Gowanus has turned into a real estate Bermuda Triangle thanks to the stigma put on it by a federally mandated clean-up of the filthy canal that splits the neighborhood, a new study reports.
Members of Community Board 6 found that development in the area has been stunted by the so-called Superfund, a plan by the federal government that demands the fetid canal and the toxic land surrounding it be cleaned up by those that polluted it, leading developers and potential investors to avoid the area as if it has a general disease (which, in fact, it does).
The start-ups, restaurants, and artists studios that have cropped up in the area over the past few decades have grabbed attention but not land, according to the report, leaving a majority of Gowanus’ acreage, much of it sitting fallow, in the hands of 20 big-name owners, including National Grid, Con Edison, and the Department of Sanitation, despite programs meant to entice buyers to fix up dilapidated buildings and build on vacant lots. The panel wants that to change and is trying to woo big spenders to scoop up polluted properties despite the taint.
“There has been no incentive for people to reinvest in their properties,” said the board’s District Manager Craig Hammerman.
The finding jibes with Mayor Bloomberg’s long-standing argument that the federal Superfund designation for the canal would make the surrounding area a development dead zone, which he claimed was reason enough to put the kibosh on the clean-up. The board and the state responded to the data by putting together a guide to highlight the about-30 programs that help would-be buyers get a leg up for investing in polluted brownfield lots and other unwanted pieces of property.
But real estate agents and contractors protest that the neighborhood is on the up-and-up despite the $506-million Superfund clean-up of the canal — it is just a hard thing to measure, they say.
“Nothing is sitting vacant other than properties already designated for upcoming projects,” said Paul Basile, a contractor and president of the merchant group Gowanus Alliance, pointing to pre-construction work on the Lightstone Group’s 700-unit high rise development on the banks of the canal as evidence.
The only thing holding back further business investment is uncertainty about whether the neighborhood will get rezoned for more residential development, Basile said.
