This Brooklyn Neighborhood Gains 1,324 New Apartments

BROOKLYN, NY— New York City approved Monitor Point, a major mixed-income development on the North Brooklyn waterfront that will create 1,324 new homes, including 662 permanently affordable apartments, while transforming a former MTA site into a residential community with public open space, climate improvements and transit upgrades.

City Council approved the project, which will redevelop underused property at 40 and 56 Quay Street in Greenpoint through a public-private partnership.

The partnership includes the Gotham Organization, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Greenpoint Monitor Museum.

The plan increases the project’s affordable housing commitment to 50 percent of all homes.

Who Will Benefit From The New Homes?

The project will include housing for a range of New Yorkers, including seniors, formerly homeless residents and working families.

The affordable homes will be split between two buildings:

• A mixed-income building with 958 apartments, including 296 affordable homes.
• A fully affordable building with 366 apartments developed with support from HPD.

The affordable housing plan includes:

• 161 deeply affordable senior apartments for residents earning 30 to 50 percent of area median income.
• 110 supportive homes for formerly homeless New Yorkers.

What Will Change Beyond Housing?

Monitor Point will add more than 52,500 square feet of publicly accessible waterfront open space, restore shoreline areas and introduce climate resiliency improvements designed to strengthen the waterfront.

The project will also create a permanent home for the Greenpoint Monitor Museum, preserving the neighborhood’s maritime history near the site where the USS Monitor was launched.

The development will also provide new public bathrooms, expanded waterfront access and $300,000 in annual funding to support Bushwick Inlet Park.

How Will Transit Improve?

The MTA will invest $60 million to upgrade the Nassau Avenue G station, adding an elevator and making the station fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The project will also relocate two outdated MTA facilities into a new turnkey facility in North Brooklyn’s Industrial Business Zone, allowing the agency to modernize operations while creating space for new public benefits.

The relocation of the MTA Emergency Response Unit will also unlock 25,000 square feet of additional parkland at Box Street Park.

“We’re going to continue looking for opportunities to deploy public-private partnerships to both build more residential units and generate funding for additional investment in the transit system," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said.

Why Does This Project Matter For Greenpoint?

Supporters say Monitor Point demonstrates how public land can be used to create housing while adding infrastructure, parks and community resources.

“This project will add desperately needed deeply affordable housing to our community, providing some of our most vulnerable neighbors with stable, dignified homes, while improving critical public infrastructure and expanding public green space,” council member Lincoln Restler said.

The project will not displace existing residents and combines publicly owned MTA property with privately owned museum land to create a new waterfront neighborhood.

The project now moves toward construction after years of public review, negotiations and community engagement.