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Adams Adds City-Owned Sites in Brooklyn, Manhattan to Redevelopment Initiative

Continuing an initiative to make surplus city-owned land available for residential development, New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday announced two new sites. The city will begin public engagement and issue requests for proposals to create more than 900 new apartments at 390 Kent Ave. in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood and approximately 800 new units at 1880 First Ave. in East Harlem. At least a quarter of the housing on each site will be affordable.

The 390 Kent site is currently occupied by a 72-year-old office building that requires extensive repairs and houses operations of the city’s Department of Transportation and Department of Citywide Administrative Services. For 1880 First Ave., the Adams administration will seek to redevelop a city-owned parking lot across from NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan.

The Brooklyn and Manhattan sites bring to 11 the number of city-owned sites identified through the City Housing Activation Task Force that Adams established in August 2024.

Photo credit: Praneeth Thalla/Wikipedia

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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  • ◦Policy/Gov't
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