East Williamsburg, a Brooklyn neighborhood best known for warehouses, truck routes and an industrial zone that has never had anything you could honestly call a “downtown,” just landed $20 million from New York State to go build one. Governor Kathy Hochul named the neighborhood the New York City winner of the ninth round of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and the fourth round of NY Forward on June 3, according to the Governor’s office. The catch: to even apply for that money, the city had to prove it is still building more housing.
The $20 million is two separate pots of $10 million, one from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, one from NY Forward, per the state announcement. Each of New York’s ten economic regions got the same split this round, $200 million statewide, on top of a program that has now pushed roughly $1.4 billion into downtowns since it started. East Williamsburg is the single New York City winner.
The application was not written by City Hall. It was led by two neighborhood business improvement districts, the Graham Avenue BID and the Grand Street BID, working with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso’s office, the Grand Street BID said in its own announcement. Those two BIDs were established in the 1980s and represent 395 businesses between them, mostly the locally owned restaurants, salons, groceries and pharmacies that line Graham Avenue and Grand Street, Greenpointers reported.
The early wish list is concrete: upgrades to Cooper Park, including a new playground and a running track; a new outdoor plaza near Boricua College; and STEM-focused centers meant to point residents toward tech jobs, Greenpointers reported. News 12 also reported the funding would go toward improving Cooper Park, creating a new outdoor plaza, and opening STEM-focused centers to prepare residents for tech careers. None of that is locked in yet. A Local Planning Committee of residents, business owners and stakeholders now writes a Strategic Investment Plan that decides which projects actually get the cash, according to the Governor’s office. The fight over who the $20 million ends up benefiting has not happened yet.
The housing requirement is not rhetoric, it is the literal rule. The state’s release says it plainly: “To receive funding from either the DRI or NY Forward program, localities must be certified under Governor Hochul’s Pro-Housing Communities Program,” per the Governor’s office. No certification, no application, no $20 million. The money is bolted to housing growth by design.
To qualify, a downstate place like New York City has to show its housing stock grew by at least 1 percent in the past year, or 3 percent over the past three years. If it cannot show that growth, it can pass a Pro-Housing Resolution and submit its zoning and permitting records, according to New York Homes and Community Renewal. It is a deal: build (or formally commit to building) more homes, and the state opens the door to discretionary grants like this one. More than 420 communities have signed up statewide, HCR reported.
The officials who came to celebrate were blunt about the housing link. Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez noted that “North Brooklyn has built a significant amount of housing in the last two decades,” per HCR, which is exactly the track record that unlocks Pro-Housing money. State Senator Julia Salazar called East Williamsburg, “with its diverse mix of working class families, small businesses, and industrial roots,” an excellent fit for the program, according to HCR. A neighborhood prized for its working-class, industrial character is getting investment on the condition that it keeps adding housing, the same pressure that has reshaped the rest of North Brooklyn around it.
Reynoso framed the award as overdue payback for a place that has watched money go everywhere but here. “This $20 million investment from Governor Hochul is a resounding victory for the generations of families, workers, small business owners, and community organizations that have built East Williamsburg,” he said, per HCR. Assemblymember Maritza Davila called it “a vibrant community built by working families, small businesses, immigrants, artists, and long-standing neighborhood institutions,” according to HCR. Graham Avenue BID CEO Alberto Valentin called it “a huge win for Williamsburg,” per HCR.
Hochul leaned on the neighborhood’s small businesses: “East Williamsburg is a neighborhood that embodies the ideals that make New York great, from family-owned restaurants to small businesses that light up the community,” she said, according to HCR. She also said the money “will help to build more affordable housing in the neighborhood,” BK Reader reported. The grant exists because of housing, and it is meant to produce more of it.
If you live in East Williamsburg, the moment to weigh in is now, before the Strategic Investment Plan is written and the project list is locked. That plan is built by a Local Planning Committee that is supposed to include residents and business owners, not just officials, and it decides whether $20 million goes to Cooper Park and a plaza or somewhere else entirely. The two BIDs that wrote the application, the Grand Street BID and the Graham Avenue BID, along with Reynoso’s borough office, are running point. If you want the new running track, the plaza, or housing you can actually afford in the mix, they are who to push, while the plan is still a blank page. The state’s framework for what the money can fund and how the planning works is at the Governor’s announcement, and the housing certification rules driving all of it are at New York Homes and Community Renewal.
This builds on Bushwick Daily’s earlier reporting on the award, and on Greenpointers’ first account of the state’s June announcement.
Featured image: Bushwick Daily
