All those who thought the Gowanus Canal would kill them if they fell in are still right, but the nasty water may also hold the key to new wonder drugs. At least, that's what a couple of New York City Tech professors think. They've been been studying the mysterious organisms that call the Gowanus home for a few years and believe that anything that can survive in the canal may also hold the building blocks for drugs that could save humanity. Or, at least, fight heart disease, Alzheimer's or HIV. Divers have been going under to get samples of white gunk and the professors have been studying the results and conclude that "Despite the canal’s toxicity, which includes cancer-causing chemical agents" stuff that's in the canal "may provide clues that lead to the development of new drugs to combat human disease.” And, all this time, we thought the only thing the Gowanus would lead to are the clap and Toll Brothers condos.
· Polluted Gowanus Canal May Be Source of New Antibiotics [Newswise]
· Holy Crap: “Gowanus Canal May Be Source of New Antibiotics” [GL]
· Microbes in filthy Gowanus Canal may hold breakthrough [NYDN]
What is a 20-foot sloop doing on the shores of the Gowanus Canal? It's "fully rigged with a mainsail and a relatively new outboard" and seems to have "decent bottom paint," but it's been out of the water for at least six months or longer. Maybe it's a new Gowanus Canal tour boat? [Sail Brooklyn]
The weekend storms, particularly Saturdays big blow, were not kind to Gowanus where manhole covers have been known to blow off spewing geysers of sewage into the streets. There are no reports of that this weekend, but there was plenty of rowboat potential, including stretches of Fourth Avenue where all those new condos are going up. The photo on the left comes from Ninth Street near the Smith-Ninth Station and the Gowanus Canal. The photo on the right is Fourth Avenue & Carroll Streets, where the water was almost thigh deep. Surf's up.
· After the Storm: Behold the Ninth St. Lagoon [GL]
· Over the Weekend, a Flood on Carroll Street [Brownstoner]
This is a new rendering of the proposed Sponge Park along the Gowanus Canal. We have no idea what it's realistic plans are given that it would require a lot of privately-held property for which developers may have other plans. On the other hand, the Gowanus rezoning proposal would require an esplanade on both sides of the canal (when developers build). Regardless, the rendering does show what would appear to be sponge type plants in Sponge Park. It's called Sponge Park because the park itself is supposed to help keep the environmentally-challenged Gowanus clean. The design is from dlandstudio, which is also doing the Brooklyn Bridge Pop-Up Park.
Turning attention to places where cranes might someday collapse, the Department of City Planning finally showed its hand in Gowanus last night, unveiling its rezoning proposal. Like all such things, it's complicated, but it boils down to 25 blocks from an original 60 block study area. By leaving out the other territory, the city avoids a potentially bruising fight with those that want to preserve manufacturing. The proposal focuses on land on both sides of the Gowanus Canal that developers have targeted for condo development. (Including the Toll Brothers, who are looking for their own rezoning ahead of the bigger neighborhood one.) Highlights from the 25 blocks include buildings up to 12 stories tall in a "Waterfront South" district and up to 8 stories in a "Waterfront North" zone with a 40' wide public esplanade on both side of the canal where people may someday sip lattes while watching outdoor enthusiasts paddle down a cleaned up canal in kayaks...uh....where people can walk along the canal in front of the new condos. (Alas, the compelling Sponge Park proposal is an outside idea.) The rezoning would also cover a stretch of Fourth Avenue, Third Avenue and Union Streets, allowing 12 story buildings on Fourth Ave and eight story buildings along Third Ave. and Union Streets. In other places, there would be five-six story buildings. (A local City Council Member has asked for a ban on building hotels in the "manufacturing" zones.) The city hopes to have final plans for New Look Gowanus approved sometime in the second half of next year.
