WEBVTT
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Good morning. This is Mike Stolen for the Stolar Real
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Estate Report. New York City needs housing, especially affordable housing.
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There's not that much land around the city, but over
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the years a company called the Gotham Development Organization has
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built a variety of market rate and affordable apartments throughout
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the city, including Long Island City, an urban village not
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too far in East New York, and numerous projects to
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provide housing and retail for the community of New York. Today,
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I'm lucky to have Brian Kelly, who is the president
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of Gotham Organization, who's building a project called Monitor Point. Brian,
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tell me what's happening in Greenpoint, Michael.
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The opportunity in Greenpoint is once in a lifetime at
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the nexus of the southern tip of Greenpoint and the
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north side of Williamsburg, right adjacent to the Bushwick Inlet,
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we have an opportunity to remove an industrial non conforming
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use facing the East River where the MTA mobile wash
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unit and material control storage unit operate today on a
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site that zoned for housing dating back to two thousand
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and five.
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So why don't you tell me a little history. You've
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been involved with this development since twenty nineteen, I believe yeah.
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So in twenty nineteen pro bono lan us attorney to
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a community organization called the Greenpoint Monitor, Museum was interested
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in replying with a responsible and comprehensive developer on an
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mtaarfp to redevelop the adjacent property, which is the mobile
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wash unit, and as stewards of affordable mixed income development
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throughout the city. We've really over the years where have
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worked mostly in public private partnership, looked at it as
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an opportunity to combine the museum's land in the MTA's
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land to address a multitude of goals. One connectivity and
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creating open space. Two is creating density for housing but
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with deep affordability. Three is to support public infrastructure to
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build the MTA a new home off site and an
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appropriate industrial location, and to remove truck traffic from a
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residential neighborhood and put it an appropriate location where necessary
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highway accesses. And to sustain through ground tenant revenue. We're
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not going to be buying the land here to public
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private partnership supporting the capital plan for the MTA. So
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we think this isn't just one singular focus. It has
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a multitude of benefits.
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Question is why hasn't anything been done in this property
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over the years, I mean twenty years ago. Jeff Lavine
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really created the input in Williamsburg. Why not Greenpoint?
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This site has been sitting idle because all those owned
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for housing, and you would think the attractiveness of the
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location would have created a momentum. The hardest part of
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the needle in the haystack finding a location for the
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MTA that has access to highways, the footprint necessary, the
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competence of a redeveloper to find that location and build it,
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and we did just that. That's why I think we
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were the winner. We found the right side and we
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have the skill sets to work with a government entity
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to meet their need before we can unlock a site
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for housing.
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In your presentation, you spoke about the Waterfront Redevelopment percent
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providing for permanently affordable housing through mandatory inclusionary housing. Would
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you explain what that means, suhere.
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Mandatory inclusionary housing means that, in concert with any land
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use action changing zoning, you would provide affordable housing. And
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there are various options for it, and we've selected an
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option that provides the deepest level of deeper levels of
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affordability that have been seen on the waterfront here, and
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that would be income bands citywide from what we call
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forty percent of the airy median income, which is why
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for a single household it's anywhere from thirty five to
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forty five thousand dollars, working upwards to the AAMI band
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could be multiple learners just north of one hundred thousand dollars.
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And so the objective here was to create market rate
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homes that cross subsidize deep affordability, and deep affordability means
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homes for working class families and individuals who get the
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same public equity and access to the waterfront that then
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those who are are enriched and so creating an integrated community.
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Let's talk about what is mandatory inclusionary housing.
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Mandatory inclusionary housing means that the affordability would be permanent forever,
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and so as long as that building is built, or
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there's a new building built one hundred years from now,
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permanent affordability at those depths of affordability run with the land.
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Okay, approximately eleven hundred and fifty proposed units, or forty percent,
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will be permanently affordable to hassholds earning no more than
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one hundred percent of the area meeting UNIQUEM to this.
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On the North Brooklyn Waterfront and in the surrounding areas,
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there has been a tremendous amount of housing developed because
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of the conversion of industrial land to housing. With that said,
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this is a profound level not only in total affordability,
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also in depth of affordability. I would say the mark
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has been twenty to twenty five percent over the last
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twenty years, depending on the tax exemption programs used to
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build housing. Forty percent is a high water mark and
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the depth of affordability is very strong. You've seen a
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lot of homes built at the middle income level, and
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this is homes provided for those within the working class,
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you know, like I said, between forty to one hundred
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and ten hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
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Oh, let's talk about the job creation.
