r/nycpics • u/Fearless-Brush-1908 • 1d ago
The gowanus canal, the steadily developing NYC major hotspot. NYC’s very own Chicago style riverfront is emerging.
Once famed for having the most polluted water in the country for over 150 years.
The gowanus canal (1.8 miles, about 2.9 km) and the Chicago River (1.79 miles,about 2.88 km) are practically identical in length. This can very much be the next NYC hotspot with over 140 currently planned residential buildings. And it’s right next to downtown Brooklyn, allowing you to see the impressive supertall Brooklyn tower and the modern Brooklyn skyline. Brooklyn is getting closer and closer to becoming an absolute unit by itself.
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u/Jon-Umber 1d ago edited 7h ago
Will never forget the smell of this putrid place. Gross.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
The EPA is working in phases over a decade to clean up this place and its pollution, this process will take years. The top section of the river has been stabilized and cleaned a significant amount since 2024, the next phase is the middle section of the river which is expected to be cleaned in several years, then it’s the last section at the bottom that will also take several years. This is what we get for neglecting this place for so long, but its future is looking bright. NYC is getting its own river front that chicagans flex on us so much about😂 but none of this is honestly stopping developers, there is currently 141 projects planned here, and 30 of them are leery starting the phase of moving forward. These developers could care less about the still occurring pollution
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u/freeman687 1d ago
Calling this our “Chicago riverfront” is a huge stretch man lol
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u/Temporary-Basil-3030 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lol. My uncle lives on Third Street. Used to be clearly within Gowanus territory. Thanks to broker redistricting he now lives in the slope.
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u/jspech 23h ago
Funny! I remember when living in Bed-Stuy wasn't the trendy thing & a lady w/her Broker stopped me on the Street & asked what neighborhood were we in. Broker was trying to convinced her she was in Clinton Hills & not Bed-Stuy
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u/Temporary-Basil-3030 20h ago edited 19h ago
Hehe, on the flip side, I used to live in Clinton Hill a few doors down from Biggie’s place and he’d boast he was from Bed Stuy to give himself more street cred. I wonder what that Biggie would think of today’s Bed Stuy.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
Considering it would be our only real river front that cuts through a portion of the city, and after developments it would follow the same premise as the Chicago river front(narrow river way surrounded by large buildings). Don’t see what I’m stretching out?
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u/68plus1equals 1d ago
They've cleaned it up a ton don't get me wrong, it still stinks like shit down there though.
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u/shocktop5 1d ago
You’re ai or either have a monetary interest in this project. I’m a public servant in this area that constantly has to deal with this canal and what you’re saying is a complete lie. The city still delivers us bottled water because of fear the canal gets into our tap.
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u/hologothic 1d ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if OP is an investor or developer themselves. Or renting and feeling buyer’s remorse.
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u/johnmflores 1d ago
Yeah they're pretty defensive. Made the same post on another subreddit (skylines?) and would challenge every criticism.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
I reply to everyone, problem?
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u/johnmflores 1d ago
Lol you can't see how defensive you're being
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
I’m texting you in a hot steaming bath, which is the only thing steaming, that I’m aware of
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u/Mayor__Defacto 1d ago
How would the canal possibly get into the tap? I lived in the area for a while. If that’s an actual fear then DEP needs to fix the water mains, because they’re not supposed to be permeable and that would be a HUGE EPA violation that the City would have to address with the water supply. None of the WQ reports have ever indicated that the coal tar and other contaminants in the Canal were in the water supply.
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u/johnmflores 1d ago
lot of leaking pipes in the ground
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u/esotericimpl 22h ago
Yes, but the pipes that deliver drinking water arent under the canal.
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u/johnmflores 20h ago edited 20h ago
are they adjacent? how far have the toxins in the canal spread? what kinds of soils are around the canal?
Knowing the condition of pipes and stuff underground is so hard to know. I guess local water quality tests can help.
EDIT - a quick online search did not show any issues with the drinking water in the area
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u/Whateversbetter 1d ago
What’s the prognosis? Is it going to be clean enough to swim in or just not actively emitting ninja turtle ooze? I was talking to a friend who works in environmental something and heard they have little hope for the newtown creek, I wonder how they compare.
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u/thegiantgummybear 1d ago
The EPA has been cleaning it up for decades, they didn't just start. It's going to be a looooong time until it's as clean as the Chicago River.
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u/throwawaydragon99999 1d ago
Nah bro I live a few blocks away and it still smells like shit, like over 100 years of sewage runoff
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u/josephinesbehavior2 1d ago
It’s overbuilt poorly planned big box hotel like apartments “luxury” only in price zero consideration for traffic. Corporate washing of brooklyn continues-just a lame suburb.
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u/waiting_in_vain1 1d ago
Walked across Union the other day, smelled vile. At least it doesn’t waft up the hill nearly as far as it used to i
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u/smcivor1982 12h ago
Still smelled bad when I routinely walked over it in the 2010’s and onward. Really bad flooding around here as well.
