10. Gateway Elton Street, East New York

In the tradition of New York’s large scale housing developments, such as Co-op City, Stuyvesant Town, and the Queensbridge Houses, Hudson Companies and CAMBA Housing Ventures are teaming up with the City to create Gateway Elton Street in East New York, Brooklyn. This is a multi-building complex spread over five blocks and is one of the projects increasing the scale of green affordable development.

Another Dattner Architects project, the buildings are LEED Platinum, with the now familiar package of green features including energy efficient appliances, large solar roof panels, and water-saving fixtures. The first phase buildings were completed in 2013 during the Bloomberg administration.  The project has continued to receive support as part of Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing program and the final phase buildings will be finished by 2017. In total, Gateway Elton Street will have over 650 units of low-income housing, including some supportive units for special needs populations.

Unlike 20th century tower-in-a-park developments built with spare Modernist architecture and separation of uses, Gateway Elton Street follows a mixed-use, Postmodern design in line with New Urbanist pedestrian-oriented principles.  The mid-rise buildings contain ground floor retail and community facility space and are adjacent to a new school, shopping center, and townhomes. Collectively, these new developments comprise Gateway Estates, a new neighborhood rising on land that sat vacant for decades after earlier redevelopment plans stalled.

Next, read about the Museum of the City of New York’s 2015 exhibition Affordable Housing: A New York Legacy and 10 of the most unconventional public buildings in NYC. Contact the author @Jeff_Reuben