Even before the City Council signed off on the biggest rezoning of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, some eager developers got their projects going in Gowanus.
A spate of plans were filed with the Department of Buildings prior to the final approval of the 82-block rezoning, which was passed by the City Council last week. It was a fairly safe bet: Both the de Blasio administration and the two local Council members, Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, wanted to get a deal done.
Though reasons for filing early vary, the impending expiration of Affordable New York, the tax break formerly known as 421a, was a motivating factor for some developers.
The rezoning will allow for mixed-use development in the district, which previously was largely zoned for manufacturing use. City officials estimate that the change will enable construction of more than 8,500 apartments, 3,000 of which will go to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program.
The program dictates that residential projects set aside 25 percent of units for households making 60 percent or less of the area median income, including 10 percent for those making 40 percent of the AMI or less, or 20 percent of units for those making up to 40 percent of the AMI.
Plans for more than a dozen projects were filed in October and November, totaling more than 2.6 million square feet. One project alone will have nearly 1,000 units of affordable housing. Dubbed Gowanus Green, it is being orchestrated by the city and a joint venture of the Fifth Avenue Committee, the Bluestone Organization, the Hudson Companies and the Jonathan Rose Companies, at the corner of Smith and Fifth streets.
The Real Deal mapped projects of 50 or more units filed this year ahead of the rezoning. Click for details on each development and the zoning changes throughout the neighborhood.