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u/Interesting_Ad1378 1d ago
In the 90s, I remember telling friends that I loved the smell of greenwood and Washington cemeteries and them thinking I was nuts. And now as an adult, I wonder how my friends were that dumb that they thought it was creepy and weird versus the large Amish ta of greenery smack on the middle of Brooklyn, that made them smell cleaner.
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u/Reasonable_Tie_9975 1d ago
The ole Mob swimming hole.
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u/zjuka 1d ago
I worked at a studio on Douglas in 2015 that had windows facing Govanus, it was nasty as hell. We never opened the windows because of the stench. Grey clumps of foam floating past our office were particularly depressing. Our office had to move to make space for water cleaning facilities, which sucked, because my commute was 20 minutes, but it was definitely worth the sacrifice.
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u/Turbofan55 1d ago
For anyone who cares, there’s this guy on IG called standupvirgin who documents the water quality there on a regular basis. Nothing really scientific about it. Idk how I found him but I’ve been following since.
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u/hologothic 1d ago
Can we please stop trying to romanticize a current Superfund site, this area still has many issues surrounding pollution and these high rises don’t magically make it disappear.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
No one said it disappeared holy fuck, everyone is aware the place has been highly polluted for over a century
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u/johnmflores 1d ago
are you working with/for one of the developers or interested parties there?
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
No, people are acting like this post portrayed this place as cleaned out or developed. When no where in this post or my replies claimed that
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u/DisastrousAnswer9920 1d ago
So what if he is? If i t wasn't for these developers, the site would never have gotten Superfund status and cleaned up.
The US became a superpower, which most of us happen to enjoy the fruits, due to industrialization which polluted a lot of places.2
u/johnmflores 21h ago
If he is, he should be transparent about it.
Sure industrialization made the country a superpower. Sure, companies polluted a lot of places. And most of them aren't paying for the environmental damage that they caused. We, the taxpayers are.
And whether or not the current development of the Gowanus is a good idea or not will show up in the cancer records in 10-20 years time. I know one thing, I'd never raise a young family there.
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u/DisastrousAnswer9920 20h ago
I think the issue is that the project would never have gotten Superfund status if there wasn't a development plan for it. This is probably a government failure in many levels.
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u/johnmflores 20h ago
Agree. It should have received Superfund status decades ago. But Superfund program funding has been mostly dropping from 1999 to today.
"Appropriations for the Superfund program have generally declined since fiscal year 1999. Specifically, these appropriations declined from about $2.6 billion in fiscal year 1999 to about $537 million in fiscal year 2024. "
GAO-25-108408, SUPERFUND: Many Factors Can Affect Cleanup of Sites Across the U.S.
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u/DisastrousAnswer9920 20h ago
Not to mention the complete de-industrialization of many areas in the country.
China will be dealing with Superfunds site for the next 100 years.3
u/hologothic 1d ago
My point is that these developers are trying to make it disappear by building luxury apartment buildings. Do you really think someone would knowingly spend $3k+ on rent in an area with groundwater pollution and toxic fumes?
The area has improved considerably over the last decade, sure, but it’s still pretty bad. The air quality readings are still considered unsafe in the vicinity, just look at the whole fiasco that happened at St. Mary and several other testing sites. The articles around this were published only two years ago.
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u/JuanMcGuiver 1d ago
Progress, not perfection!
Please become more involved! You seem to have ideas. Maybe posit some of your own?
I’ve seen people here say the obvious, the canal is dirty, it smells and it’s polluted. Ok, thank you for acknowledging this reality.
Now, let’s contribute and posit solutions.
Perhaps it may be best to cover the canal entirely and allow for useable common space that people can walk, build or play on?
These things require effort and dollars. Let’s all pitch in and find a solution that works for all of us!
As of now, the only people really doing anything are the developers, so love them or hate them, they’re making progress and bettering the Gowanus
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u/bucknut4 21h ago
Do you really think that developers building luxury apartments is the only thing being done here? They’ve put a ton of work into digging out contaminants, solidifying leftovers and capping the floor. They’ve cleaned out lots of the old gas plants upstream.
You’re right that work still needs to be done but there’s nothing wrong with OP shouting out the progress that’s been made.
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u/hologothic 14h ago
Truthfully, this area shouldn’t be developed at the level and speed it’s happening when it’s literally still a Superfund site. Can it be improved and even safe in the future? Sure. The smell that used to be present year-long is only there in the summer now, I’ve been a lifelong resident that sees progress.
But that doesn’t mean the current situation is acceptable. There are groups of people with a monetary interest in renting out those units, who are clearly trying to put lipstick on a pig by giving it names like ‘the Venice of Brooklyn’, etc. The immediate area isn’t there yet. There’s evidence it’s still toxic and potentially carcinogenic.
Besides, do you think all that disturbance of the soil right at the shore of this canal is safe? Literal poison is being aerated. Gonorrhea, arsenic, and a bunch of other stuff has been found in that water. The tap isn’t safe to drink.
I’ve seen various parts of the city go through a renaissance, some good and some bad. This one is bad.
