From Superfund site to $1 billion developments. Gowanus is the most ambitious neighborhood transformation happening in Brooklyn right now — and most people still don't fully understand what they're looking at.
I've spent the last eighteen months leasing luxury apartments in Gowanus. I've walked hundreds of prospects through the neighborhood — renters relocating from Manhattan, buyers doing due diligence, people who saw a listing on StreetEasy and couldn't quite figure out how to price what they were looking at.
The most common reaction? Confusion. Not because the product isn't good — it is. But because Gowanus is a neighborhood in the middle of its own story, and that's genuinely hard to read if you don't know the context.
This is that context.
New residential units
by 2030
8,500+
3,000+ affordable
Blocks rezoned
in 2021
82
Largest de Blasio rezoning
New jobs projected
from rezoning
3,100
+ 700k sq ft office
Source: NYC Department of City Planning · Gowanus Neighborhood Plan 2021 · Commercial Observer 2026
Part One
The "Hole in the Doughnut"
The best description of Gowanus's location I've ever heard came from Christopher Peck, senior managing director at JLL, who called it the "hole in the doughnut" between Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Downtown Brooklyn, and Cobble Hill.
That framing tells you everything. Gowanus isn't a neighborhood that got discovered in isolation — it's a neighborhood that got surrounded by some of the most desirable real estate in Brooklyn and then finally rezoned to match its context.
"Gowanus always had the bones of a residential area. It has really good transportation and walkability. It's 25 minutes from Manhattan, has access to multiple subway lines, and there are restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores and a lot of commercial buildings."
— Justin Pelsinger, COO, Charney Companies
The F and G trains run through it. Smith Street and Court Street — two of Brooklyn's best commercial corridors — are a short walk. The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Atlantic Terminal are close. By pure logistics, Gowanus was always well-positioned. The industrial zoning just prevented anyone from building residential product there until 2021.
Part Two
How We Got Here — The Timeline
2013
EPA Superfund Designation + Cleanup Plan
The EPA issues its Record of Decision for the Gowanus Canal cleanup — one of the most contaminated waterways in the country. A $125 million remediation plan kicks off, including full-scale dredging of the upper canal and 1st Street turning basin.
2016
City Planning Study Launched
The NYC Department of City Planning begins its official study of the Gowanus neighborhood — the foundation of what will become the rezoning plan five years later.
2021
The Rezoning Passes
The NYC Council approves the Gowanus Neighborhood Plan in a near-unanimous vote — 82 blocks upzoned, 8,500 new residential units projected, 3,000+ affordable. The largest rezoning of the de Blasio administration and the starting gun for everything that follows.
2022–2024
The Development Race Begins
Developers scramble to vest for 421-a tax benefits before expiration. 14 permits filed, 4.5 million square feet of space, 4,000+ new rental apartments in the pipeline. The first buildings — 363 and 365 Bond Street — were already open. 420 Carroll and Society Brooklyn begin welcoming residents.
2025–2026
The Big Money Arrives
Charney Companies and Tavros Capital purchase 175 Third Street for $160 million and commission Bjarke Ingels Group to design a nearly $1 billion, 27-story, 1,000-unit mixed-use development along the canal. The NYC Planning Commission approves it in April 2026. Gowanus Wharf — four sites, 2,000 units total — takes shape as a neighborhood within a neighborhood.
2030
The Projected Finish Line
Most of the major new development is on track to be completed around 2030. What exists then will be a fundamentally different neighborhood than anything that existed before the rezoning — same name, new everything.
Part Three
What's Actually Being Built Right Now
Here's the active development landscape as of May 2026 — the projects worth knowing if you're evaluating Gowanus as a place to live or invest:
Active
Westmark · 395 Carroll Street
424-unit luxury rental new development. One of the first major lease-up buildings in the rezoned corridor. Studios through 3-bedrooms, asking rents running $800–900 above the Gowanus market median — competitive with FiDi pricing.
Active
Society Brooklyn · Bond Street
Luxury rental building with waterfront Privately Owned Public Spaces along the canal. One of the early movers in the rezoned area now fully operational with public canal-side access open.
