix — somewhere. There’s also the question of flooding.
The CBC also suggested the Port Authority could convert some of its existing buildings to a “modern industrial park” with space for light manufacturing, like the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
What do you think?
Port Authority Should Sell Brooklyn Marine Terminals, Group Says [Bloomberg]
Photo by Manuel Ascano
How about a park with grass and trees and benches? And NO condominiums!
I live right off Columbia street and am not in favour of this, but see it as inevitable. There’s just too much money to be made off the waterfront for developers and politicians to resist. On the plus side, existing property values here will certainly rise a fair bit(even for those who loose their Manhattan views).
If built they would block any and all water views for the 160 Imlay project….
Those ports are dead as disco. We are in short supply of housing and, yes, anything built will be for people with money with a bit of affordable housing built in for political correctness. I would rather have rich people pay the property taxes on the land than me and I sure as shit don’t want to keep subsidizizing anyone’s Manhattan view. It’s not like its utilization is bringing down the cost of local transportation, either. IKEA Brooklyn doesn’t even use that port and that’s about the only thing nearby I can guarantee people on this sight consume on a regular basis. Yay…Cinnamon Rolls!
Thumbs up if the city and Port Authority get the lead out of their asses on this one and put that land to good use…
Seems a bit short-sighted to me. Whatever truck traffic uses those ports will be re-routed over the GWB and through Manhattan/Queens to get to Brooklyn. That’s a terrible drive.
Red Hook already has serious sewer and combined sewer overflow issues. I am glad someone brought this up in terms of development. There is a meeting tonight at the Kentler International Dwg Space on Van Brunt in which Tom Fox is presenting his Water Taxi/Atlantic Terminal development Project. On the surface of what I have seen it looks to be mainly usable public space and maritime activities. There seems to be one “Hotel” drawn in, but I don’t really see where this will be unless they are surrounding the Yeshiva…
I believe that the development of residential properties are calculated on current and planned amenities and infrastructure.
It’s the buyers that really drive the demand and hence the profit of the development, no?
So if the Buyers are willing to pay a certain price regardless of lack of infrastructure, schools, etc. Is it necessarily the fault of the development or is it more the fault of City Planning? Or maybe it’s just right and then the City needs to expand the infrastructure when they observe the increase in population?