Gowanus

November 10, 2023

517-unit luxury development tops out along Gowanus Canal

A huge mixed-use development with over 500 apartments has topped out along the Gowanus Canal. The two-tower, 21-story project at 267 Bond Street and 510 Sackett Street measures over 600,000 square feet and includes 57,300 square feet of retail space and a new park and esplanade along the famously polluted waterfront. Developed by PMG and Carlyle, the development is part of the 2021 Gowanus rezoning effort, which will bring thousands of new homes to the Brooklyn neighborhood. The development, dubbed Society Brooklyn and Sackett Place, has a completion date of 2025.
more about luxury canal living
July 19, 2023

Benefits of 421-a tax break extended to Gowanus developers

Developers of certain residential buildings in Gowanus will qualify for a tax break with benefits similar to 421-a, the program which expired last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday. As part of an executive action issued by the governor, projects in the Brooklyn neighborhood that qualified for 421-a before it lapsed but won't meet the 2026 completion deadline would qualify for tax breaks. The order is one of several Hochul announced as a way to spur residential construction after state lawmakers failed to reach a deal on a housing plan.
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March 15, 2023

City breaks ground on $1.6B project to protect Gowanus Canal from pollution

New York City on Wednesday broke ground on one of two new underground storage tanks that will prevent pollution of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal. The $1.6 billion project will prevent up to 12 million gallons of sewer overflow from entering the canal during rainstorms and flooding events. The first tank, bounded by Nevins Street, Butler street, and Degraw Street, will hold up to eight million gallons of sewage waste and include 3.6 acres of public open space on the waterfront.
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August 5, 2022

$3.3M Gowanus penthouse has five private outdoor spaces

In New York City, having access to one private outdoor space is enviable enough. This three-bedroom Brooklyn penthouse boasts five separate outdoor spaces. Located at 450 Warren Street in Gowanus, "Penthouse B" has a minimalist sleek aesthetic that complements the unit's four open exposures, floor-to-ceiling windows, and 10-foot ceilings. Asking $3,295,000, the home, much like the rest of the newly constructed building, seamlessly integrates indoor and outdoor living.
Take the tour
April 14, 2022

$4M Carroll Gardens duplex condo has a private garage and a parking lot-sized terrace

Set among a corridor of modern residences that lie between quaint Carroll Gardens and industrial Gowanus, this three-bedroom duplex condo at 345 Carroll Street, now asking $3,995,000, has just about everything you could ask for in its 2,912 square feet of living space. The garden floor condo is even blessed with the urban rarity of a private one-car garage as well as a massive private outdoor terrace. With an entire floor of "bonus" spaces that include a mudroom, laundry room, and two offices, it's almost like having a townhouse with the ease of condo living.
Take the tour
November 24, 2021

NYC Council approves sweeping Gowanus rezoning

The New York City Council on Tuesday approved the biggest rezoning of Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration just weeks before his term ends. In a near-unanimous vote, the Council approved plans to upzone 82 blocks of Gowanus, a former industrial hub turned affluent residential neighborhood. As the first rezoning of de Blasio's administration in a predominantly white and wealthy neighborhood, the decision could pave the way for upzoning in similar communities, including the proposal to rezone Soho and Noho, scheduled for a vote next month.
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November 11, 2021

Gowanus rezoning deal reached, with affordable housing and sewer upgrades on board

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambitious plan for the rezoning of Brooklyn's formerly industrial Gowanus neighborhood was finally approved by the city's Land Use Committee on Wednesday, after a decade of debate and drama. As Gothamist reports, the rezoning plan, the current administration's largest, was given the green light after Council Members Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, the borough's Community Board 6, and members of the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice reached a deal with City Hall that includes more investment in public housing and sewer infrastructure.
Find out more about what's ahead for Gowanus
December 16, 2020

For $1.4M, this modern Carroll Gardens duplex has light-filled nooks everywhere you look

