Toll Brothers' Gargantuan Gowanus Plans Revealed
HOLY COW! Gowanus Lounge has scored a tremendous scoop by unearthing the “scoping document” Toll Brothers filed with the Department of City Planning for its planned development between the Gowanus Canal, Bond Street, Carroll Street and Second Street. The firm is certainly not thinking small: Toll wants to build a 605,380-square-foot development with 577 units…
HOLY COW! Gowanus Lounge has scored a tremendous scoop by unearthing the “scoping document” Toll Brothers filed with the Department of City Planning for its planned development between the Gowanus Canal, Bond Street, Carroll Street and Second Street. The firm is certainly not thinking small: Toll wants to build a 605,380-square-foot development with 577 units of housing (130 of them affordable), 2,000 square feet of “community space,” and 2,000 square feet of retail. The buildings would be 4-12 stories tall. City Planning is going to hold a public scoping meeting on the project early next month. Toll Brothers has been looking to get a jump on the larger rezoning of Gowanus in order to move forward with the development, which it says it could complete by 2011.
The Starting Bell: Toll Brothers Reveal Gowanus Plans [Gowanus Lounge]
Toll Brothers Big Gowanus Project Revealed [Curbed]
Rendering from Gowanus Lounge.
11:05 and 11:09–except for Toll Brothers Urban. That unit is doing very well, at least for now.
New York environs is saving Toll Bros’s behind. Compare the ‘B+’ that Jersey City/Hoboken/(add Brooklyn) received versus ‘F’ everywhere else.
Nov, 2007 NYT:
The best grade, B-plus, went to Toll’s “city living†apartment projects in the New Jersey suburbs of New York, while similar projects in the city received a B, as did Princeton, N.J., and the states of Delaware and Connecticut. The suburban New York counties of Dutchess and Putnam, which he views as one market, earned a C-plus.
The F-minus grade went to the vacation communities of Hilton Head, S.C.; Palm Springs, Calif.; the Maryland shore; and the Poconos area of Pennsylvania, as well as to Michigan and Atlanta.
The F grade was the one most often given, going to Arizona, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Southern California outside of Palm Springs. The cities of Chicago; San Antonio; Charlotte, N.C.; and Reno, Nev., got the same mark, as did the eastern and northern parts of Florida. Mr. Toll noted that Minnesota had improved to get its grade up to an F.
I hope this does happen. As someone who lives up the block from the development site it would be an asset to have Bond Street full of life and legal activity as opposed to the desolation and drug deals that happen at night. If a grocey store is part of the planned retail space then it is even more of a bonus. Ever since Skeeve Food closed the area has been without a grocery store. Sure you can go to Met Food on Smith or Henry Streets or Good Food but the variety is limited and the prices can be unreasonable.
The thought of this makes me ill. I live on 2nd St which is all 1 & 2 family houses. Kids still play outside but that will end with so many strangers using 2nd St to get to the subway. If this project was scaled back a bit(like 3rd & Bond) I could support it. I’ll fight tooth & nail to keep this from happening!
Great for the Area. Can help bridge Park Slope and Carroll Gardens. Just keep it clean.
Not Going to Happen In Our Life Time.
“Based on current traffic and deposits, we are not yet seeing much light at the end of the tunnel,” said Robert Toll, chairman and chief executive officer. “Buyers seem to be hiding. The market’s problem is a lack of confidence, not just regarding the direction of home prices, but…the overall economy.”
I just bought one of the penthouses. So there!
I wish I had been able to attend the DEC meeting Tuesday night so I really hope some of those who did go can post a brief rundown about the suitability of housing on the canal.
I already posted on Curbed saying that I don’t think these can be condos because they need to remain under one owner. If they are rentals at least people can get out quick when their children start growing a third eye. I also posted on Curbed that I think someone should do a scoliosis study – I seem to know my fair share of adolescents (including boys) with the condition and no hereditary link.
The plan looks like the Oceana.