· 25 Blocks Worth of Change in Gowanus [GL]
Of all the art project's we've come across recently, none is more revolting,nauseating, compellingly creative in a Brooklyn neighborhood sort of way than an exhibition called Project for Canal based on the work of artist David Eustace, who's been dunking canvases in the Gowanus Canal for nearly two years to create the work that will be in an exhibition that opens tomorrow at the Brooklyn Artists Gym in Gowanus. The artist tells today's Post that "I see this as a play on the classic man-vs.-nature story." Per the exhibit website, the show "revolves around four large works hung in the canal at three-month intervals." There are many details about the creative process, but let's just say that none came out in pristine condition. The latest work is still in the canal and one can get a canoe from the Gowanus Dredgers and paddle over for a close look. The "guided" tours are booked, though, so paddlers will have to fend for themselves. Is it too late to get a mini Olafur Eliasson waterfall in the Gowanus?
· Artsy Slime-Dunk [NYP]
· Gowanus Canal-Dunked Art [Gothamist]
· Project for Canal [projectforcanal.com]
Are Brooklyn developer websites for controversial projects the latest thing? Well, the Toll Brothers have just launched a site for their 460-unit development on the Gowanus Canal. It intends to give the developer a kinder, gentler face in a neighborhood where there has been what could politely be called some hostility. Per a release accompanying the launch of the site, tollbrothersgowanus.com, it "will provide updates and information to the Gowanus community throughout the planning, zoning review and, if the project is approved in ULURP, construction phases, and will allow members of the public to send comments and suggestions to the development team." Last month, the developer of the 360 Smith Street project also launched a site to keep residents posted, albeit much later in the process. The site has sections outlining the project plans, a "calender of events" (currently listing events that happened in March), a press section and a contact form so that residents can, you know, make suggestions to the firm.
There was a presentation in Carroll Gardens by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy last night to show off the design for a proposed "Sponge Park" that would along the shores of the Gowanus . The park design comes from dlandstudio and "would be aesthetically beautiful while working to reduce the problem of contaminated water flowing into the Gowanus Canal. The plan proposes a continuous esplanade running the length of the canal (and extending into the neighborhood at certain points) and designs for the publicly-owned street ends and bridge crossings that would connect to this walkway." The park time frame is nearly a decade.
· After the Hudson & Toll Brothers Gowanus Vision: 'Sponge Park' [Curbed]
Oh, little Gowanus Canal, how you might someday change. Earlier, we had the big news about Gowanus Green. A few weeks ago, we got the Toll Brothers vision for their hunk of Gowanus paradise. Now, we have something from the Gowanus Canal Conservancy for "Sponge Park," which would be a waterfront esplanade and park that would extend on the East Bank of the canal from the Third Street Bridge north toward the Carroll Street Bridge. The park has many eco-features and runs along property that is part of the Gowanus Village site owned by developer Shaya Boymelgreen that is currently on the market for $20 million. The design and rendering come from dlandstudio and includes an esplanade and a park on "one of the last large parcels of open land adjoining the water," which would mean either part of the Boymelgreen property or land used by Verizon. The time frame for a canal a cleanup stretches until nearly 2020.
· New Gowanus Canal Vision: Sponge Park [Gowanus Lounge]
· Affluent May Deal with Gowanus Effluent Until 2013-2020 or So [Curbed]
There is more big news from South Brooklyn this morning: The city has announced that a team led by the Hudson Companies has been chosen to build its "Gowanus Green" development on Public Place between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal. The design come from Rogers Marvel Architects and landscape designers West 8 and Starr Whitehouse. (For the full photo gallery of renderings of the winning proposal, click here.) The Hudson Companies proposal was selected over one from Related Companies/Monadnock. The development team includes the Bluestone Organization, the Fifth Avenue Committee and Jonathan Rose Companies. The development will include 774 units of mixed-income housing, with 615 apartments for low- and middle-income families, including 120 units of low-income senior housing. It will also include 25,000 square feet of cultural space, 38,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and nearly 100,000 square feet of public open space located along the canal. The proposal is the bigger of the two finalists that were considered. A big cleanup of the very toxic site has to happen before Gowanus can go green and the development could still grow significantly if it expands to an adjacent parcel of land.
