Back of the Envelope: Red Hook
In our new series, Back of the Envelope, we look at the development opportunity in neighborhoods throughout NYC — leveraging our zoning data and offering up insights on development capacity, demographic trends, zoning history, geographic risks and opportunities, recent development, and cultural heritage.
Sections:
- Envelope Development Capacity Metric
- Demographics
- Sales Comps
- Zoning
- Recent Development Completions, Permits, and Proposals
- Envelope Massing Scenario
- Community Board
- Geography
- Transportation
- History
Red Hook offers a unique scenario in which an extensive coastline can continue to support industrial development with sustainable and low-impact waterway shipping, while also providing vibrant public space and unmatched views to residents and visitors. The end result is a culture that continues to be distinctly Red Hook, with a resilient and diverse working-class community and the artists that draw inspiration from and thrive within it.
As one of the many victims of Robert Moses’ destructive development initiatives, Red Hook faces several infrastructure and geographic-related obstacles to growth, including limited access to public transportation, high flood risk, and extensive brownfield remediation due to centuries of industrial use. With very few re-zonings, its legacy as a predominantly industrial and low density neighborhood has remained. While the opportunity for last-mile development is still profuse, the demand for more residential development as well as necessary retail is significant.
Envelope Development Capacity
Thanks to Envelope's zoning rules engine, we have the ability to derive a number of unique datasets and extract valuable insights about the character and development potential of neighborhoods. One such metric is Development Capacity. Similar to a traditional new development pipeline metric, Development Capacity quantifies future expected product, allowing investors to model the level of supply — and in conjunction with population trends — understand likely shifts in future supply / demand balance. The metric can also be useful to city planning teams, those analyzing the impact or need for rezonings, etc.
The Development Capacity chart for Red Hook shows a relatively small pipeline of projects that have approved permits (4% of total allowable zoning area for the neighborhood), and a fair amount of quality development sites that have yet to receive permits (33%). Existing permits are determined by analyzing approved new building and alteration permits, while the Likely Future ZSF value is determined using a combination of Envelope’s “soft site” identification algorithm, and our automated zoning analysis: properties that are likely to be redeveloped within the next 5–10 years are identified as “soft sites,” and the as-of-right square footage for these parcels is added to yield the total “Likely Future ZSF” value.
While typical approaches to understanding development potential assume that every parcel within the study area will be developed to its maximum potential, this is not what occurs in practice. For this reason, Envelope includes an “Unlikely to Develop” portion in the chart. This accounts for existing parcels that are not fully built as-of-right, but that are not feasible or attractive redevelopment opportunities. For example, a building that is 90% built as-of-right is not likely to redevelop in the near future, resulting in “lost” potential. Similarly, it is possible to have a neighborhood develop to a greater total built area than is permitted under current zoning. In this scenario, a 100,000SF building located on a parcel that could only accommodate 80,000SF under current rules, would contribute 20,000SF of excess development potential to a region.
- Cameron Hardinge-Rooney, Vice President & Head of Research at Envelope City
Population Trends
Demographic data from the 2020 Census overlaid on Envelope’s neighborhood boundaries.
Sales Comps
There have been 129 sales in the last 12 months with a median sales price of $1,240,000 and median price per gross square foot of $1,041.
Residential lots— many of which were new condos at 160 Imlay — sold for a median of $1,215,000 at $1,057/sf.
Commercial lots — predominantly garages, parking, and storage — sold for a median of $851,000.
Vacant Land sold for a median $5,200,000 which was mostly made up of a 7 lot assemblage at the corner of Van Brunt and Coffey Streets. Median price per land square foot was $2,364.
Sales data from NYC Department of Finance.
Zoning
The Zoning Rundown
Red Hook is comprised of Residential and Manufacturing zoning districts; this mainly includes R5 and R6 districts, and M1, M2, and M3 districts. In this neighborhood, the Manufacturing districts are along the water and the Residential districts are more inland.
As demonstrated by the historic and current zoning maps, there have been only a few rezonings since the Zoning Resolution was created in 1961. Potentially the most noticeable change to the zoning map occurred in 2002 with the creation of a Special Mixed Use District on 3.5 blocks, as shown in gray on the current zoning map. Mixed Use districts allow Residential and Manufacturing uses to be located in the same building, which is typically not permitted. This rezoning — submitted to the City Planning Commission by the Economic Development Corporation and Beard Warehouse, Inc — occurred in conjunction with a project to create a new 52,000 SF grocery store and 206 car parking lot. The mixed use zoning district chosen for this rezoning aligned with the existing mixed use nature of the neighborhood.
