Public Place: A Brownfield Reclaimed
By Matt Sollars
Plans to redevelop the Public Place site have been in the works for more than 30 years. This long waiting game has given everyone with a stake in the surrounding neighborhood, businesses or the Gowanus Canal ample time to develop their own extensive hopes.
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In the end, it appears that the city’s need for affordable housing has won the day. Oversight for the project was given to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The department completed a request for proposals process this fall that called for at least 100 units of senior housing along with an additional portion of low- to moderate-income housing.
The Gowanus area is home – or at least provides a workspace – to a growing number of artists, who have been pushed out of Manhattan and trendier Brooklyn neighborhoods in recent years. At the annual Artists of Gowanus Area Studio Tour (A. G. A. S. T.) this fall, Gowanus artists, newcomers and old-timers, were surprisingly nonplussed by the advent of major real estate development in their neighborhood.
