Posted May 29, 2026, 2:28 PM
|
 |
New Yorker for life
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 56,622
|
|
There's always some idiot...
https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2026/05/28/development-deals-hit-new-york-council-roadblock/
Development deals hit Council roadblock
By Caroline Spivack
May 28, 2026
Quote:
City Council member Lincoln Restler sparred with the Gotham Organization and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Wednesday during a tense committee meeting on the Monitor Point project, rejecting the proposed 1,150-unit development on the Greenpoint waterfront without more income-restricted housing and a city commitment to completing Bushwick Inlet Park. With just weeks to go before the Council must take action on the proposal, Monitor Point appears to be at a political stalemate, and an increasingly likely candidate to test the city’s new housing appeals board.
The unfolding political battle has become the latest proxy for the city’s YIMBY-versus-NIMBY showdown, pitting pro-development housing advocates against neighborhood groups who’ve raised concerns about the project’s affordability and scale.
Ninety speakers packed the committee room to testify, a mix of those for and against the project, with housing advocates and labor unions rallying outside the building to chants of “What’s the point? Monitor Point!”
As proposed, Gotham would build three residential towers on land leased from the Greenpoint Monitor Museum and the MTA. Forty percent of the 1,150 apartments — or 460 units — would be permanently income-restricted for households earning 60 percent of area median income. The remaining 690 units would rent at market rates, with studios starting around $4,000 and three-bedrooms topping out near $9,500, according to Gotham president of development Bryan Kelly.
Restler said he remains “uncomfortable and opposed” to the project, arguing that the state-owned MTA parcel should deliver deeper affordability. “I don’t think this makes sense, and we’re going to have to see significant improvement for my position to change,” he said.
The Mamdani administration, meanwhile, has framed Monitor Point as “an opportunity to deliver new affordable housing, additional public amenities and critical infrastructure,” mayoral spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach said. He added that the city is working with Restler to advance the project.
Gotham has pointed to its spending on roughly $130 million in development rights, replacement MTA facilities and infrastructure needed to make the project viable and argues that adding more income-restricted units is unworkable on its end. “With the support of the city, if we can move the needle, we’ll move the needle,” said Kelly. “But to be clear, developers are executing upon a business plan. We also have constraints.”
|
__________________
NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
|
Prev
Linear Mode