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So we working backwards upon completion of this building. We
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work with the Union Trades at thirty two BJ to run,
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build and maintain our buildings. We work with the Labors
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Unit at Local seventy nine and really work on local
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job training and apprenticeships to create workforce, including integrating local
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residents into that and Importantly, the new home for the
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MTA facility will preserve two hundred and forty five plus
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MTA jobs for three critical functions. One I should mention,
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although indirect, we're also part of the new home building
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the Emergency Response Unit, which unlocks the front door to
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Box Street Park, which is under construction in North green
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Point as well.
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Let's talk about the Emergency Response Unit. Where is it currently?
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It currently sits on Commercial Street on the north end
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of facing Commercial and it's at the north end of Greenpoint.
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And it is essentially a unit that goes out to
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deal with emergency situations, whether there was an act of
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violence or a fire, and it dispatches through to the
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various highways. So it's getting relocated to a location that
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makes that access better and gives it a brand new
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turnkey facility, and it removes it from land that was
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designated as park or to be a park in North Greenpoint,
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and so we're removing an obstacle.
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What is the Monitored Museum?
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The Greenpoint Monitor Museums donated its land in two thousand
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and three. It's an organization that's community roots date back
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to the eighteen hundreds when the USS Monitorship an ironclad
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battleship was constructed and launched from the area. Its founders
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on board really focus on education in the schools and
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preserving the history of the ship and the Civil War history.
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And as part of the master plan, we are going
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to assist in turnkey developing and constructing a museum adjacent
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to the housing buildings and integrated with the overall larger
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open space plan.
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What a bad retail development.
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Retail in our buildings is intended to be an amenity
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to the residents, So things of everyday life, whether it's pharmacy, grocery, daycare,
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those food and beverage, those are the kind of uses
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we are focused on. So that our residents in the
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larger community have a livable and walkable community.
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Who's taking care of the maintenance of the inlet park.
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So the open space that we're creating, which is north
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of fifty thousand square feet, including the esplanade and the
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park portal, will be built by us at our cost
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and expense and maintained. And in addition, because we're adjacent
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to the park and we know it's so precious to
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the community and the city wide, we're going to make
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annual contributions to the Parks Department to support the ongoing
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maintenance of Bushwoock Inlet Park as it's built over time.
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Okay, with regard to permanent affordability, would you explain how
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it remains permanently affordable even if the person makes more money.
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So, the purpose of affordable housing is to not only
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create homes for those of the working class, but also
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preserve that home so rent stabilized tenants in the income
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based units are protected over the long term within their
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home so that they have stable rental increases and can
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remain within the community for a very long time.
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What other projects similar have you and your company recently done.
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We like to undertake developments that provide a challenge and
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the challenge results in mixed income, deep affordability or housing
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developments that are anchored by civic use. Examples of our
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work include the innovative Urban Village in East New York,
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where we're joint venture partners with Christian Cultural Center and
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Monodnock Development. We're halfway there to building upwards of two
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thousand affordable housing apartments with a performing arts center, a
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campus squad, grocery, pharmacy, intergenerational housing, and a tremendous amount
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of workforce development programming that we've been under taking. And
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in the last few years, we completed the master plan
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for Covenant House, where we built them a turnkey, brand
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new home for their shelter and programs, as well as
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new office space at the base of our building called
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the Mayberry, which is a mixed income housing development on
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the west side of Hudson Yards. And I'd say a
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last really important example would be in the lower east
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side the Broome Street development generated through another europe Land
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use action of Jewish Cultural Heritage Center, the headquarters for
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the Chinese American Planning Council, the nation's largest Asian American
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social services provider, and five hundred homes of housing, including
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one hundred and fifteen senior affordable units and more than
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one hundred permanently affordable workforce units.
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I think they have They definitely confirmed you as the developer.
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The developer of which one.
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Right of the project, the master developer.
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Yes, the master developer. For the relationships we've created through
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these not for profit and public private partnerships are really
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life lasting.
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I think you've done a great job. The entire Picket
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family and everyone else should be just welcomed and appreciated
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of what they've done for the city, and I hope
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to see both projects in near future. Thank you for
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being here.
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Thank you Michael
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Good morning. This is Mike Stolen for the Stolar Real
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Estate Report. New York City needs housing, especially affordable housing.
3
00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:11.279
There's not that much land around the city, but over
4
00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:14.919
the years a company called the Gotham Development Organization has
5
00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:18.879
built a variety of market rate and affordable apartments throughout
6
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:23.640
the city, including Long Island City, an urban village not
7
00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:27.000
too far in East New York, and numerous projects to
8
00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:31.960
provide housing and retail for the community of New York. Today,
9
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I'm lucky to have Brian Kelly, who is the president
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of Gotham Organization, who's building a project called Monitor Point. Brian,
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tell me what's happening in Greenpoint, Michael.