Active
420 Carroll Street
FXCollaborative-designed towers — 21 and 16 stories. Studios from $3,430/month, 3-bedrooms around $9,000. First major post-rezoning high-rise to reach occupancy. Sets the market ceiling for what Gowanus luxury looks like.
Approved
175 Third Street · Gowanus Wharf
The biggest play in the neighborhood. Nearly $1 billion, 27 stories, 1,000+ units, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group. Approved by NYC Planning Commission April 2026. Includes 28,000 sq ft of public waterfront esplanade along the canal, 250 affordable units, and 84,000 sq ft of commercial space.
Pipeline
Gowanus Green
Six-building 100% affordable development, 955 units total. Includes senior housing, supportive housing, affordable homeownership co-ops, a new public school, and a 1.5-acre park along the canal. Phase 1 construction beginning 2026.
Part Four
The Honest Questions Nobody Asks
Agent of the Future · Unfiltered
What about the canal smell? Real. Especially in warmer months after heavy rain, when combined sewer overflow events push sewage into the canal. The EPA cleanup is underway but it's a multi-decade remediation project. If you're sensitive to it, tour the neighborhood on a hot day after rain before you sign anything.
What about flooding? Gowanus is a low-lying area with a history of flooding. New developments are engineered for resilience — the BIG design at 175 Third specifically includes stormwater management infrastructure. But it's a real variable in a climate-changed New York and worth factoring into any long-term calculus.
Is the artistic community still there? Mostly no. The rezoning included provisions for affordable artist studio space — the Gowanus Mixed Use Incentive — but the economic reality of new development has pushed much of the original creative community out. The character is preserved in intent but not in fact.
Is this the next Williamsburg? The comparison gets made constantly. The honest answer: similar trajectory, different scale, and Gowanus has infrastructure challenges Williamsburg didn't. The waterfront is the asset. The canal is both the draw and the complication.
Part Five
Who Gowanus Is Actually Right For
📈
The Conviction Buyer or Renter
You understand you're getting in early on something still being built. You're buying the trajectory, not the finished product. The neighborhood around you will look meaningfully different in five years and you're comfortable with that uncertainty in exchange for the upside.
🏙️
The Manhattan Transplant
You want Manhattan-quality product — the finishes, the amenities, the service — at a price point that doesn't exist in Manhattan anymore. Gowanus delivers that. The tradeoff is a neighborhood still finding its retail and restaurant infrastructure. For the right person that's not a dealbreaker.
🔑
The Investor
8,500 new units by 2030, a $1 billion development just approved, a Superfund cleanup underway that will eventually make the waterfront one of Brooklyn's assets rather than its liability. The investment thesis in Gowanus is as clear as any neighborhood in Brooklyn right now.
🚫
Who It's Not For
If you want a neighborhood that's fully arrived — established restaurants on every block, a thriving street scene, a community that feels settled — Gowanus isn't there yet. Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope are all close and all further along. Know what you're buying before you sign.
EKNY Intelligence · Gowanus Market Data
EKNY tracks new development activity, transfer prices, days on market, and lease-up velocity across the Gowanus corridor in real time — pulled directly from ACRIS and public records. If you're evaluating a specific building or unit in Gowanus, the public record tells you things the listing page never will. Sales history, permit filings, offering plan details, sponsor unit counts — it's all in the data.
Explore Gowanus data on EKNY →
The Bottom Line
Gowanus is the most ambitious neighborhood transformation happening in Brooklyn right now. That's not marketing — it's what the numbers, the approvals, and the capital commitments actually show.
But it's a neighborhood in the middle of its story, not at the end of it. The people who do best here — as renters, buyers, and investors — are the ones who understand that distinction and make their decisions accordingly.
I've spent eighteen months here. I know the buildings, the blocks, the canal, and the data. If you want to understand what you're actually looking at before you make a move — that's exactly what I'm here for.
Thinking about Gowanus? Let's look at the data together before you decide.
Work With Me →
