Gregory C. O’Connell Jr., a progressive developer who was responsible for much of the revitalization of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, died on August 2 at his home in Geneseo, New York. He was 83.
The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, his son Gregory T. O’Connell told The New York Times.
Born in Queens in 1942, O’Connell was the son of a police officer and a teacher. He made his first real estate venture when he was a student at the State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo, investing $22,000 along with two friends to buy and renovate a building they then rented out to fellow students.
After graduating in 1964 with a teaching degree, O’Connell joined the New York City Police Department and later became a detective. He bought his first property in the city in 1967, paying $28,500 for a Cobble Hill house that he renovated himself. He continued to acquire other properties throughout the 1970s in Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Street waterfront district. He eventually retired from the force in 1981 to become a developer full-time.
He bought his first property in Red Hook, then a gritty and industrial enclave, a year after retiring from the NYPD. In 1992, he purchased 28 acres along the waterfront for $500,000 and set about redeveloping the area with an eye for commercial and light manufacturing.
“I could make three times the amount of profit with residential than I’m doing with commercial and industrial,” he told the Commercial Observer in 2008. “And I could get the zoning changes, but for me the key is balance, so you take a little less, and everybody gets a piece of the pie.”
O’Connell’s work in Red Hook is credited with revitalizing the area. At one point, he was said to own $400 million worth of property in the neighborhood.
He was especially known for bringing a Fairway Supermarket to a Civil War-era warehouse in the district, providing the neighborhood with jobs and affordable food. In the course of that project, O’Connell exposed a local council member, Angel Rodriguez, for soliciting a bribe in exchange for support on the project.
When Hurricane Sandy rocked the area, causing an estimated $50 million in damages, O’Connell provided rent abatements and low-interest loans to his tenants as they got back on their feet.
Brooklyn business owners, real estate developers, and community members expressed condolences after O’Connell’s passing. On LinkedIn, Brooklyn tour guide Dom Gervasi called him “a man of vision – [whose] vision actually materialized.” He added, “I admire Greg O’Connell Sr. not only for standing apart from so many others in his industry as a force for good, but for his humanity.”
O’Connell is survived by his wife, two sons, four grandchildren, and two brothers.
The younger Greg O’Connell posted on LinkedIn to pay tribute to his father.
“He believed in me. He believed in us all.”