By: Kendal Gordon
This month's big story is speed. The city is writing the rules for two new approval processes voters passed last November, and together they could shorten the path from rezoning to groundbreaking for many Brooklyn sites. Here's what happened and what it means for owners.
Is Your Lot Eligible for a Faster Rezoning?
The City Planning Commission held a public hearing on September 9 on rules for the new Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP). A quick way to check whether your site might qualify:
- Is it already zoned R6 or higher?
- Would the change add no more than 30% more residential floor area?
- If your site is residential-only today, would any commercial or industrial space you add stay at or below 2 FAR?
If these apply, the rezoning could go through a 90-day review that ends at the City Planning Commission, instead of the 7-month-plus ULURP process that ends at the City Council. One catch: projects that rely only on the city's voluntary affordability bonus, without mandatory affordable housing, wouldn't qualify for the related appeals process.
Kendal's Take: In the past, a 30% bump rarely justified a year of process. Under ELURP, it might. If you'd like to see where your site stands, I can run the numbers on your lot: current buildable square footage versus what a modest upzoning could add.
Low-Production Neighborhoods Are Rezoning Ahead of January
On October 1, the city named the 12 community districts that have built the least affordable housing, including Borough Park and Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. Starting in January, affordable housing projects there can bypass the City Council. Bay Ridge responded early: its councilmember proposed her own rezoning of auto shops and parking lots between 86th and 95th streets, Fourth to Fifth avenues.
Kendal's Take: Expect more neighborhoods to rezone on their own terms rather than wait for the fast track. More rezoning activity generally means more upzoned land coming to market across the borough in 2027.
Brooklyn Sites Moving Forward
289 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg: A private application seeks to rezone the site from heavy manufacturing (M3-1) to a mixed residential and light-industrial district (M1-3A/R7X), with part of the site going to M1-2A.
Kendal's Take: If you own M-zoned land near the waterfront or an existing residential area, watch applications like 289 Kent, because each approval strengthens the case for the next.
Construction Updates
38-44 State Street, Brooklyn Heights (Under Construction): A five-story, 50-foot condo building at State Street and Willow Place, repurposing a landmarked one-story parking garage. Designed by The Brooklyn Studio and developed by Vadem Brosky of Brodmore Management: 23,750 SF, five condos, a landscaped forecourt and below-grade parking.
250 Midwood Street, Prospect Lefferts Gardens (Permits Filed): Permits filed for a four-story, 55-foot residential building with 8,797 SF of residential space and nine units, likely rentals. Demolition permits for the existing two-story structure were approved in August. No completion date announced.
Recent Brooklyn Sales
Three recent sales across Northwest Brooklyn, from a boutique site to a major rezoning play:
- 485 Fulton St & 147 Lawrence St, Downtown Brooklyn — $83.5M (~$234/BSF), Sep 2026. 356,369 SF of zoning floor area. Borough Developers plans four buildings with ground-floor retail and residential above.
- 604 Union St, Gowanus — $11.0M (~$266/BSF), Jul 2026. Boutique mixed-use development site with 41,406 BSF in Gowanus. Zelig Weiss bought it from Simon Vays.
- 69 Ninth St, Gowanus — $37.0M (~$147/SF), Mar 2026. Two Trees Management bought the three-acre, seven-building site from Aaron Berger. It sits inside the 80-plus-block 2021 Gowanus rezoning, with up to 252,134 SF of commercial floor area.
Curious what ELURP could mean for your site?
Submit your site and I'll run the numbers.
Kendal Gordon
Senior Associate, Landair Advisors
Kendal Gordon is a Senior Associate at Landair Property Advisors, specializing in the sale of development sites and land throughout Northwest Brooklyn. Prior to joining Landair, Kendal worked at BKREA, where she focused on New York City development sites, air rights, and owner-user properties. Kendal earned a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from Marist University.
Cell: (201) 315-4477 | Office: (646) 559-4700 | kg@landairnyc.com
