Ribbon cutting at The Bridge: Co-locating affordable housing and light manufacturing
On September 25, 2024, the ribbon cutting ceremony took place at 203 Newport Street in Brownsville, Brooklyn, seeing nearly eight years of efforts to create a unique mix of uses come to fruition. The first of its kind in New York City, the project co-locates affordable housing with light manufacturing workshops.
Designed by Think!, this remarkable project is a collaborative effort involving The Bridge, a prominent supportive housing and behavioral health non-profit; Mega Development with its long history with affordable housing; and Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC), a non-profit whose mission is to promote high-paying manufacturing jobs in under-served communities.
Members of the 203 Newport Street development team from The Bridge, Mega Development, GMDC and Think!
This new model of mixed-use has never been done in New York - the new zoning uniquely allows for residential units to sit above the manufacturing space - and took years of negotiation with a multitude of City agencies to insure the safety and comfort of the hundreds of people who will call this innovative complex home.
The result is a 180,000 square foot development that includes 174 mixed affordable and supportive housing units for low-income families, with 87 units set aside for homeless individuals and, of those, 35 for frail seniors and veterans. They are accommodated in two residential buildings of 5 and 6 stories flanking a 14,000 square foot landscaped courtyard and set above a shared single-story podium. The podium houses 40,000 sq ft light manufacturing workshop space designed as low-cost incubator spaces for local start-up companies.
The large garden and a glass link connecting the buildings serve as a social nexus to foster interaction among residents. The manufacturing component occupies almost the entire ground floor, making the second floor garden level the principal amenity floor. Think! took advantage of this condition, making the main entrance an unusually grand, two story space with a broad stair leading from the street to the garden. This welcoming and light-filled entry sequence is rarely seen in affordable housing, known for minimum standard spaces, and is designed to encourage social interaction, movement and better physical and mental health outcomes.
This elegant complex aspires to raise the bar for architecture in Brownsville and this new model is a milestone for this partnership, for Brooklyn and for all of New York. It has taken patience, collaboration, creativity and goodwill to shepherd the project to completion and it will hopefully pave a way for future similar developments that seek to address the City’s housing goals and also its workforce and economic goals.