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The opportunity in Greenpoint is once in a lifetime at
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the nexus of the southern tip of Greenpoint and the
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north side of Williamsburg, right adjacent to the Bushwick Inlet,
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00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:58.799
we have an opportunity to remove an industrial non conforming
16
00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.719
use facing the East River where the MTA mobile wash
17
00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:06.560
unit and material control storage unit operate today on a
18
00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:09.920
site that zoned for housing dating back to two thousand
19
00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:10.359
and five.
20
00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:13.400
So why don't you tell me a little history. You've
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been involved with this development since twenty nineteen, I believe yeah.
22
00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:21.480
So in twenty nineteen pro bono lan us attorney to
23
00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:26.000
a community organization called the Greenpoint Monitor, Museum was interested
24
00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.319
in replying with a responsible and comprehensive developer on an
25
00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:34.319
mtaarfp to redevelop the adjacent property, which is the mobile
26
00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:38.599
wash unit, and as stewards of affordable mixed income development
27
00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:41.200
throughout the city. We've really over the years where have
28
00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:44.680
worked mostly in public private partnership, looked at it as
29
00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:47.439
an opportunity to combine the museum's land in the MTA's
30
00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:51.920
land to address a multitude of goals. One connectivity and
31
00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:56.680
creating open space. Two is creating density for housing but
32
00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:01.280
with deep affordability. Three is to support public infrastructure to
33
00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:04.359
build the MTA a new home off site and an
34
00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:08.719
appropriate industrial location, and to remove truck traffic from a
35
00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:12.840
residential neighborhood and put it an appropriate location where necessary
36
00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:18.520
highway accesses. And to sustain through ground tenant revenue. We're
37
00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:20.759
not going to be buying the land here to public
38
00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:24.280
private partnership supporting the capital plan for the MTA. So
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00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:27.400
we think this isn't just one singular focus. It has
40
00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:28.759
a multitude of benefits.
41
00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:33.280
Question is why hasn't anything been done in this property
42
00:02:33.479 --> 00:02:36.560
over the years, I mean twenty years ago. Jeff Lavine
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00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:42.120
really created the input in Williamsburg. Why not Greenpoint?
44
00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:45.560
This site has been sitting idle because all those owned
45
00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:48.639
for housing, and you would think the attractiveness of the
46
00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:52.000
location would have created a momentum. The hardest part of
47
00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:54.840
the needle in the haystack finding a location for the
48
00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:00.240
MTA that has access to highways, the footprint necessary, the
49
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:03.319
competence of a redeveloper to find that location and build it,
50
00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:05.479
and we did just that. That's why I think we
51
00:03:05.479 --> 00:03:08.039
were the winner. We found the right side and we
52
00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.560
have the skill sets to work with a government entity
53
00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:13.080
to meet their need before we can unlock a site
54
00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:13.599
for housing.
55
00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:18.800
In your presentation, you spoke about the Waterfront Redevelopment percent
56
00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:24.400
providing for permanently affordable housing through mandatory inclusionary housing. Would
57
00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:26.039
you explain what that means, suhere.
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Mandatory inclusionary housing means that, in concert with any land
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use action changing zoning, you would provide affordable housing. And
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there are various options for it, and we've selected an
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option that provides the deepest level of deeper levels of
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affordability that have been seen on the waterfront here, and
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that would be income bands citywide from what we call
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forty percent of the airy median income, which is why
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for a single household it's anywhere from thirty five to
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forty five thousand dollars, working upwards to the AAMI band
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could be multiple learners just north of one hundred thousand dollars.
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And so the objective here was to create market rate
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homes that cross subsidize deep affordability, and deep affordability means
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homes for working class families and individuals who get the
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same public equity and access to the waterfront that then
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those who are are enriched and so creating an integrated community.
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Let's talk about what is mandatory inclusionary housing.
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Mandatory inclusionary housing means that the affordability would be permanent forever,
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and so as long as that building is built, or
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there's a new building built one hundred years from now,
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permanent affordability at those depths of affordability run with the land.
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Okay, approximately eleven hundred and fifty proposed units, or forty percent,
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will be permanently affordable to hassholds earning no more than
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one hundred percent of the area meeting UNIQUEM to this.
