If you can't guess where this is, it's the festering craphole known as the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.
Fishing, farming, picnicing? Perhaps when it gets its Superfund status downgraded in 2026. This is one of the few places left in New York where sewer sludge (in a rainfall event) gets directly discharged into surface water and also dealing the possible millions of gallons of petroleum that have seeped into the surrounding soil from tank leakages and oil spills. This is literally one of the few instances where this entire area needs to be razed, covered in a few feet of chalk and then cemented over.
Even if I ignore the "festering craphole" part, I can't look past the sci-fi Cabrini-Green-esque modernist planning. This area could literally be the next Venice. And all we're given is a Revit-calculated Olde-London-Bridge engineered wetlands?
To borrow an old phrase and update it, "don't shit where you grasshopper!"
Being listed as a Superfund site means, in layman terms, this, "OH F*#*!@, WHY AM I GROWING A THIRD TESTICLE? WHY GOD? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? WHY DOES URINE COME OUT OF MY EYES AND BLOOD OUT OF MY PEEHOLE?"
Hopefully it gets downgraded from that to the lesser category of "EVERY DAY, WHEN I WAKE UP, ALL I TASTE AND SMELL IS THE AROMA OF CHARRED FLESH, DECOMPOSING RACCOON CORPSES AND WITH A FAINT HINT OF SULFUR AND MOLTEN COPPER."
I take it that being a superfund site is, based on the rather graphic analogies, a somewhat undesirable state of affairs.
The term "superfund" does sound positive you know, at least to a layman. I thought it meant some sort of site where you could get more money to do things... : o
Is that a student project or a firms proposal? I remember the class a year behind me focusing on the redevelopment of the Gowanus Canal for their Urbanism studio about 5 years ago....
ryan, though James' descriptions are MUCH more enjoyable, there is a Wiki page of course for Superfund.
Mojdeh Baratloo - who I loved having as a professor - has been studying the Gowanus for ages. Her book Angst: Cartography, about the canal, is a sweet bit of early-90s architectural poetry. (Edit: Apparently it's late 80s poetry - I had Mojdeh's studio in 1993).
It was a competition winner help by a group called "Gowanus by Design." While I generally appreciative of community organizations being active in trying to change their community, this piece of land is pretty unique for a few reasons (develop-able, great location, lots of significant infrastructure) and for the reasons listed above.
The reason why this is of any particular interest is because the competition is a 'community organization' which would give this plan significant traction in the ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) process— e.g., they can use these proposals to block other developers and architects from building (Toll Brothers want to turn Gowanus into Lower Manhattan).
Unfortunately, this kind of perceived hostility or incompatibility will seriously discourage anyone from trying to develop this area. And without any significant investment interest in the area, there's no one to pressure the EPA, the Feds or NYC to dump the $500mil to $1bil in order to clean this place up.
Which brings me back to a post a few posts up that the proposal here would run in the range of literally billions of dollars. If you think Toll Brother condos would be incompatible and overpriced for a dumpy Brooklyn neighborhood, the high-line-esque bioreactor would be bananas.
The question about the cost and safety has already driven Toll Brothers, as well as a few other developers, away from adding potentially thousands to tens of thousands of units along the canal.
a lawsuit (violation of the clean water act) is how Boston harbor got cleaned up - took 25+ years, several lives, and 6 billion dollars (and one lost presidential bid).
The Gowanus Canal's designation as a Superfund site actually assures that it is being cleaned up. That is the point of its designation. Its just going to take a while, but afterwards, there is no question that it will be developed.
Dear Working Architects,
CUT IT OUT.
Thanks,
Urbanism
You know what that place needs?
A low rent strip mall with a video rental shop, and maybe some faux Italian pasta joints.
*Run*
If you can't guess where this is, it's the festering craphole known as the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.
Fishing, farming, picnicing? Perhaps when it gets its Superfund status downgraded in 2026. This is one of the few places left in New York where sewer sludge (in a rainfall event) gets directly discharged into surface water and also dealing the possible millions of gallons of petroleum that have seeped into the surrounding soil from tank leakages and oil spills. This is literally one of the few instances where this entire area needs to be razed, covered in a few feet of chalk and then cemented over.
