A high-stakes vote on the proposed transformation of one of Brooklyn’s last remaining industrial waterfronts will take place Monday, after five previous postponements.
Mayor Eric Adams’ major redevelopment plan for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal south of Brooklyn Bridge Park, spearheaded by the city Economic Development Corporation, had been up in the air — but now, two key holdouts on the 28-member task force in charge of giving the plan the green light are on board.
Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Councilmember Shahana Hanif have flipped from dissenters to supporters after securing changes to the plan, just as crucial deadlines loom at the month’s end to lock in city and federal funding.
“I give a tremendous amount of credit to the borough president and to Councilwoman Hanif for really taking the initiative to continue to talk about the plan, and to move forward in good faith,” said task force chair Rep. Dan Goldman (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn), “and recognizing that, unlike many redevelopment opportunities, this is a now or never situation. If we didn’t get this moving forward, the port is going to fall into the channel and we won’t be able to get it back.”
The $3.5 billion proposal seeks to redevelop the 122-acre property just south of Brooklyn Bridge Park, adding a projected 6,000 apartments to what has historically been a shipping hub and port. Under a deal brokered last year, the Port Authority agreed to trade the Brooklyn Marine Terminal for the city’s Howland Hook Marine Terminal in Staten Island.
Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-Brooklyn) speaks in front of 26 Federal Plaza about federal agents continuing to detain people following immigration hearings, June 20, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Amendments to the plan that won over Hanif and Reynoso included increased funding for affordable housing and a commitment for the city to seek and share information on how port operators and maritime businesses might use the marine terminal.
The plan’s advancement hinged on two-thirds of task force members giving it a thumbs up. While trying to get a critical mass of support, EDC postponed the vote five times over the past year.
“This is a complicated project, and so this is not the final stage. Voting on this plan does not mean our work is done,” said Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), a vice-chair of the task force who supports the plan. “There’s a lot more steps to go from here.”
If the vision plan gets approved, next comes conducting environmental analyses and changing the land use on the site, which will take place via a state-sanctioned, streamlined process called a General Project Plan, rather than the city’s lengthy public review process. It could be several years before construction begins.
If the task force approves the project, a new nonprofit entity, the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation, will take charge, with a board made up of elected officials and other civic leaders to usher the plan through and track the commitments made.
Hanif said she wanted to ensure her constituents — especially those in the Columbia Street Waterfront District, near a traffic-heavy stretch and concrete recycling plant — benefited from the redevelopment.
“I am coming to a favorable position thinking about the future of this city. I want the city to have a thriving working waterfront, move trucks away from our highly trafficked streets and use our waterways to have a modern operation of exchanging produce and goods,” Hanif said. “I’m excited by the future of what the site will offer to many more families and the existing community in terms of new parks and open spaces and jobs.”
Among the changes in the plan, she secured an increase in funds for affordable housing in her district from $50 million to $75 million, a study to consider restoring a defunct bus route, funds for capital improvements to public schools and parks, and 50 new apartments that would be set aside for public housing residents currently living in Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens.
A key sticking point in negotiations came over the prospect of shrinking the Red Hook working waterfront, home of the only port serving New York City east of the Hudson River. The EDC said the new housing, plus a hotel and retail, would help pay for upgrades to the decaying but functional port on site.
Reynoso wanted the area to maximize the operations of the port and preserve the industrial nature of the area as much as possible.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso speaks at his office about supporting victims of sexual abuse at juvenile facilities in the city, June 13, 2024. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
EDC will issue a request for expressions of interest to better understand the location’s capacity for maritime work, according to a copy of the RFEI reviewed by THE CITY. Responses will be due before the year’s end.
“This RFEI provides the opportunity to inform the project should the BMTDC agree to it,” said EDC spokesperson Jeff Holmes, adding appreciation for Reynoso and Hanif’s “tireless advocacy.”
Reynoso said the RFEI may show that a port operator needs more than the 60 acres the vision plan now specifies, to fully activate the area and bring in jobs.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what responses we get from the RFEI and to making my case that more port operation, or a port-only operation, is viable, and that if we are building housing, it should be to support and sustain the manufacturing,” Reynoso said.
He pointed to a history of disinvestment and short-term leases that hamstrung the port. It accounts for just 1.4% of all goods coming in and going out of the Port of New York and New Jersey — mostly food from Latin America and the Caribbean. The port sits on dilapidated piers, most of its cranes are not functioning and it lacks cold storage.
EDC has argued that building thousands of apartments and other revenue-generating developments is necessary to fill a funding gap to modernize and sustain the revamped port site, even beyond the $164 million in federal grant funds and $95 million from the city and state.
The RFEI, Reynoso said, will help to see if that bears out or if there’s potential for the port to be a bigger part of the plan.
People opposed to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment rally across from the port’s northern side after a vote on the plan was delayed, July 24, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Task force members have shaped the vision plan previously, and EDC has incorporated ideas into it, such as setting aside new apartments for residents of NYCHA’s Red Hook Houses. But the latest round of changes comes as the clock ticks: Sept. 30 is the last day to finalize the city capital plan and to provide information to the federal government to secure grant funding, Goldman said.
Reynoso said Partnership for New York City CEO Kathryn Wylde was instrumental in brokering the RFEI with City Hall and the EDC.
“What Antonio was fighting for is to show once and for all how the future of the Brooklyn waterfront can be developed in a constructive way that keeps waterfront jobs, but also allows for a realistic economic plan and then accommodates affordable housing,” Wylde told THE CITY. “If this process ends in no plan and no way forward, that will really be a blow to the community planning and engagement for future projects.”
The proposal has not been without controversy. Though EDC held several public workshops and information sessions, many locals criticized the EDC for leaving unanswered key questions for such a monumental development project. For instance, they questioned the wisdom and feasibility of building so much housing in a flood-prone area not served by the subway system, and to what extent public services — such as schools and sewers — could accommodate so much housing.
Voices of the Waterfront, a coalition of Brooklyn locals and organizations formed in response to the planned redevelopment, will host a protest march from Cobble Hill to Brooklyn Borough Hall on Friday to urge the task force members to vote no on the plan.
Related