"From the moment you walk through the door, your mood will be elevated by the natural sunlight streaming in through the grand 16-foot wall of windows," starts the listing for this three-bedroom duplex in Carroll Gardens. Its abundance of windows is made more striking by their location within several architectural nooks and by the apartment's double-height configuration. Another perk? it comes with a private roof deck. Located at the ultra-modern Satori condominium, the home is asking $1,398,000.
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November 23, 2020

All 950 units at city’s Gowanus housing development will be affordable

The city's proposed six-building residential development in Gowanus will be 100 percent affordable, officials announced last week. The Gowanus Green project, part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration's plan to rezone the Brooklyn neighborhood, will contain 950 units of affordable housing, with at least 50 percent designated to extremely low and very low-income households. Previously, the plan called for roughly 74 percent of units to fall below the market rate.
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July 22, 2020

You can take a tour of the Gowanus Canal in a canoe

How's that for social distancing? Untapped New York has just announced the relaunch of its in-person tour series, and they've got some seriously cool new offerings, including a Victorian Flatbush walking tour and a tour of the Gowanus Canal that takes place via canoe. The team has implemented significant health and safety measures, from reduced capacity to a state-of-the-art radio system that allows for social distancing. In addition to these new tours, Untapped is bringing back many favorites, including "Hidden Gems of Governors Island," "Remnants of Dutch New Amsterdam," and "Public Art Tour of Lower Manhattan."
More info here
January 29, 2020

Gowanus Canal cleanup will officially kick off this year

The long-awaited cleanup of the Gowanus Canal officially has a start date. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued an administrative order requiring the start of the first phase of the project, 10 years after the agency declared it a Superfund site. Expected to begin in September and take 30 months to complete, the $125 million project covers the cleanup of the upper canal and the 1st Street turning basin and involves "full-scale dredging," according to the agency.
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December 4, 2019

950-unit ‘Gowanus Green’ development met with skepticism by local residents who hoped for a park

During a Brooklyn Community Board 6 meeting on Monday night, architects, developers, and city officials revealed preliminary plans for Gowanus Green, a multi-building development on a 5.8-acre site at the corner of Smith and Fifth Streets. Once home to a gas plant, the city-owned site has been vacant for decades and was designated as a "public place" in 1974. As the Brooklyn Daily Eagle first reported, Carroll Gardens and Gowanus residents who were expecting that the site would become a park widely panned the new proposal for a series of buildings ranging from a five-story school to a 28-story residential tower.
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October 29, 2019

Ahead of proposed rezoning, Gowanus gains five individual landmarks

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday designated five properties in Gowanus as individual landmarks ahead of the neighborhood's impending rezoning. The buildings are architecturally significant examples of Brooklyn's industrial past with relationships to the Canal, according to the commission. "These buildings stand out in the neighborhood as tangible reminders of the rich history of the neighborhood and the Gowanus Canal," LPC Chair Sarah Carroll said. "They are all inherently connected to the manufacturing industries and institutions that developed around the canal in the late-19th and early-20th century."
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September 25, 2019

City’s Gowanus Canal cleanup plan gets squashed by Trump’s EPA

Photo by Danny Navarro / Flickr cc Since taking office, Donald Trump and his administration have been proposing cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would decrease funding for the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. Declared a federal Superfund site in 2010, the Canal has a major issue with combined sewer overflow (CSO), which occurs when heavy rainfall overtaxes the sewer system and causes stormwater runoff and wastewater to empty into the waterway. As Brooklyn Eagle reports, the city's proposal to mitigate this issue was to "replace two [CSO] retention tanks holding 8 and 4 million gallons with a 16 million-gallon CSO tunnel running beneath the upper portion of the canal." However, in a letter obtained by the Eagle, Trump EPA appointee Pete Lopez said that they would instead install two large retention tanks along the Canal walls.
What next?
September 6, 2019