Even if I ignore the "festering craphole" part, I can't look past the sci-fi Cabrini-Green-esque modernist planning. This area could literally be the next Venice. And all we're given is a Revit-calculated Olde-London-Bridge engineered wetlands?
To borrow an old phrase and update it, "don't shit where you grasshopper!"
What is Superfund status James?
Being listed as a Superfund site means, in layman terms, this, "OH F*#*!@, WHY AM I GROWING A THIRD TESTICLE? WHY GOD? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? WHY DOES URINE COME OUT OF MY EYES AND BLOOD OUT OF MY PEEHOLE?"
Hopefully it gets downgraded from that to the lesser category of "EVERY DAY, WHEN I WAKE UP, ALL I TASTE AND SMELL IS THE AROMA OF CHARRED FLESH, DECOMPOSING RACCOON CORPSES AND WITH A FAINT HINT OF SULFUR AND MOLTEN COPPER."
I take it that being a superfund site is, based on the rather graphic analogies, a somewhat undesirable state of affairs.
The term "superfund" does sound positive you know, at least to a layman. I thought it meant some sort of site where you could get more money to do things... : o
Is that a student project or a firms proposal? I remember the class a year behind me focusing on the redevelopment of the Gowanus Canal for their Urbanism studio about 5 years ago....
ryan, though James' descriptions are MUCH more enjoyable, there is a Wiki page of course for Superfund.
Mojdeh Baratloo - who I loved having as a professor - has been studying the Gowanus for ages. Her book Angst: Cartography, about the canal, is a sweet bit of early-90s architectural poetry. (Edit: Apparently it's late 80s poetry - I had Mojdeh's studio in 1993).
Is that a student project or a firms proposal?
It was a competition winner help by a group called "Gowanus by Design." While I generally appreciative of community organizations being active in trying to change their community, this piece of land is pretty unique for a few reasons (develop-able, great location, lots of significant infrastructure) and for the reasons listed above.
The reason why this is of any particular interest is because the competition is a 'community organization' which would give this plan significant traction in the ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) process— e.g., they can use these proposals to block other developers and architects from building (Toll Brothers want to turn Gowanus into Lower Manhattan).
Unfortunately, this kind of perceived hostility or incompatibility will seriously discourage anyone from trying to develop this area. And without any significant investment interest in the area, there's no one to pressure the EPA, the Feds or NYC to dump the $500mil to $1bil in order to clean this place up.
Which brings me back to a post a few posts up that the proposal here would run in the range of literally billions of dollars. If you think Toll Brother condos would be incompatible and overpriced for a dumpy Brooklyn neighborhood, the high-line-esque bioreactor would be bananas.
The question about the cost and safety has already driven Toll Brothers, as well as a few other developers, away from adding potentially thousands to tens of thousands of units along the canal.
there's no one to pressure the EPA, the Feds or NYC to dump the $500mil to $1bil in order to clean this place up.
lawsuit.
As in a lawsuit would pressure them?
Doubt so. I think the lawsuit would cost less than $500mil to $1 bil
a lawsuit (violation of the clean water act) is how Boston harbor got cleaned up - took 25+ years, several lives, and 6 billion dollars (and one lost presidential bid).
oh - and Boston ended up with this awesome facility:
which turns raw sewage into energy and something called "bay state fertilizer" - which is bought primarily by Florida orange growers.
The Gowanus Canal's designation as a Superfund site actually assures that it is being cleaned up. That is the point of its designation. Its just going to take a while, but afterwards, there is no question that it will be developed.
I wanted to know how much should we charge for a 12 story building. Any suggestions
A lot of land in the NY/NJ metro area is Superfund. All it means for developers is cheaper land for luxury condos.
I wanted to know how much should we charge for a 12 story building. Any suggestions
30k/floor x 12 floors = $360,000.00
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