Land use committee approves Monitor Point changes, adding 202 permanently affordable apartments

A New York City Council land use committee approved changes to the Monitor Point waterfront development in Greenpoint that increase permanently affordable housing and add public‑benefit commitments.

The committee voted to approve modifications to a package of land‑use actions enabling the project, which does not require LU70 (a loading permit) after the applicant withdrew that piece. Under the council’s negotiated changes, the development will now include 662 permanently affordable apartments — an increase of 202 units from the applicant’s original submission — paired with more than one acre of publicly accessible open space and a new museum commemorating the USS Monitor.

The council’s land‑use presentation and the sponsor’s remarks emphasized the project’s unusual opportunity: most of the development site is publicly owned and controlled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, allowing the city to require deeper affordability than surrounding market‑rate waterfront projects. Council Member Wrestler, who led negotiations for the district, said the amended deal raises the share of permanently affordable units to roughly 50 percent and reserves 110 apartments as supportive housing with on‑site services for formerly homeless New Yorkers. Wrestler also cited examples of deep affordability in the package, including an illustrative two‑bedroom rent for a family of three at $1,822 and a senior one‑bedroom at $911 in the deeply affordable band.

Public‑benefit components listed by the council include a widened waterfront esplanade (an additional 52,000 square feet of publicly accessible shoreline), two new public restrooms, approximately 2,700 square feet of community facility space, and a roughly 18,000‑square‑foot Monitor museum. Wrestler said the developer will provide $300,000 annually (the record states this contribution is expected to extend for the duration of the agreement, described in the hearing as about 99 years) to support operations and maintenance tied to Bushwick Inlet Park and associated conservancy efforts.

The MTA was identified as the agency responsible for site demolition and land transfer work required to complete the adjacent park plan; the council also discussed flood‑resiliency measures including a new bulkhead and stormwater retention to reduce pressure on local sewer infrastructure. In addition, committee remarks noted that the Nassau Avenue G train station will receive a fully accessible elevator funded within the MTA capital plan, a project estimated in the hearing at about $60 million.

Committee members heard that the package was the product of multi‑year negotiations among the council, the applicant (identified in the record as Gotham), the MTA and community stakeholders. Several council leaders and community groups were thanked on the record for their roles in shaping the proposal.

The committee first approved the package at subcommittee and later approved it at the full committee roll call. The committee clerk recorded each member’s affirmative vote; the full committee result was 12 in the affirmative, zero opposed and no abstentions. Per the chair’s directions, the land‑use actions will proceed as described by the committee.