R5 Infill
Small vacant lots in predominantly built-up areas within R5 districts can choose to comply with the Zoning Resolution’s infill regulations. When these regulations are applicable, they allow for increased floor area and reduced parking requirements, but fewer dwelling units than the typical R5 regulations allow. These regulations are all intended to facilitate the creation of infill low density housing and prevent the demolition of existing buildings.Special Purpose District — Special Mixed Use District (MX-5)
The Special Mixed Use District regulations allow for a mix of Manufacturing and Residential uses, which aligns with the neighborhood’s existing mix of M and R zoning districts.Flood Zone Regulations
Our research shows that more than half of the zoning lots in Red Hook are within Special Flood Hazard Areas. In Special Flood Hazard Areas, there are optional zoning regulations that are intended to align with the Building Code’s regulations for buildings in a flood zone. For instance, these regulations allow additional height to account for flood zone regulations in the building code that may require you to raise the building. Additional floor area deductions are permitted for flood-resistant buildings. There are also streetscape requirements to ensure that the front of the building is still aesthetically pleasing even though the building may be raised.- Diane Luebs, Zoning Lead at Envelope City
Development incentives found throughout most of Red Hook include FRESH Incentives (discretionary tax incentives if a grocery store min. 6000sf is provided), Transit Zones (where parking isn’t required for affordable housing developments), and Federal Opportunity Zones (tax incentives for investing in low-income communities).
Relevant special zoning considerations include Special Flood Hazard Areas (flood resistant construction required) and Waterfront Areas (special use and bulk rules may apply, as well as waterfront public access area requirements).
Recent Development Completions, Permits, & Proposals
Industrial
With the “multi-story industrial” and “last-mile distribution warehouse” building boom of recents years, Red Hook has seen a lot of industrial development activity. Developers have been buying up massive sites and assemblages:
- 55 Bay St — 83k sf
- 280 Richards — 312k sf purchased for $155M
- 595 Smith St — 4-lot assemblage
- 750 Court St — 4-lot assemblage that just sold for $103.47M
- 726 Court St — 4-lot assemblage spanning 2 blocks that just sold for $19.5M
- 688 Court St — 2-lot assemblage that just sold for $45M
- 640 Columbia St — UPS site purchased for $303M
Residential, Commercial, & Mixed-Use
Non-industrial developments at various stages in the pipeline include:
- 142 Richards St (17 residences)
- 348 Van Brunt St (5 residences)
- 730 Hicks St (15 residences)
- 22–26 Huntington St (3 townhomes)
- 362 Van Brunt St (12 residences with commercial and community facility space)
- 381 Van Brunt St (11 residences plus commercial space)
- 336 Van Brunt St (8 residences plus commercial and community facility space)
- 151 Dwight St (51k sf residential plus 26k sf commercial)
- 21 Delevan St (just purchased for $32M)
- 185 Conover (22 residences)
- 106 Coffey St (just purchased for $5.2M with no plans yet)
- 442 Van Brunt St (no plans yet)
- 521 Columbia St (just purchased for $7.2M)
Map showing recently completed or in the pipeline development projects:
Major Proposed Developments
AECOM Redevelopment Proposal
Proposed in 2016 and scrapped within a couple years, AECOM’s massive redevelopment plans included three different scenarios with the largest providing up to 45 million sf (30k to 50k units) of residential space. Two of the scenarios included transportation accessibility upgrades including extending the 1 train into Brooklyn with two new stops in Red Hook (Atlantic Basin and Lorraine St) and a connection to the F/G and R trains. The framework emphasized public open space as well as major flood resilient infrastructure improvements. It would have relied on the acquisition of the Port Authority-owned Container Terminal which, at the time, was potentially up for sale. Based on analyzing available development space throughout the city, the report found:
“Red Hook is the New York City neighborhood that can accommodate the most new density without displacing the existing community. However, additional density of the proposed magnitude cannot be accommodated without substantial infrastructure and open space improvements.”
The Model Block
Dubbed their “Model Block”, urban designer and developer DRAW Brooklyn intends to showcase a mixed-use project on a 67k sf lot in Red Hook. In just over 400k sf and 15 stories, it hopes to deliver 210 apartments, plus offices, light manufacturing, restaurants, and maker spaces. As is expected with any new projects in Red Hook, especially one of this size, the plans call for brownfield site remediation and flood resistant infrastructure. To achieve the latter, all of the apartments will be raised above the first floor lobby and the courtyard will sit 28 ft above the flood line.
The lot is zoned as manufacturing with an auto body shop currently occupying the site. The local Community Board is resistant to the development, but the developers have applied for a variance via the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals rather than going through the typical ULURP process.
Envelope Massing Report: Red Hook Initiative
To show the maximum development potential of a site with as-of-right zoning, we chose the Red Hook Initiative site at 767 & 763 Hicks St.
