Gowanus

A housing lottery launched this week for 58 mixed-income apartments at a brand-new rental near the Gowanus Canal. Located at 240 3rd Avenue, Union Channel offers tenants light-filled apartments complemented by an impressive suite of amenities. New Yorkers earning 40, 60, 100, and 130 percent of the area median income can apply for the apartments, with studios priced from $848/month, one bedrooms from $903, two bedrooms from $1,071, and three bedrooms from $1,225.
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Affordable Housing

Lottery opens for 50 mixed-income apartments in Gowanus, from $888/month

Rendering courtesy of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development

October 21, 2024

Lottery opens for 50 mixed-income apartments in Gowanus, from $888/month

Applications are now being accepted for 50 mixed-income apartments at a new rental development in Gowanus. Located at 655 Union Street, the 13-story residential building offers spacious, sun-drenched units with top-tier amenities at the intersection of some of Brooklyn's liveliest neighborhoods. New Yorkers earning 40, 60, 110, and 130 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, priced from $888/month one-bedroom units to $3,982/month two-bedrooms.
Learn if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Lottery opens for 90 mixed-income apartments at first Gowanus rezoning project, from $784/month

Rendering courtesy of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development

August 27, 2024

Lottery opens for 90 mixed-income apartments at first Gowanus rezoning project, from $784/month

A housing lottery launched this week for 90 mixed-income apartments at the first residential project developed under the Gowanus rezoning. The two-tower rental at 420 Carroll Street includes 360 apartments, 25 percent of which are priced below market rate, commercial space, and a new public promenade along the Gowanus Canal. New Yorkers earning 40, 60, 100, and 130 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, priced from $784/month for studios to $3,298/month for three bedrooms.
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Affordable Housing

First project under Gowanus rezoning launches leasing for luxury apartments

Renderings courtesy of VUW

July 22, 2024

First project under Gowanus rezoning launches leasing for luxury apartments

The first project developed under the Gowanus rezoning has launched leasing. Developed by Domain Companies and VOREA Group, 420 Carroll consists of a 21-story tower and a 16-story tower connected by an underground tunnel. Situated on the Gowanus Canal, the development includes 360 apartments, with market-rate rentals currently priced from $3,925/month for studios to $9,600/month for three bedrooms. Approved by the city in 2021, the rezoning upzoned 82 blocks of the neighborhood to create 8,500 units of housing and new open space.
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New Developments

Asking $7M, this unconventional Brooklyn property is a home, studio, and artist’s private gallery

Photo credit: SERHANT. Studios

June 11, 2024

Asking $7M, this unconventional Brooklyn property is a home, studio, and artist’s private gallery

Behind an eye-popping purple brick facade punctuated by candy-pink doors and glass-paned windows, two former warehouses have been combined to form what is now Number 47, a unique home, studio, and gallery at the bustling border between Carroll Gardens and Gowanus. The 50-foot-wide property at 47 Fourth Street is currently artist John Mosler's home and studio, designed by architect Jonathan Marvel and Maum Design. Asking $6,995,000, the 5,782-square-foot space, approved as a single-family residence, has the potential to expand to 12,500 square feet (plans included). Its basic infrastructure is a statement of modern architecture, built around a 30-foot-high glass atrium.
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Distinctive Homes

517-unit luxury development tops out along Gowanus Canal

Renderings courtesy of PMG

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

Benefits of 421-a tax break extended to Gowanus developers

Photo by Danny Navarro / Flickr cc

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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Policy

Image via WikiCommons

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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Uncategorized

$3.3M Gowanus penthouse has five private outdoor spaces

All images courtesy of Matt Dutile for The Corcoran Group, unless otherwise noted

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

Distinctive Homes

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

Photo courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens

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.
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NYC Council approves sweeping Gowanus rezoning

Photo by bobistraveling on Flickr

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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Policy

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

Photo by Danny Navarro / Flickr cc

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

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

Credit: Brown Harris Stevens

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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Distinctive Homes

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

Rendering courtesy of Marvel Architects/SCAPE Landscape Architects

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

Photo courtesy of Gowanus Dredgers

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

Events & Things To Do

Gowanus Canal cleanup will officially kick off this year

Photo by bobistraveling on Flickr

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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Policy

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

Photo by Danny Navaro via Flickr cc

December 4, 2019

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

By Alexandra Alexa

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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Ahead of proposed rezoning, Gowanus gains five individual landmarks

Photos courtesy of LPC

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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Policy

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

Photo by Danny Navarro / Flickr cc

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?

Policy

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

Photos by Rise Media and Devon Banks, courtesy of The Corcoran Group.

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.
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Distinctive Homes

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

Photos by Vanessa DeGarcia, courtesy of The Corcoran Group

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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Five properties in Gowanus may be landmarked ahead of proposed rezoning

Via LPC

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

Policy

May 10, 2019

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

By Alexandra Alexa

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.
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Distinctive Homes

City releases Gowanus rezoning draft with a focus on waterfront resiliency

Via NYC Planning

January 30, 2019

City releases Gowanus rezoning draft with a focus on waterfront resiliency