The warehouse occupying a huge portion of the Public Place site between Smith Street and the Gowanus Canal, which was quietly added to the project after a developer was chosen, doubling the size of the development on the toxic site, has been approved for demolition. Word came via an emai from Council Member Bill de Blasio’s office: “The warehouse located at 455-459 Smith Street has been approved for demolition. The permit can be found on the DOB Building Information System…under 455 Smith Street, Brooklyn.” The warehouse would have been demolished anyway as the toxins left as deep as 150 feet underground by the old Manufactured Gas Plant that occupied the site are under it too. The surprise was that the site was added to the overall “Gowanus Green” project, drastically changing the scope and impact of the project and increasing the possible size to nearly 1,500 units of housing. There warehouse demolition is actually behind schedule. It was originally supposed to start in November. We had a post then explaining a bit about the poisons under the site.
3 responses so far ↓
1 alan // Feb 10, 2009 at 9:23 am
demo is well under way. take a peek passing in the subway you’ll see the roof almost completely gone
2 Alan Bell // Feb 10, 2009 at 10:26 am
Wow, do you need a fact checker. About the only thing correct is that the warehouse is slated for demolition soon.
3 jerry // Feb 11, 2009 at 3:02 am
yay ugly warehouse be gone! I do wish they were building some park space there instead. People shouldn’t have to live on bad soil…though I guess they do in Greenpoint and we all live with polluted air. Anyone who lives here and doesn’t think their own neighborhood is just a little bit toxic is kidding themselves. So stop picking on Public Place.