$2.7M Gowanus townhouse is an architect-designed modern gem

Photos by Rise Media and Devon Banks, courtesy of The Corcoran Group. Gowanus was until recently brownstone Brooklyn’s best kept secret for loft-industrial living in the midst of a historic neighborhood. Though the secret’s out, homes like this one at 467 Carroll Street embody the neighborhood's creative spirit and mix of old and new. Built from the ground up and designed by designer/architect Ted Kane in collaboration with the owner, also a designer, this 1,616-square-foot single-family home takes advantage of Brooklyn townhouse living, modern comforts included. Asking $2.7 million, the home is energy-efficient as well as luxury-filled, and the garden is a dream for outdoor living.
Take the townhouse tour
August 28, 2019

Gowanus’ historic Coignet Stone Building is for sale asking $6.5M

If there's one building that has come to represent the preservation movement in Gowanus, it very well might be the Coignet Stone Building. Built in 1873 as a showroom and physical advertisement for Francois Coignet's concrete construction company, it was the first documented concrete building in the city. Whole Foods purchased the property in 2005 and built its new supermarket next door, and the following year, the Coignet Buiding was landmarked. After years of neglect, Whole Foods completed a $1.3 million restoration in 2016, listing the property shortly thereafter for $6 million. It's now back for a hair more, and though a gut interior renovation is definitely required, it's being sold as a residential townhouse that has incredible potential.
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June 25, 2019

Five properties in Gowanus may be landmarked ahead of proposed rezoning

Five properties in Gowanus may be landmarked as the Brooklyn neighborhood prepares to be rezoned. The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to calendar eight buildings across five properties in the neighborhood, describing them as both architecturally significant, as well as closely associated with the history of the Gowanus Canal. The decision to calendar the sites comes after the city released in January its rezoning draft for Gowanus, which includes enabling more residential buildings and access to the waterfront.
More info here
May 10, 2019

A designer couple transformed this $3.2M Gowanus townhouse into a practical two-family home

A few years ago designers Merrill Lyons and Charles Brill started the full renovation of their Gowanus townhouse, which involved "gutting it down to the brick facade, beams, and stair railings" and adding a deck in the back. The results—worthy of a feature in Dwell Magazine—mix the historic townhouse bones with modern lines and pops of color. With three bedrooms, space to spread out outdoors, and an inviting ambiance throughout, the residence is very family-friendly. The garden level is currently an income-generating rental unit, but it could be incorporated into the upper floors to create a larger single-family residence. Originally built in 1901, this completely transformed property is now on the market for $3,195,000.
Look inside
January 30, 2019

City releases Gowanus rezoning draft with a focus on waterfront resiliency

The Department of City Planning on Wednesday released a draft of its plan to rezone Gowanus as a way to bring more affordable housing, jobs, and community resources to the Brooklyn neighborhood. In the works for nearly three years, the proposal includes a waterfront access plan that creates public walkways centered around the canal, as well as builds a more resilient shoreline.
See the proposal
January 29, 2019

$2M Gowanus home has curb appeal and amazing historic details

A charming and full-of-potential home at 240 11th Street in Gowanus (near the Park Slope border) just hit the market for a cool $1,995,000. To match its historic rowhouse facade, the home offers loads of stunning original details, but it may benefit from some modern upgrades to really let those bones sing. It features four bedrooms and a flexible layout over three floors, with plenty of options for its future owner.
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September 28, 2018

Bjarke Ingels is tapped for his first residential project in Brooklyn

Bjarke Ingels' architectural dominance of New York City is growing -- the Danish starchitect has got his first commission in Brooklyn, reports Crain's. Developer Aby Rosen tapped Ingels' firm Bjarke Ingels Group to draft plans for a large new apartment project on the banks of the Gowanus Canal. The site in question -- at 175-225 3rd Street, pictured in the aerial shot above -- is currently a parking lot.
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June 6, 2018

City’s Gowanus rezoning draft calls for more public space, residential development

Attempts to rezone the area surrounding the Gowanus Canal, a neighborhood both affluent and in transition, have been in the works for over a decade. Now, Brownstoner reports, the long-anticipated Draft Planning and Land Use Framework of Gowanus has just been released by the Department of City Planning (DCP). The 188-page report is the result of 100 hours of outreach since the launch of the Gowanus PLACES Study in 2016 as well as information contained in a previous Bridging Gowanus Study released in 2014.
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May 24, 2018

