The City Council approved the rezoning for Monitor Point on July 17, clearing the way for two towers and 1,324 apartments on the Greenpoint waterfront, with half of those units set aside as permanently affordable. The vote ends a fight over a piece of public land that had split the neighborhood for years.
The approval was reported by Greenpointers, which tracked the project’s turn from neighborhood flashpoint to done deal. The site sits at 40 Quay Street, on land now occupied by an MTA wash facility that has to be demolished and relocated before anything gets built. Because of that, construction will likely wrap closer to 2031.
The deal breaks down like this. Developer Gotham Organization gets a 99-year ground lease from the MTA and builds 1,324 residential units across two towers. Of those, 662 will be permanently affordable, most priced at 30 to 60 percent of area median income, which targets lower- and middle-income renters rather than the well-off. Some units are designated for seniors and formerly homeless New Yorkers. The project also includes a new home for the U.S.S. Monitor Museum and publicly accessible open space.
That 50 percent affordability figure is the whole story of how this passed. Gotham did not start there. As recently as April 2025, the developer had planned just 25 percent affordable housing, according to Commercial Observer, which reported the Council’s full slate of housing approvals that day. The share climbed to 40 percent, then to 50 percent as City Council committees negotiated it up. That last jump is what won over Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who represents the area and who once called the project “a non-starter.”
“I feel very strongly that when we’re redeveloping public land, the development has to primarily be for the public good. And after a very challenging negotiation, I think we were able to get there in the end,” Restler told Greenpointers. He said the affordability here is real, not just a label. “I think many in our communities, even myself, I’m often jaded by the phrase ‘affordable housing’ because so much of it rents at levels that you have to be pretty well off to afford. And we were able to do something differently here.”
The Land Use committee had already voted 9-0 for the project in June, which made the full Council’s yes vote in July close to a formality. Restler said his negotiations over the site stretch back to the administration of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who asked him to be the public face of the public-private partnership around the time he first won the seat.
The project comes with money attached to nearby parkland. Gotham is obligated to contribute $300,000 a year toward maintaining Bushwick Inlet Park, with half of that going to the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance. At a press conference before the vote, Restler said the developer also committed to building out more than 50,000 square feet of open space, per Commercial Observer.
The land swap ripples beyond Monitor Point itself. Greenpointers reported that the deal frees the MTA to relocate its Emergency Response Unit off Box Street, which clears the way for the long-delayed Box Street Park. The agency will also invest $60 million in ADA accessibility upgrades at the Nassau Avenue G train station.
The project divided Greenpoint. Supporters argued the area badly needs housing, that the MTA needs the revenue from the land lease, and that construction would bring union jobs. Opponents said neighborhood services are already overburdened, that the parcel could have been folded into the adjoining park, and that development threatens the fragile ecosystem of Bushwick Inlet.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed the approval. “The approval of Monitor Point is a step toward a more affordable city. This project will deliver much more of the housing that New Yorkers need, including housing for seniors and formerly homeless New Yorkers, alongside investments in transit, climate resilience and open space,” he said in a statement to Greenpointers.
Bryan Kelly, president of development at the Gotham Organization, framed the vote as a payoff for a long process. “This approval reflects years of thoughtful engagement and demonstrates what’s possible when the public and private sectors work together to solve New York City’s housing crisis,” Kelly said in a statement.
Featured image: Courtesy commercialobserver.com
