Greenpoint Community Contends with the Future of Bushwick Inlet at Monitor Point Meeting

Community members gathered at the Polish & Slavic Center (176 Java St.) on Tuesday night to consider a massive new housing development on the Bushwick Inlet, dubbed Monitor Point.

The project consists of two new residential towers, a new home for the Greenpoint Monitor Museum, and additional open space on the inlet. The 600-foot-tall complex would contain 1,150 apartments, 40% of which will be permanently affordable (an increase from the previously suggested amount, thanks to community pushback).

Gotham Organization is spearheading the project, on land they will lease from the MTA, at 40 and 56 Quay Street. The land currently houses a Mobile Wash facility.

But it’s not a done deal just yet. Monitor Point is subject to the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process and must gather feedback from key stakeholders, including the community board, before moving forward.

The meeting saw a massive neighborhood turnout. Save Bushwick Inlet, a group advocating for the inlet’s protection against environmental threats and encroaching development, recently collected 5,000 signatures on a petition opposing the project. Many of the group’s supporters attended and held signs. Additionally, the project earned local supporters, some of whom attended with their own signs. 32BJ/SEIU, the building workers union, and Local 79, the construction union, showed up in support of the project, as did Monitor Museum employees and volunteers.

The atmosphere in the room felt charged with contention—attendees heckled Gotham soon after the presentation began, though admonishment from board members generally curtailed it by the evening’s end.

Gotham stressed that the project would create publicly accessible green space, fund the MTA, and build affordable housing. 40% of the housing would be priced at 40-100% of the area median income (AMI), which can range from 30% to 165%. The lower the AMI, the more accessible housing is to someone with a lower income.

However, many community members remain unconvinced. Council Member Lincoln Restler spoke out against the project, earning him waves of applause.

“Public land must be for public good,” he told the crowd.

“This site, this Mobile Wash Unit, this is the last large public site in Greenpoint. And the idea that we would build predominantly luxury housing on this site, I have to say, I find it offensive,” said Restler.

Restler noted that since the 2005 waterfront rezoning, Greenpoint has added more housing than any other neighborhood, yet residents consistently see rents rise to unsustainable levels, a talking point echoed by many of the evening’s speakers.

The controversial rezoning has been a thorn in the community’s side for more than two decades, as many of its promises go unfulfilled while luxury development skyrockets. Attendees voiced frustration with the lack of a unified Bushwick Inlet Park and the lack of progress at Box Street Park (Restler told the crowd that the park would finally break ground later this year).

Those opposed cited concerns about the project’s potential to drive up neighborhood rents, its precarious location in a flood zone, and possible damage to the inlet’s fragile ecosystem.

“You will hear a lot about the benefits this will bring, but I promise you, most of the people that are even talking about benefits don’t live in this neighborhood,” said one attendee.

“This vote is not just about zoning. It’s about who we choose to make rich with public land,” said another.

“Affordable housing and this museum are the Trojan horse for luxury tower development,” said Chris Duerr. “The plans that were presented are very compelling. We see a lot of plans, and we’d appreciate not being gaslit one more time.”

But the community was far from unanimous in its opposition.

The project’s supporters felt that the community could not afford to pass up an opportunity for affordable housing and urged detractors to consider the reality at hand and the MTA’s need for funding.

“Affordable housing is very important because I’ve been priced out in the last five years, two times,” said one supporter, who appreciated that Monitor Point had units set aside for low and middle income earners. “I keep coming back to this neighborhood, and I wish I could live here again. But you know what—I’m not broke, and I’m not rich. I’m not Rockefeller, I’m the other feller. I’m in the middle.”

A resident of another one of Gotham’s developments in Queens spoke in favor of the project’s ability to alleviate stress for rent-burdened families.

“A lot of you have said that this isn’t going to produce affordable units, or you want to know how affordable the units are. Right now, our family pays $1,168,” he shared.

Tony Olszewski, whose wife is treasurer of the Monitor Museum, highlighted the project’s benefits for the museum, which has lacked a permanent home for years.

“The people of Greenpoint deserve to have a place that showcases this part of our shared past. It will also bring new visitors to our community and local businesses,” he said.

The board will vote on whether to approve the project, though its role is advisory. Next, the project will need to be reviewed by the Brooklyn Borough President and the City Planning Commission before it can move forward to the City Council.

Gotham would first need to construct a new facility for the MTA before it can break ground on Monitor Point. They’re eyeing 2031 as the completion date for Monitor Point construction.