Proposal revealed for new public park on the Gowanus Canal’s Salt Lot

The Salt Lot is a triangular piece of land just south of the point at which all three branches of the Gowanus Canal meet. The city-owned site hosts a NYC Compost Project facility, as well as the Gowanus Canal Conservancy's nursery and educational facilities. However, the EPA has mandated a new four-million-gallon retention tank be placed there to manage combined sewer overflow. Gowanus by Design (GbD) saw this new infrastructure requirement as a catalyst for sparking conversation about much needed public urban space in the area. They've therefore created a conceptual proposal for the Gowanus Salt Lot Public Park, which includes three buildings constructed with materials that reference the Canal's industrial history, along with sloping hills and wetlands.
More details and renderings ahead
March 16, 2018

The Urban Lens: Artist Janice McDonnell captures Brooklyn’s waterfront with her paintings

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites artists to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Janice McDonnell shares some of her paintings of the Brooklyn waterfront. Are you an artist who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. In a city as bustling and overbuilt as New York, it's easy to forget this metropolis' roots as a port city, and that all boroughs but the Bronx are islands. The timeless beauty of NYC's watery surroundings are not lost on artist Janice McDonnell, who has produced a series of paintings of the Brooklyn waterfront. "It started out as just documenting to enjoy myself," McDonell said. That's how it started, but the more she got into it from her Dumbo studio, the more the combination of buildings near the broad harbor and their contrast to the sky began to resonate with her. Ahead, see Janice's paintings and hear all about her inspiration and process.
Dive in
October 19, 2017

LAST CHANCE! Win 2 tickets to the Municipal Art Society’s architectural tour of Gowanus

With cleanup efforts underway along the notoriously polluted Canal and a slew of new developments rising, Gowanus is undoubtedly one of the top neighborhoods to watch. But we can't talk about its future without also looking back at its history. On October 28th, the Municipal Art Society is hosting a walking tour of Gowanus led by architectural historian Matt Postal that will explore the area's past as an industrial shipping center and its transformation into a trendy, artistic enclave. Not only will the two-hour tour take you to the city's oldest concrete structure and oldest retractile bridge, but it'll make stops at the new residential and commercial spaces. Interested in attending for free? MAS is giving away two tickets to "Gowanus Grows in Brooklyn," but today is the last day to enter!
Find out how to enter here
August 9, 2017

Artist’s triplex inside an 1888 ink and brush factory asks $3.95M in Gowanus

This renovation of a former ink and brush factory in the heart of Gowanus hits all the right notes, hearkening back the neighborhood's industrial roots and channeling the current artsy vibe that permeates the blocks. Located at 459 Carroll Street, the residence occupies three floors of a massive brick structure built back in 1888, stretching more than 4,600 square feet of live/work space across three stories built atop a 25-foot by 100-foot lot. The super-sized property also comes with three generously proportioned artists studios and a beautiful 900-square-foot planted terrace engulfed by views of neighboring gardens and the cityscape. If you're on the market for unpretentious luxury and lots of space to sprawl out in or wield a paintbrush, all of this can be yours for $3.95M.
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June 19, 2017

Gowanus Canal Conservancy unveils renderings for SCAPE-designed Gowanus Lowlands

The Gowanus Canal Conservancy (GCC) has announced the launch of Gowanus Lowlands, a new comprehensive vision for the transformation of Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood and a 'blueprint for NYC’s next great park.' As 6sqft has previously reported, between developers eyeing the pricey parcel of southwest Brooklyn land as Paris on the Gowanus and the city's ambitions to transform the long-embattled area into "Little Venice," all eyes have been on the neighborhood and the once-toxic, steadily improving Superfund canal that anchors it. With an important rezoning on the horizon–the process kicked off last October with meetings to gauge community opinion–passions are running high. The conservancy has identified SCAPE landscape architecture studio to guide the Lowlands vision toward reality.
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