Essex Crossing represents a true partnership between public and private interests. L+M, BFC Development Partners, Taconic Investment Partners, and The Prusik Group, along with Grand Street Settlement, were awarded the sites after a competitive RFP process in 2013. The entire project, located in the Lower East Side, is projected to be over 1.9 million square feet; seven of nine parcels are developed, and the last two parcels are expected to be completed by 2024. Once completed, the $1.5 billion project will include 1,079 units of residential rental and for-sale housing (of which over 50 percent will be permanently affordable to a wide range of incomes), over 700,000 square feet of commercial space, 350,000 square feet of office space, 100,000 square feet of community and cultural facility space, and 100,000 square feet of exterior and interior green space, including a new public park.

Key commercial users include NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center, Trader Joe’s, Target, The Gutter NYC bowling, Regal Cinemas, a new and expanded Essex Street Market and The Market Line. Key community facility uses include a new senior center run by Grand St. Settlement, Henry Street Settlement’s Workforce Development Center, an early childhood education center operated by the Chinese American Planning Council, and the International Center of Photography.

Lower Manhattan has undergone a renaissance in the years since September 11, 2001. In a nearly flawless example of public/private partnership, the World Trade Center site was redeveloped not only to honor and remember the victims of 9/11, but also to create an even stronger central core for Lower Manhattan. Existing properties also underwent transformations, from the repositioning of the stoic World Financial Center to the vibrant mixed-use Brookfield Place as well as the multiple office to residential conversions. Led by key players in the transformations from Silverstein Properties and Brookfield Properties, this tour will explore the history of Lower Manhattan in its many incarnations and will delve into what the future will hold in the post-pandemic environment.

For over one hundred years, the Greenpoint waterfront in Brooklyn was a functioning lumberyard and industrial center. In 2005 the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront Rezoning connected the waterfront to the long-establish Greenpoint neighborhood, including acres of publicly accessible open space and waterfront promenades. One of the largest development sites along the waterfront is Greenpoint Landing – a 22-acre site situated along a half-mile of East River waterfront being master-planned and developed by Park Tower Group. When complete, Greenpoint Landing will include about 5,500 apartments (including much-needed affordable units), a sprawling waterfront park designed by Field Operations, a new school, and numerous local retail opportunities. In a joint venture, Park Tower Group and Brookfield Properties developed a total of 2,000 units across four development sites, including One Blue Slip (2018), Two Blue Slip (2020) and The BellSlip (2022), all designed by Handel Architects and Eagle & West (2022) designed by OMA. Park Tower Group joint ventured with L&M Development Partners on three stand-alone affordable buildings - 33 Eagle, 5 Blue Slip and 7 Bell Slip – all designed by Handel Architects, and with Rockefeller Group on The Dupont, designed by GKV Architects, which is the latest building to be constructed at Greenpoint Landing. This past summer, Park Tower Group unveiled their 374-unit fully affordable building at 35 Commercial Street, also designed by Handel Architects.

New York City has a unique and varied history developing mixed-income housing. As cities around the country grapple with a growing housing affordability crisis, state and local governments are increasingly experimenting with different programs and formats of producing mixed-income housing to address this challenge. This panel will provide a deep dive into the topic, exploring where mixed-income housing works and where it sits in the continuum of attainable housing solutions. Mixed-income housing has the potential to provide economic, social, and political benefits, including serving a wider range of incomes, improving social mobility, increasing production in supply constrained markets, and mitigating financial risk. Panelists will draw from the experiences of NYC projects such as Essex Crossing, Navy Green, and Hunter's Point South to shed light on the benefits and challenges, including NIMBYism (not in my backyard), levels of affordability, and resource allocation; demystify available financing vehicles; and identify the tools government can deploy to promote mixed-income housing.

Beginning in the 19th century, New York’s Morningside Heights attracted important institutions that have since grown into large campuses, dominating the character of the neighborhood. These institutions are constrained by space with no obvious land for development. In response, many of these institutions have uncovered new opportunities by partnering with for-profit development teams to simultaneously revitalize the historic urban fabric and respond to the city’s ever-growing demand for housing. This has been achieved by introducing a new, denser building typology—tall, modern apartment towers—into the neighborhood. This tour will examine how a range of development groups and their design teams have leveraged the historic urban underpinnings of Morningside Heights to create new projects that demonstrate the value of vertical placemaking within the neighborhood.

The 2004 rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn acted as a catalyst for the neighborhood’s remarkable revitalization, igniting a wave of transformative residential projects that have dramatically reshaped the area. Noteworthy among these developments is CityPoint, a dynamic mixed-use project featuring, a 68-story residential tower, a retail complex, and a popular food hall. In addition, Pacific Park, a vast 22-acre downtown redevelopment, has emerged as a vibrant community, boasting an impressive 6 million square feet of residential space, the iconic Barclays Center, as well as retail and office spaces, along with eight acres of green space. Among the exciting transformations, the Alloy Block is redefining Flatbush Avenue by redeveloping existing and new buildings to encompass educational, residential, and office spaces. Furthermore, Brookfield’s visionary efforts are shaping Brooklyn Commons into an alluring destination for creative office users. These remarkable redevelopments are situated at the heart of the BAM cultural district, surrounded by esteemed museums, vibrant dance centers, captivating galleries, renowned music venues, theaters, artists’ studios, media arts organizations, enticing restaurants, and inviting public plazas. 

