160 Imlay Street: A Sacrificial Lamb?
Driving past 160 Imlay Street in Red Hook last weekend, all we could think to ourselves was, “What a waste.” Here’s a site that was sitting unused generating no tax dollars for the city or revenues for neighboring business when its owners received a variance in December 2003 to convert it into a mixed-use building…
Driving past 160 Imlay Street in Red Hook last weekend, all we could think to ourselves was, “What a waste.” Here’s a site that was sitting unused generating no tax dollars for the city or revenues for neighboring business when its owners received a variance in December 2003 to convert it into a mixed-use building with residential on the upper floors and retail on the lower. Within weeks, however, a coalition called the Red Hook/Gowanus Chamber of Commerce, whose ostensible raison d’etre was to preserve and promote the industrial character and usage of the neighborhood, sued to reverse the BSA decision and squash the project. Why? Hard to say exactly. Some believe the group’s heart is in the right place; others charge that it’s basically a front for certain players in Red Hook to protect their own interests. One thing’s for sure: The fact that one of the Chamber’s leaders and largest land owners in the area, Greg O’Connell, has since leased out the floors above yuppie-mecca Fairway as market-rate apartments while the competition on Imlay Street is tied up in litigation hasn’t exactly strengthened the group’s credibility. Meanwhile, the politicians have been too chicken to do anything that could possibly be perceived to be anti-industry in the area, though we can’t see why the debate has to be reduced to an unnuanced either/or choice between jobs and housing. While there are certainly residents who don’t want the neighborhood to change, it’s hard for anyone to argue that the status quo is either working or the best allocation of scarce resources in an overcrowded city. So what of 160 Imlay? Another round of appeals was heard in October but no decision has yet to come of it. In the meantime, the building and the surrounding lots continue to sit undeveloped, derelict and not doing anyone any good—not the longshoremen, not the tourists arriving on cruise ships and certainly not the nearby restaurants and shops that could use the extra business generated by a couple hundred more units of housing in the area.
Crumbling Hopes for 160 Imlay Street? [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
On a side note (and not to jinx it) but this is about the most thoughtful discussion on the site in a while…
Thanks for reporting on this Brownstoner. It is so depressing to drive past this building month after month, year after year, watching it decay. I would love to see the whole area be converted to a mixed use special purpose district where some light industrial can peacefully coexist with residential uses, similar to how it currently seems to be heading in the Columbia Waterfront District. This is prime waterfront property, with some of the most beautiful views that the city has to offer and none of the industry currently existing is using any of this waterfront property for shipping purposes, including Ikea (which kills me, but that’s a lost battle). Sunset Park has a huge industrial swath of land that is entirely under utilized, with no residential development inside this zone. Red Hook is a completely wasted neighborhood at the moment and I guarantee you that if anything beyond light industry moves back into Red Hook there will be a huge protest from all the residential property that already exists in the neighborhood, including the Red Hook Housing projects. Yes, the tipping point passed a long time ago… toward residential.
12.39 – this property connects to the cruise ship terminal. The terminal delivers people/tourists into the New York area – not goods. This is part of the evidence that the tipping point away from an industrial waterfront has already occurred. The fact that the Fairway and Ikea stores exist in Red Hook at all is further evidence that this shift has already occurred. Maybe this property should be converted into a Duty Free retail location or a row of gift shops selling little Statue of Liberty toys and I Love NY tee shirts. Would that help promote the “industrial character” of the area? The point is that the argument does not hold water (excuse the pun) because its is not consistently enforced. It is enforced based on wholly different set of forces that are political in nature.
12.39, there is a small road leading to the large cruise ship parking lot, and a big warehouse containing prop vehicles and stuff, and more parking, between these buildings and the water. And I have yet to see a live rat anywhere near there… 2 lonely guard dogs… maybe they look like rats to some?
In a selfish note, the delay has kept imlay as one of the best running routes in the city…
In a selfish note, the delay has kept imlay as one of the best running routes in the city…
“This property does not connect to the water.”
Yes, and what lies directly between this site and the water again?
12:00 PM
Red Hook is in the IBZ, but Imlay Street and Revere Sugar are in the ombudsman zone which permits conversion.
Fairway and its connected appartments are actually waterfront. This property does not connect to the water. The fairway buildings would been great industrial space, but it did not go that way. This is not the tipping point. The tipping point passed a long time ago in Red Hook. This is protecting personal interests with false activism.