The neighborhood is named after a local Native American and became the site of the first settlement by Dutch farmers. The ponds of Gowanus meadowlands served to drive early settlers’ tide-powered gristmills. In the 1860s, the Gowanus Creek was turned into the Gowanus Canal, and the area became a hub for manufacturing and shipping. However, intensive industrial development and a combined sewer system dumped waste water directly into a designated outflow at the head of the canal. By the late 19th century the neighborhood quickly became one of the most polluted areas of New York. By the mid 20th century with the decline of shipping at the port of Red Hook and manufacturing around New York, Gowanus lost its industrial edge and fell into neglect and decline. In the late 1940s, the neighborhood also became the site of several NYCHA housing projects built to house returning WWII veterans. These projects remain in the neighborhood’s northern edge. In 2010, the EPA designated the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site and allocated 1/2 Billion dollars to cleanup the decades of industrial pollution and sewage contamination. This lead to renewed interest to redevelopment the area, adjacent to the long gentrified inner Brooklyn neighborhoods. For years, new development was hindered by the industrial zoning and the problems of the sewage overflow through the canal water. The City Planning department has been working with local residents for years on a Gowanus Neighborhood Development Land Use Plan with the goal of thoughtfully adjusting local zoning to direct development in appropriate parts of the neighborhood while also building a significant amount of affordable units through inclusionary zoning laws and creating new park space along the Gowanus Canal. Already there are thousands of new apartments and condos in Gowanus along the eastern and north edges of the neighborhoods. There will likely be an additional 10K units by 2035 with a significant # of them as permanent affordable housing.
The industrial uses of Gowanus, especially in the Southeastern edge of the district certainly reduce its urban viability but Gowanus still remains a pretty dense and very mixed use neighborhood with good public transit & bike infrastructure making it a very walkable neighborhood. Gowanus also has a excellent Cultural amenities as it is one of Brooklyn hippest places for night life and good retail amenities including several big box stores, a Whole Foods, and a good amount of local retail mostly concentrated along 3rd & 4th Avenues and Union Street. With the thoughtful Gowanus Neighborhood Development Land Use plan and EPA Superfund well underway I feel confident that Gowanus will continue to redevelop in a productive way adding a good of affordable units alongside market housing, creating more park spaces, and remediating industrial uses and waste sits. Gowanus has the potential to be an very interesting urban district.
Click here to view my Gowanus Album on Flickr
URBAN STRENGTHS
* Solid density at 24K residents per square mile but a bit low for Brooklyn.
* Great public transit access. Also solid bike infrastructure including several bike lanes and plenty of dedicated bike shares.
* Solid access to 3 NYC CBDs including a 30 minute subway ride to Dwtn Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, and Midtown.
* Gowanus is overall a very safe community but has a lot of grit thanks to the past and present of Industry in the neighborhood.
* Modern in-fill from the past 15 years is some often urban in-fill. Decent amount of autocentric/industrial crap still around, especially in the southeastern quadrant of the neighborhood.
* Solid walkable school access within and nearby Gowanus. Thanks to Gowanus’ proximity to Carroll Gardens and Park Gardens it has convenient access to several well rated public elementary and middle schools Good # of private schools too. But walkable high school options are pretty limited.
* Good amount of rental product and the market rate units are certainly very expensive. Because of all the new construction Gowanus has some higher price points than surrounding districts that have extensive historic districts. But Gowanus has a very high % of dedicated affordable and rent stabilized units. There are several large projects were constructed on the north edge of the neighborhood. The number of units below 2K is 4 times more than the number above 2K. Studios lease in the 2Ks 1-beds btwn 2.5K-5.3K, 2-beds btwn 3K-7K. Some 3-beds. ranging btwn 4K-9K.
* While there are not large parks decent# of small and medium sized parks within or on the edge of Gowanus including a public pool and even some modest waterfront parks running along the Gowanus Canal.
* Good array of restaurants, bars, cafes, and breweries especially in the Northeast gentrified quadrant of Gowanus near Union Street. Also tons of art galleries taking advantage of all the industrial bldgs, a couple local museums, a couple live music venues and night clubs, and several local performing arts theaters.
* Good retail amenities including a Wholefoods, a couple of other supermarkets and small grocerias. Also a Home Depot & a Lowes along with several hardware stores, a Staples, a couple pharmacies, decent # of home goods/antiques/gift stores, handful of clothing/boutiques, a couple bookstores & bike shops, good # of bakeries & dessert joints, plenty of gyms, some churches, and a local post office.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Overall sidewalk infrastructure is good but only about 50% of all intersections have proper ADA curb cuts and a fair amount of the sidewalks are weathered thanks to all the industrial issues present and historical.
* Good amount of surface parking lots and autocentric uses in the Southeastern quadrant of Gowanus that remains very industrial still.
* Not surprisingly tree canopy isn’t that great. Ok along the more residential streets however.
* Pretty consistent grid but connectivity gets disconnected out points due to the Gowanus Cannel and industrial uses.
* Pretty historically negative perception as the neighborhood was literally the sea spool of Brooklyn. But more and more people are finding this an attractive place to live as more and more factories close and the area cleans up.
* Historic rowhouses are generally very working class and therefore pretty plain and often gritty. Plenty of historic warehouses here too.
* Much less pedestrian activity than other surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods but pretty good in spots (western edge and northern edges).
* A lot of for sale condo product but generally very expensive. Limited studios. Some 1-beds esp. along 4th Ave that sell btwn 650K-1.1M. 2-beds range btwn 850K-2.8M with most units selling btwn 950K-1.5M. Decent # of 3-bedselling btwn 1.3M-2.8M with most product selling btwn 1.8M-3 M. Even more 4-bed product selling anywhere from 1.3K-3.8K. Still a decent # of “cheaper” rowhouses.
* Only a handful of medical offices, but a major hospital is only 1/2 east of Gowanus, no post office,
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 