Long Island City (LIC) is New York City’s fastest growing neighborhood. The city is engaged in multiple efforts to support the neighborhood’s long-term transformation into a mixed-use district. The Hunter’s Point South project is transforming the Long Island City waterfront with improved infrastructure, an 11-acre waterfront park, and 5,000 total residential units, including 3,000 affordable housing units. In 2018, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) completed the waterfront park, featuring a green stormwater infrastructure, bicycle and pedestrian pathways, adult fitness equipment, a playground, and an art installation. In fall 2023, the city kicked off the One LIC neighborhood planning study, focusing on LIC’s northern Waterfront and the industrial business zone (IBZ) located between the Waterfront and Court Square. This project seeks to leverage city-owned sites for affordable housing, promote equitable economic development, add waterfront open space, and improve circulation around the neighborhood.

 

This tour will begin at Hunter’s Point South Park, move north along the LIC waterfront to Anable Basin, and conclude at the IBZ. 

Customer value and driving loyalty are ubiquitous concepts when it comes to consumer industries. However, in real estate, only the hospitality sector has cracked the code on what loyalty means in the context of built environments and the experiences they contain. Both single-family and multifamily residential continue to grow as asset classes and scale players are emerging. With this growth comes the opportunity to build brand and create customer stickiness—driving both higher renewal rates and better pricing for the branded promise behind living experiences. We will discuss how customer expectations are evolving from these players, what loyalty means in the context of a living experience, and how players are leaning into digital and artificial intelligence to help power a next generation of personalized services and community with the aim of building brand. We will dive into how to take a design-led approach to building brand equity beyond naming and finishes, and using that brand strength to create unique, data-driven loyalty moments around the big "decision moments" that matter (e.g., touring, lease signing, renewal decisions). In short, this presentation, followed by a panel discussion, will aim to unpack how end-to-end experiences in the residential sector can be reimagined and digitized to drive a new frontier of loyalty and consumer brand.

The Gowanus neighborhood has historically been best known for the toxic sludge-filled canal that runs through its center. Sandwiched between three quintessential brownstone neighborhoods–Park Slope and Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill–this 82-block swath of Brooklyn has until recently been home to a gritty mix of industrial uses, with a dash of off-beat bars and barbeque joints. After a decade-long zoning overhaul that came into effect in 2022, Gowanus is now in the middle of a dramatic transformation. A vibrant mixed-use neighborhood is emerging that eventually will include over 8,200 new apartments, including 3,000 affordable units, 500,000 square feet of commercial and maker space, and a verdant esplanade that lines both sides of a cleaned-up canal.

This walking tour will include several mixed-use, mixed-income multifamily projects in various stages of completion; a world-class anchor arts facility; an exemplar piece of green infrastructure; and the emerging public realm that ties it all together. The tour will be enriched with informal presentations by the planners, policymakers, developers, and designers who are making it all happen.

Visit groundbreaking resilience-focused projects in Rockaway, Queens. The Arverne East project is a master-planned development transforming a 116-acre oceanfront site, composed of a 35-acre publicly accessible nature preserve, mixed-income housing of various tenure, diverse neighborhood retail, parking, and infrastructure. This project also includes a boutique hotel, recreation spaces, an urban farm, and both short- and long-term uses to encourage economic development, cultural programs, and community health and wellness. Arverne East will also include a district geothermal ambient loop, which will tie into individual building systems for increased efficiency and reduced consumption in heating, cooling, and domestic hot water.

Beach Green Dunes II is a model for resilient, green, affordable housing development, delivering 127 affordable homes to one of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. Like Arvene East, this building’s design and construction uses Passive House principles, a cutting-edge sustainable building method, to increase the building’s energy efficiency. Beach Green Dunes II is a perfect example for how cities and developers can build cutting-edge sustainable design to deliver affordable housing in communities grappling with severe storms, tidal flooding, and rising sea levels.

 

Beach Green Dunes III is currently vacant land owned by the city of New York and is being developed by L+M Development Partners in conjunction with Triangle Equities and The Bluestone Organization. This project will contain residential space, commercial/retail space, and community facility space, as well as an open space transit plaza. Beach Green Dunes III will also be a Passive House–certified building and participate in the city’s Housing Development Corporation’s and Department of Housing Preservation & Development’s Extremely Low and Low Income (ELLA) housing program.

Hunts Point is home to over 12,600 residents, a thriving industrial business zone (IBZ), and the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center (FDC)—one of the largest wholesale distribution centers in the world and the single largest geographic cluster of food sources for the city (measured by annual distribution volume in pounds to NYC customers). The FDC is composed of over 155 public and private wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers, including the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market, the Hunts Point Cooperative Meat Market, and the New Fulton Fish Market. It is estimated that 4.5 billion pounds of food is distributed through the Hunts Point FDC annually, with roughly 50 percent going to NYC and 50 percent going outside the city. Together, the FDC directly employs 8,500 people. In all, 12 percent of all food distributed to NYC comes from the Hunts Point FDC. Forty nine percent of the customers at the FDC are independent restaurants and cafes, 20 percent are bodegas, 18 percent are supermarkets, and 13 percent are food markets.

 

This tour will include stops at the businesses within the FDC and will give participants a better understanding of this crucial piece of city infrastructure, and how it supports the city’s food economy. Additional stops will include the Peninsula, the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility that is currently being redeveloped into a mixed-use project with affordable housing, open space, and manufacturing uses.