RHI is a community based nonprofit that engages in youth development, community building and community hiring to interrupt the systems and barriers that perpetuate historic inequities for the Red Hook community.
Consisting of two adjacent lots at the corner of Hicks St and West 9th St, the assemblage would cover an area of 4,785sf. Currently occupying 6,236sf of commercial space, a total of 11,484sf could be developed as a mix of commercial, manufacturing, and/or community facility. Given the nonprofit’s purpose, we chose to mass a scenario in which they built 7,656sf of Community Facility space atop 3,828sf of Ground Floor Commercial. If you wish to see the full report with more detail or another example — or if you wish to commission your own massing, contact the Envelope team.
Note: Lot areas and floor areas are estimates subject to survey verification.
Red Hook is served by Community Board 6 and City Council District 38.
They have stated their development priorities as affordable housing, economic recovery and development, and infrastructure resiliency. Ideally, this looks like green corridors, coastal parks, and other shoreline protections that serve multiple purposes including flood resilience and improved bike and pedestrian transportation while preserving the character of the neighborhood.
CB6 meets the second Wednesday of the month excepting July and August. You can keep up to date with them via Twitter at @BrooklynCB6.
Community Board 6
- Peter Fleming, Chairperson, info@brooklyncb6.org
- Mike Racioppo, District Manager, @racioppomike
- Leroy Branch, Assistant District Manager, lbranch@dot.nyc.gov
City Council District 38
- Carlos Menchaca, Council Member, Cmenchaca@council.nyc.gov
It is important to note the influence a City Council member can have on a project. Their support is crucial for projects subject to the City’s ULURP process. In the case of Carlos Menchaca, that was demonstrated in neighboring Sunset Park, where his opposition to the Industry City rezoning essentially stopped it in its tracks.
Geography
Waterfront sunsets with unimpeded views of the Statue of Liberty, cobblestone streets atop packed red clay, piers jutting into the water, industrial warehouses, and a towering grain elevator make up the historical characteristic image of Red Hook.
Red Hook is a peninsula surrounded by the Gowanus Bay, the Erie Basin, and the Buttermilk Channel (that little strip of water in the New York Bay between Brooklyn and Governors Island). While it once included the neighborhood we now call Carroll Gardens, the Gowanus Expressway, built in 1941, created a boundary between them and cut Red Hook off from the rest of Brooklyn while doing so.
With a low-lying foundation of clay and swampy marshland and a history of toxic uses, Red Hook has its vulnerabilities. Most of Red Hook is in the highest flood risk zone making it extremely vulnerable to increasingly bad storms. Many of the original structures in Red Hook were built on stilts as they continued to fill in the area with trucked-in soil. The risks became starkly evident in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 which decimated the area. City plans such as the 2016 NYC Waterfront Revitalization Program and the Vision 2020 New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan seek to work with private developers to find and implement solutions to these risks.
Being located downstream from the Gowanus Canal and heavy manufacturing use along the waterfront have led to the need for extensive environmental remediation. Built on the site of a former lead-smelting plant, the Red Hook Recreation Area has been undergoing soil remediation and development of improved infrastructure resilience. The new and improved public space is raised above the flood level with a foot of clean soil, a retaining wall, a drainage system, and synthetic turf.
The cobblestone streets, particularly the main drag, Van Brunt Street, sit atop a layer of clay. This exacerbates the surface vibrations from large truck traffic. Because of this, some locals are pushing for Van Brunt to be removed from the city’s truck route map. They argue that the problem will only get worse as more last mile distribution warehouses move into the area. A resolution and plan for an alternate route are currently underway. Additionally, there is a new bill being sponsored that would limit the environmental impacts of all the new last-mile warehouses being built as-of-right by making them comply with a carbon based points system. UPS has already begun experimenting with using the waterway via the Red Hook Terminals to make barge shipments in order to minimize the community impact of truck traffic.
Transportation
One of the biggest detractors of Red Hook is its lack of access to public transportation.
Here are the current options:
Truck Traffic
Local and Through Truck Routes run on Van Brunt St before following the perimeter of the peninsula on Beard St, Columbia St, and Bay St. This route is subject to change in the near future, most likely finding a path that avoids Van Brunt.
Streetcar
[PROPOSED] The Brooklyn–Queens Connector (the “BQX”), an 11-mile corridor which would connect Astoria to Red Hook, is proposed to be completed in 2029 at a cost of $2.73 billion and would serve an estimated 15.8 million annual riders by 2035. The plans have not been approved as of yet and it seems unlikely they ever will.
History
From industrial maritime supremacy and crucial revolutionary war strongholds to sprawling public housing and community facility projects to reckless development and organized crime, Red Hook has a long (it was one of the earliest Brooklyn settlements) complex history.