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On the North Brooklyn Waterfront and in the surrounding areas,
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there has been a tremendous amount of housing developed because
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of the conversion of industrial land to housing. With that said,
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this is a profound level not only in total affordability,
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also in depth of affordability. I would say the mark
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has been twenty to twenty five percent over the last
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twenty years, depending on the tax exemption programs used to
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build housing. Forty percent is a high water mark and
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the depth of affordability is very strong. You've seen a
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lot of homes built at the middle income level, and
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this is homes provided for those within the working class,
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you know, like I said, between forty to one hundred
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and ten hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
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Oh, let's talk about the job creation.
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So we working backwards upon completion of this building. We
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work with the Union Trades at thirty two BJ to run,
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build and maintain our buildings. We work with the Labors
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Unit at Local seventy nine and really work on local
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job training and apprenticeships to create workforce, including integrating local
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residents into that and Importantly, the new home for the
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MTA facility will preserve two hundred and forty five plus
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MTA jobs for three critical functions. One I should mention,
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although indirect, we're also part of the new home building
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the Emergency Response Unit, which unlocks the front door to
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Box Street Park, which is under construction in North green
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Point as well.
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Let's talk about the Emergency Response Unit. Where is it currently?
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It currently sits on Commercial Street on the north end
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of facing Commercial and it's at the north end of Greenpoint.
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And it is essentially a unit that goes out to
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deal with emergency situations, whether there was an act of
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violence or a fire, and it dispatches through to the
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various highways. So it's getting relocated to a location that
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makes that access better and gives it a brand new
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turnkey facility, and it removes it from land that was
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designated as park or to be a park in North Greenpoint,
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and so we're removing an obstacle.
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What is the Monitored Museum?
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The Greenpoint Monitor Museums donated its land in two thousand
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and three. It's an organization that's community roots date back
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to the eighteen hundreds when the USS Monitorship an ironclad
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battleship was constructed and launched from the area. Its founders
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on board really focus on education in the schools and
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preserving the history of the ship and the Civil War history.
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And as part of the master plan, we are going
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to assist in turnkey developing and constructing a museum adjacent
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to the housing buildings and integrated with the overall larger
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open space plan.
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What a bad retail development.
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Retail in our buildings is intended to be an amenity
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to the residents, So things of everyday life, whether it's pharmacy, grocery, daycare,
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those food and beverage, those are the kind of uses
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we are focused on. So that our residents in the
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larger community have a livable and walkable community.
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Who's taking care of the maintenance of the inlet park.
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So the open space that we're creating, which is north
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of fifty thousand square feet, including the esplanade and the
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park portal, will be built by us at our cost
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and expense and maintained. And in addition, because we're adjacent
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to the park and we know it's so precious to
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the community and the city wide, we're going to make
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annual contributions to the Parks Department to support the ongoing
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maintenance of Bushwoock Inlet Park as it's built over time.
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Okay, with regard to permanent affordability, would you explain how
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it remains permanently affordable even if the person makes more money.
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So, the purpose of affordable housing is to not only
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create homes for those of the working class, but also
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preserve that home so rent stabilized tenants in the income
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based units are protected over the long term within their
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home so that they have stable rental increases and can
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remain within the community for a very long time.
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What other projects similar have you and your company recently done.
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We like to undertake developments that provide a challenge and
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the challenge results in mixed income, deep affordability or housing
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developments that are anchored by civic use. Examples of our
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work include the innovative Urban Village in East New York,
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where we're joint venture partners with Christian Cultural Center and
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Monodnock Development. We're halfway there to building upwards of two
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thousand affordable housing apartments with a performing arts center, a
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campus squad, grocery, pharmacy, intergenerational housing, and a tremendous amount
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of workforce development programming that we've been under taking. And
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in the last few years, we completed the master plan
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for Covenant House, where we built them a turnkey, brand
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new home for their shelter and programs, as well as
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new office space at the base of our building called
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the Mayberry, which is a mixed income housing development on
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the west side of Hudson Yards. And I'd say a
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last really important example would be in the lower east
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side the Broome Street development generated through another europe Land
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use action of Jewish Cultural Heritage Center, the headquarters for
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the Chinese American Planning Council, the nation's largest Asian American
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social services provider, and five hundred homes of housing, including
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one hundred and fifteen senior affordable units and more than
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one hundred permanently affordable workforce units.
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I think they have They definitely confirmed you as the developer.
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The developer of which one.
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Right of the project, the master developer.
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Yes, the master developer. For the relationships we've created through
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these not for profit and public private partnerships are really
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life lasting.
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I think you've done a great job. The entire Picket
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family and everyone else should be just welcomed and appreciated
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of what they've done for the city, and I hope
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to see both projects in near future. Thank you for
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being here.
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Thank you Michael
