Greenpoint Pier Additions Get Controversial
The city announced back in July that it was soliciting proposals from private companies to build a pair of piers on the Greenpoint waterfront, one (on India Street) to service ferries and the other (on Java Street) recreational boats. The plan, however, has been criticized by Councilman Steve Levin as a sweetheart deal designed to…
The city announced back in July that it was soliciting proposals from private companies to build a pair of piers on the Greenpoint waterfront, one (on India Street) to service ferries and the other (on Java Street) recreational boats. The plan, however, has been criticized by Councilman Steve Levin as a sweetheart deal designed to give the developer of an adjacent residential complex extra air rights. It’s not kosher, Rami Metal, a community liaison in Levin’s office, told The Architect’s Newspaper. They should just do India, but [the city] said ‘No, if we don’t do both, he won’t build either.’ They’re so afraid of losing ferry service, they’ve just given in to this guy. Levin’s office estimates that building the second pier will give the developer, Jonathan Bernstein, an extra 40,000 square feet of air rights. Bernstein also wants to demap sections of India and Java Streets and turn them into parkland, which would also mean more air rights for his project. Click through for a plan of the site.
Plan for Pier Floods Greenpoint [Architect’s Newspaper]
Ambitious Plans for Two New Waterfront Piers [Brownstoner]
Renderings from the office of Pelli Clarke Pelli
wine lover-it’s lovely to hear that you would be so thrilled with greenpoint becoming the next williamsburg. anything to increase the value of you ugly condo. your a selfish prick.
“George Fontas, a Bernstein spokesman, defended the project on the grounds that it had community support,”
He wasn’t talking about the Greenpoint community so, technically, he’s not lying.
wine lover, what is “dumb” is to push a one size fits all mantra. Plenty of cities have great low level housing and commerce along the waterfront.
I know your self-esteem is inextricably linked to hyping and pumping 11211 for any possible increase in its real estate desirability, but if you want to keep your kneecaps don’t come to 11222.
Most of the high rises along the waterfront in Chicago actually suck. Much of it is sterile. The pleasant parts of that wonderful city are the inland neighborhoods, not the tired Sixties crap thrown up along the water. Access to the waterfront is great, but highrises, especially isolated tracts as currently proposed, are not good urbanism.
quote:
summercamp in greenpoint
how dismal.
*rob*
No Bikes – well, the tower plan was fought over 5 years ago, and the towers won. So yes, someday the whole waterfront from Division Avenue to Newtown Creek will be towers on the waterfront. But this kind of end run to do something even bigger than was ever envisioned by even the city is not a fait accompli.
Wine – I never fell into the low-scale-on-the-waterfront camp, though I do believe that was approved in 2005 is unsustainable without some pretty major infrastructure upgrades that are unlikely to materialize in our lifetime. The notion that we need to make the world developable for developers is laughable – when the 2005 rezoning was negotiated, it was the property owners, the city council and the city who were at the table literally in the dead of the night before the final city council vote (no community representatives were invited to those final negotiations). The waterfront property owners signed off on the rezoning, and with the exception of the Toll Brothers and Douglaston, every single one of them has now come back and said “Well, I know you gave us a windfall in 2005, but it really wasn’t enough.”
I hate the slabs as much as any good brownstowner but there really does need to be more community waterfront access in Brooklyn. It’s not just for the “yachting classes” either – check out the 79th St boat basin in Manhattan or Great Kills on Staten Island (both city owned). Old fiberglass boats are dirt cheap. One just needs a place to store them.
A public access boating co-op for kayaks, small sailboats, etc. + environmental education/community use space would be an awesome addition to the East River waterfront. Build a ramp, a pier, a couple storage/office buildings, drop a few mooring balls and you have a usable facility (tides/currents can be tricky around there, though). Maybe even a partnership with the South Street Seaport’s school programs across the river. I could live with a yacht club for the rich folks if community access was a negotiated requirement for the deal.
I really liked the idea when a similar ideas were proposed for Governor’s Island (axed). I would love to see something like this in Brooklyn in my lifetime. It just doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar. Maybe Red Hook . . .
Is there any way to stop these towers from going up?
I don’t know anyone in our neighborhood that wants them.
I wasn’t aware the the plan was simply to build huge ugly building along the entire north Brooklyn waterfront and have the rest of the neighborhoods live back in the shadows.
From Schaefer Landing north it’s all pretty ugly and sad.
joebushwick – disagree about lacking transportation – silly. B62 or G right there to take you quickly into LIC for switch to Manhattan bound train. way way closer to midtown and faster than park slope, etc…. if you going to downtown, i prefer the B62 to broadway then the J/M over a switch to the L as you save a transfer. to chelsea or union square or gramercy, then either G or B62 to L of course. kid does summercamp in greenpoint, so i’ve done this a bunch, and it’s easy.
i love the idea of towers on the waterfront – of course the most people possible should be able to enjoy the access and the views.
NYC has not done enough to build up it’s waterfront. As i’ve stated before chicago has MILES! of tall buildings on it’s waterfront and it’s great. go visit and then try to to yammer on senselessly about low density. low density is plain dumb for a city of this size. we need more housing. and, if you don’t want more housing, please do not complain about pricing. you can’t have both.
and, please don’t fantasize that developers will make buildings that don’t create maximum profits. it’s not about your wishes or expectations. be reasonable here.
this project and the piers is huge for greenpoint.