Home to the Lenape people who called it Sassian, it was then settled by the Dutch in 1636 who named it Roode Hoek, meaning “Red Point.” The “red” referred to the color of the clay that makes up the foundation of the peninsula. It was mostly farmland at that time. You can see it pictured in the Ratzer Map of 1767 covered in orchards and crop-growing farmland. The mostly Dutch farmers would supply New Yorkers with produce carried over on the Brookland Ferry and sold in the city’s markets. At that time NYC was the second largest city of the American colonies with a population of about 18,000.
In August 1776 the Battle of Brooklyn was a defining moment for the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. Fort Defiance in Red Hook served as a stronghold pushing British forces back.
Its first port was constructed in the 1840s and drew in many varied working-class immigrants looking for employment. Still reminiscent of this time, Red Hook is home to the largest concentration of Civil War-era warehouses in the city¹.
The peninsula became one of the busiest ports for commerce in the world into the early 20th century and a melting pot of immigrants including Irish, Germans, Italians, and Norwegians all seeking employment at the docks. While Red Hook was full of ethnic diversity, it wasn’t exactly cosmopolitan. Organized crime was taking hold and the landscape was littered with shanty towns. These huts were grouped in encampments called Hoovervilles. One such encampment was found on the site that is now the Red Hook Houses². Another one, called Ørkenen Sur (Norwegian for ‘the bitter desert’), stood where the ball fields are now and was home to desolate Norwegian sailors. Beginning in the 1930s, planners began to step in (for better or worse) with a slew of public projects meant to serve the maritime and industrial workforce and their families. The Red Hook Play Center, The Red Hook Recreational Area with its massive pool, and the Red Hook East Houses were all conceived between 1936 and 1940. The Red Hook West Houses were built later in 1955. Together, they make up 30 buildings with 2,873 residential units housing about 6,500 residents. But it was Robert Moses’ construction of the Gowanus Expressway in the 1940s that made for one of the major blows to the blighted neighborhood as it cut the area off from the rest of the city. When containerization moved most of the shipping operations to New Jersey in the 1960s, Red Hook had to redefine itself.
The cultural landscape began to diversify even more and the first Puerto Rican community moved into the Columbia Street area in the 1950s. Soon after, African American communities became part of the increasingly dynamic culture.
Organized crime was still mostly unchecked at this time and a plethora of gangs staked their claim. Al Capone made Red Hook his base of operations. Author Harlan Ellison documented this in depth when he went undercover with the gang ‘The Barons’ for ten weeks in 1954 as research for his first novel, Web of the City. However, resident accounts of the neighborhood from the latter half of the century describe not just violence, but nostalgic memories of a tight-knit community as well. Because they were isolated, most residents knew and relied on each other.
The financial crisis of the 1970s sent all of NYC into a tailspin. Crime rose along with bankruptcies and unemployment. Thousands of public service jobs, notably cops and school teachers, were lost. The crack epidemic of the 1980s added fuel to the flames. Red Hook continued its decay and was designated “the crack capital of America” by Life Magazine in 1990. Two years later, the reputation for violence was solidified when an elementary school principal, Patrick Daly, was killed in the crossfire of a drug-related shooting.
Fortunately, that seems to have been the turning point for Red Hook. Since then, crime has taken a dramatic downturn. In fact, today the violent crime rate in Red Hook is lower than that of New York State. Urban homesteaders descended on the neighborhood and development commenced. In 2012 Hurricane Sandy devastated the neighborhood. The community pulled together to help each other with repairs and supplies in true Red Hook fashion, but the majority of funding went to a minority of new small businesses in the neighborhood.
In 1992, developer Greg O’Connell purchased 28 acres from The Port Authority for a steal. On it he built small manufacturing facilities as well as public waterfront space. Giant retailers moved in: Fairway (now Food Bazaar) in 2006, Ikea in 2008, and Tesla in 2016.
Today the Red Hook Houses are still the largest public housing project in Brooklyn and are home to the majority of residents in the neighborhood (about 75% of the population). They have fallen into disrepair, desperately in need of upgrades. Single family townhomes and spacious lofts characterize much of the rest of residential development though they rarely hit the market.
Previously home and muse to writers such as H.P. Lovecraft and Norman Mailer, modern-day artists have been lured to the area by spacious lofts and somewhat lower prices. Their presence can be seen in numerous public art pieces and galleries and, of course, the annual summer Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival in Louis J. Valentino Park & Pier.
Deeper dive:
- Documentary on the Norwegian shanty town Ørkenen Sur.
- Collection of historical maritime stories can be found at the Red Hook Water Stories blog.
- The city commissioned this Existing Conditions & Brownfield Analysis for Red Hook in 2014.
