Rendering of Greenpoint Hospital Site. Image Credit: Architecture Outfit and Magnusson Architecture and Planning/NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Former hospital site will feature 512 affordable units and a new shelter for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness. On September 13, 2018, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced that a team had been selected to transform the Greenpoint Hospital site into a mixed-use development. The new development located at 288 Jackson Street will feature approximately 512 affordable units and a new shelter for 200 New Yorkers.
The project team consists of St. Nicks Alliance, a community-based organization that works with low and moderate income people through housing, education, employment, and eldercare, and the Hudson Companies Incorporated, a private real estate development company. They will partner with Project Renewal., a New York City-based nonprofit that helps empower New Yorkers facing homelessness through housing, employment, and health.
The site is approximately 3.4 acres in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The 146,100 square foot site will have two new multifamily buildings with over 400 affordable units. The development will have 21,000 square feet of community space that includes a café, a community center, and a workforce development center. The development plan is designed with a holistic approach to connect with the local community. Thirty percent of the units will be for homeless New Yorkers transitioning from shelters.
Greenpoint Hospital served New Yorkers from 1915 until 1982, when the hospital closed down. The hospital campus contained eight buildings. One of the buildings was converted into a shelter for homeless New Yorkers when the hospital closed. Four of the buildings were converted into affordable housing in the 1990s, and in the 2000s another building became the Greenpoint Renaissance Center. However, the main hospital building has been unused since it was shuttered in 1982.
The first phase of the project will relocate the existing 200-bed shelter to an existing building that will be renovated. A new building with approximately 267 units will be constructed. The second phase will transform the main hospital building into approximately 109 units of senior housing. Another new building will have 136 units and will replace the demolished boiler building.
HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer stated, “It’s a privilege to have the chance to transform this unique site that has a long and storied history of serving this city’s residents for nearly a century. This dynamic proposal will create 512 new affordable homes, much-needed community space, and new shelter programs for New Yorkers most in need.”
Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks said, “This innovative mixed-use site at Greenpoint Hospital exemplifies how we are turning the tide on the citywide challenge of homelessness by transforming a haphazard shelter system that developed over decades into one that places people and community first.”
Council Member Antonio Reynoso stated, “When the hospital closed its doors in 1982, Williamsburg residents got to work almost immediately to advocate for a sorely needed use of this site: housing. Now, 36 years later our City faces an increasing housing and homelessness crisis and it is almost impossible for New Yorkers in districts like mine to obtain decent affordable housing . . . Today’s designation at the historic Greenpoint Hospital site demonstrates HPD’s commitment to meeting to those needs.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said, “It is a great day when we can advance new affordable housing opportunities in Brooklyn, especially for seniors and our neighbors in need.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw Fellow and a New York Law School Graduate, Class of 2018.)