We are a group of Gowanus residents who are tired of seeing the gritty, quirky nature of the area that people love being destroyed by unchecked construction of massive luxury apartment buildings and condos that measure 16-22 stories. Now the historic houses in the neighborhood are in danger from a proposed new building currently called the 416 4th Avenue Project.
In a nutshell, this is the plan that developers dazzled officials with to “upgrade” 4th Avenue in Gowanus with more middle-class housing.
Instead, we got this: monstrous, luxury high-rise buildings where rents start around $4,00/month and go up to $25,000/month.
This was the plan for charming retail shops for the many pedestrians.
This is the reality of what people walk by on 4th Avenue.
Now Abraham Waldman and Rogers Equities plan to demolish 4 building on 1 of the few blocks with historic houses that provide affordable rents, land for needed drainage to the Gowanus Canal, and contribute to charm of Gowanus to build yet another luxury high-rise building in an over-saturated market where these luxury apartments go begging.
So these 4 houses (418 and 416 4th Avenue, 246 and 244AA 7th Street):
Will be demolished to build more housing for rich people that will further strain neighborhood resources.
Another 85 apartments will overwhelm the sewer system that was never large enough to handle the apartments already there and add to the flooding problem on 4th Avenue.
Both Community Boar 6 and Council Member Hanif dismiss our concerns about flooding on 4th Avenue and tell us to wait until the 2 overflow tanks are completed-maybe in 2033.
Click on About Gowanus and The Dark Side of Development pages above for more details.