· Hudson Companies 'Gowanus Green' Revealed in Detail [Curbed]
· Hudson Companies Chosen to Develop Public Place Site [Brownstoner]
· Related/Monadnock Public Place Proposal Fully Revealed [Curbed]
A team from developer Toll Brothers brought their big Gowanus project before a community audience a few blocks from the Carroll Gardens site last night for a session remarkably devoid of fireworks, given previously expressed hostility in the neighborhood. The firm is trying to gain special zoning approval from the city apart from the overall Gowanus rezoning. Toll VP for Development David Von Spreckelsen explained that the firm is pushing for city approval because there is only a year-and-a-half left in the Bloomberg administration, and "we're not sure if that rezoning will happen" before the end of his term.
Asked about the softening real estate market, Mr. Von Spreckelsen said that the firm is "committed to the project" and that "we'd love to go forward" with it. The development would have 447 units of housing, about 140 of which would be affordable rental units developed by L&M Equity. GreenbergFarrow is the project architect. The development would sit on raised ground because of flooding issues around the Gowanus Canal, and it would be LEED certified, feature its own storm sewer system with holding tanks, and have a public esplanade/park on the water. Toll hopes the land-use review process for the development will start before summer.
· Toll Brothers Big Gowanus Project Revealed [Curbed]
· Reps from Toll Brothers Detail Big Gowanus Development [Brownstoner]
· Gowanus Organizing to Block Toll Brothers Project [Curbed]
That big Toll Brothers proposal for condos on the Gowanus Canal is starting to make its way through the review process. One of the more interesting documents sent to the Department of City Planning comes from Community Board 6, which blasts it for being "overwhelming" compared to the rest of the neighborhood and "in direct conflict" with some of the city's own planning goals for the neighborhood. The document lists a long history of industrial uses for the Toll property that means it is contaminated with lead, heavy metals and oil among other things. The Community Board says the city needs to consider the project's impact in the context of the big Public Place plans, development of condos on Fourth Avenue and other planed Gowanus projects. On the olfactory front, it notes that condo buyers might have to put up with years of, uh, crappy smells coming off the Gowanus as a flushing tunnel is shut down, causing--check out the wording here--a situation "incompatible with simultaneous residential habitation proximate to the canal." We believe this is planning-speak for saying it's going to smell like shit around the time the Toll Brothers condos come on the market.
· Toll Brothers Gowanus Project: Zoning, Toxins & Shadows [Gowanus Lounge]
· Written Testimony on Toll Gowanus Project (WARNING: PDF) [brooklync6.org]
· Gowanus Organizing to Block Toll Brothers Project [Curbed]
There is a long background to what happens in this video shot in a building on 9th Street in Gowanus that we're not sure we can understand. It involves building conditions and the gas being turned off, but mainly it's compelling in a tenant confronts landlord in a video vigilante justice kind of way.
· Aaron Berger - Chillul Hashem [YouTube]
It looks like that big Toll Brother development on the shores of the Gowanus Canal might be facing some resistance in the neighborhood. Last night, an overflow crowd showed up to strategize about opposing the 577-unit project and run through a list of objections from the height of the buildings and no room in local schools to toxic contamination of the site and sewage issues. Toll VP David Von Spreckleson attended and said that purchase of the site is dependent on getting a rezoning from the city. The developer is looking for a go ahead before the overall rezoning of the neighborhood to allow residential development in a large area. The city will be offering up a draft zoning planning for Gowanus by the end of spring or early summer. The Toll Brothers are looking for a 6-12 month head start on that process, possibly betting that the neighborhood rezone won't be finished before the Bloomberg Administration leaves office. Neighborhood blogger PMFA described the Toll Brothers reps as getting "a bit testy when asked if they would reconsider and abandon the project if the neighborhood was against it." One of them apparently asked if the neighborhood would prefer a dirty canal to development and "quite a few people said yes," PMFA noted. A technical hearing on the proposal takes place on March 13.
· They Will Build It, But Will They Clean It? [PMFA]
· Meeting on Toll Proposal: Educate, Agitate, Organize [Brownstoner]
· Toll Brothers Big Gowanus Proposal Revealed [Curbed]
Comments
