Experience the revitalization of the South Bronx through affordable housing mechanisms and affordable housing at scale in the Mott Haven district with developer L&M.

East 162nd Street Court provides 126 mixed-income rental apartments in a new 12-story building. Thirty-seven units are reserved for formerly homeless families in need of supportive services. L+M and B&B Supportive collaborated with Palladia and Services for the Underserved to provide family supportive services pursuant to a contract with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Services include case management for mental health and substance abuse problems as well as educational and workforce services. The new building includes a separate office space devoted to the provision of these services, a community room, and laundry facilities. The remaining units in the building are reserved for families that earn 60 percent and 80 percent of area median income.

 

Bronx Point represents a transformative mixed-use development of approximately 530,000-square-feet that will bring affordable housing, educational community facilities, dynamic retail uses, and engaging new open space along the Harlem River waterfront in the South Bronx. It includes 542 units of permanently affordable housing, educational spaces for youth operated by Bronx Works and Billion Oyster Project, and retail opportunities. The Universal Hip Hop Museum will be a new cultural destination that celebrates the global hip hop culture.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is a center of urban manufacturing and innovation. A one-of-a-kind ecosystem with a legacy dating back to the early 1800s, the Yard has played a pivotal role in shaping American history, from its origins as a naval shipyard to its transformation into a dynamic, mission-driven industrial park. The Yard is a nationally acclaimed model of the viability and positive impact of modern, urban industrial development, employing more than 11,000 people and generating over $2.5 billion per year in economic impact for the city. Building on the Yard’s history as the economic heart of Brooklyn, the 300-acre waterfront asset houses more than 500 business and offers a critical pathway to the middle class for many New Yorkers.

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.

Hudson River Park extends in and along four miles of Manhattan’s shoreline from about Chambers Street to West 59th Street and includes dozens of recreational and revenue-generating piers. Participants will walk along the water’s edge from Tribeca to the Meatpacking District, exploring many of the diverse, award-winning open spaces that have been created by the Hudson River Park Trust over the last 25 years, including the Pier 26 Tide Deck, the Tribeca Boardwalk, the Gansevoort Peninsula, and Little Island. The tour will end at historic Pier 57, a mixed-use, adaptive reuse project created in partnership with RXR and Google. 

In 1968, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation purchased the derelict Sheffield Farms Milk Bottling Plant on Fulton Street in the heart of Bed-Stuy, then home to the nation’s largest African American community. Through a rehabilitation completed in 1972, the site became Restoration Plaza, a 300,000-square-foot commercial plaza that is home to Restoration’s headquarters, the historic Billie Holiday Theatre (BHT), the Skylight Gallery, and scores of local businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies, including a post office; local branches of JP Morgan Chase, Carver Federal Savings Bank, and Citibank; Super Foodtown; a school; and stores. Each year, hundreds of thousands of residents pass through the plaza, known as the unofficial town hall of Brooklyn, whether on their way to visit Restoration’s Center for Personal Financial Health, view a play at the BHT, or attend a community event hosted in the amphitheater.

At its inception, Restoration Plaza was a landmark example of community development and adaptive reuse. Now, more than 50 years later, Restoration is once again advancing a bold new vision: reimaging the plaza as the Restoration Innovation Campus. The new campus will be a dramatically expanded, modern, multipurpose site that enables Restoration to meet the needs of the community today. It will include new public space, an expanded cultural center, and two commercial buildings for partners committed to disrupting the racial wealth gap.

 

The plaza stands as a testament to the history and vibrancy of Central Brooklyn. This tour will showcase Restoration’s impact on the community, serving as a landlord, developer, service provider, cultural center, and community anchor for over five decades. It will also point to how the existing space is set to be reinvented for a new era.

Until recently, the new Hudson Yards district was simply an open swath of space peering down upon the open Amtrak and New Jersey Transit railways below. Over the course of 30-plus years, a plan was devised to build over the rail yards and create a new Manhattan neighborhood, like the creation of the Park Avenue corridor in the late 1900s. What has grown out of multiple rezoning plans and creative development teams in tandem with city and state support is an incredibly vibrant new mixed-use neighborhood dominated by developments led by the Related Group (Hudson Yards) and Brookfield Properties (Manhattan West). Located adjacent to Pennsylvania Station and the newly redeveloped Moynihan Train Hall, these developments are easily accessible and set to become the newest hub for commerce and live/work/play. The final piece of the puzzle, connecting the sites to the elevated High Line public park, was completed earlier this year. This tour will explore the history of the Hudson Yards as a whole, the engineering and development challenges of building over the railways, and the overall thesis for its success. 

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. 

With the Borden Complex, its latest state-of-the-art, multi-story, multi-tenant development, Innovo Property Group is shifting the paradigm for a new generation of users seeking space in dense metropolitan markets. The Borden Complex is a five-story, 900,000-square-foot, class A mixed-use development in Long Island City designed by KSS Architects. After its completion, expected in spring 2024, the project will be home to a 680,000-square-foot last mile distribution facility, designed for shipping to much of New York City. In addition, the space will be the home of Borden Studios, a 194,000-square-foot film and television production facility that includes sound stages, as well as office space for production crews and project executives.

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.

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.  

The panel will focus on strategies for developing vibrant, inclusive, healthy central business districts (CBDs) in the post pandemic era, particularly in the context of the work-from-home reality. Panelists will explore approaches, such as office to residential conversions and creative use of ground floor space, that have been implemented in New York City and other global cities, as well as challenges and lessons learned along the way. The panel will delve into the current status of NYC's CBD neighborhoods, including Midtown, Midtown South, and Downtown, and highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy tax base. It will explore how to reinforce the city core amidst the trend of decentralization and debate the ingredients (uses, spaces, etc.) vital to creating a healthy, thriving CBD ecosystem. The panel will highlight successful examples from other cities around the world to provide broader context, with panelists sharing insights on strategies to increase office occupancy and discuss tools and techniques for creating more activity through new uses and conversions. Additionally, it will explore approaches for transforming the public realm to be more attractive and inviting.