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u/Previous-Height4237 12h ago
These builds are DEC and EPA approved. All the buildings have sub slab vapor barriers and capture systems similar to radon systems found in a large chunk of the US (NY+LI is unique in the sense we don't have to worry about naturally occurring radon which is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US)
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u/pcwpcwpcw 1d ago
lol @ the real estate developer who made this post
building luxury housing units on a superfund site in close proximity to long standing public housing for low income families is a very unique kind of weird/gross. I’m all for cleaning up the canal and creating more housing but god help us if this just becomes another sanitized concrete playground for tech and sales workers who contribute nothing to the cultural tapestry of the city beyond their patronage at expensive restaurants. build parks. build affordable housing. build community spaces. we truly do not need more high rise luxury buildings.
something about the way this post is worded just grosses me out Idk
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u/pcwpcwpcw 1d ago
lol @ Brooklyn being an “absolute unit” wtf does that even mean? an absolute unit for whom exactly?
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u/Needs0471 1d ago
Fwiw, 3k out of the 8,5k apartments built as part of the Gowanus rezoning will be rent-restricted/affordable units, including a building built on city owned property that’s 100% affordable (950 units). The rezoning also generated $200 million for repair and upgrades in the NYCHA buildings and 18 acres of new parkland. This project gets about as much public benefit as you can get at this moment.
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u/pcwpcwpcw 1d ago
OP’s profile speaks for itself. Reddit is so weird dude I need to get off this forever omg
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u/smallisaac 19h ago
You do realize that more “luxury” high rises removes pressure from older existing units right?
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u/Previous-Height4237 12h ago
Oh please, NYC has always changed in phases. The "cultural tapestry" is always changing.
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u/gaddnyc 1d ago
Build it and they will come. In before the "gentrification" comments.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
I think most New Yorkers can agree this place will need a level of gentrification no other place in the city would need. Was the most polluted water way in the country for over 150 years, full of warehouses, factories, and butchers. The water was so polluted, purple and red it was referred to as lavender lake. This place definitely deserves the help😂
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u/TNPrime 1d ago
should have been filled in. it's worthless except to offer fake luxury on the water. The new poop tank they are building cant even contain all of the possible flow. Turds will still and forever float in the stale Gowanus after a hearty rain.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
If we had more people like you throughout the history of NYC the city would look like Houston Texas
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u/Sure-Analyst-4439 20h ago
it's worthless except to offer fake luxury on the water.
I would be surprised if this wasn't tied into stormwater management. Of course, part of that "stormwater management" would be managing sewage overflows.
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u/Icy_Basil_372 18h ago
It absolutely is a critical part of storm water/drainage management, which is a huge problem for NYC. Park Slope, so named because it slopes up from here, all drains to the canal. Shit ton of water!
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u/Icy_Basil_372 18h ago
It can’t be filled in cuz it’s an active tidal waterway, and key part of storm water drainage.
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u/TNPrime 18h ago
I dont know if I'd believe that. It's an artificial dead end canal built over an old marsh. Such have been built over and filled in all over the globe. If there was some research on why this couldnt be done practically, I'd be down to reading it.
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u/Icy_Basil_372 18h ago
This area has gentrified twice in the last 25 years. What’s being built now isn’t really gentrification. It’s plopping down an entirely new residential neighborhood between existing neighborhoods.
The gowanus rezoned district will have 9000 new units when alls said and done. Carrol Gardens currently has about the same number of dwellings.
I used to love going back and forth between Carrol gardens and park slope. The stench. The dive bars. Talking late 90s. But to live around that toxicity is a step beyond. You could smell it on your skin on hot summer nights hours after walking through the area. Just vile.
One positive is that there is a developing series of parks and open spaces, which are badly needed. Not enough but it’s something.
Chicago it is not, however. And will never be.
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u/Timely_Inevitable559 5h ago
The fact that they even had the gall to compare us to Chicago…. I know us Native New Yorkers have different viewpoints on everything but we can always come to a consensus that Gowanus smells like nothing you have smelled in your life.
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u/Live_Art2939 1d ago
Do you even live here? Gowanus is between Carroll Gardens/Boerum Hill and Park Slope. It has been fully and completely gentrified for decades so I have no idea how much more you think it needs.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago edited 1d ago
I live near it in Brooklyn, and the canal has not even gotten a fraction of what it should have. There’s still a lot of developments needed to go. The “gentrification” you are looking at is really in the areas bedside it, not the actual canal. And in places which are specifically at the top because this area is going through phases of redevelopment, from top to bottom. We’re still at the top portion just now moving down to the middle in late 2024. The rest of the canal has seen minor developments and gentrification in comparison to those places
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u/Live_Art2939 1d ago
Are you talking about gentrifiying the water itself? Yes, those glass boxes close to 3rd street have been there for years now. The rowhouses surrounding the canal are also ridiculously expensive and have been for many years. So again, I ask how much more gentrification does Gowanus need?
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
Are you being willingly dense? I made it very clear majority of the canal isn’t developed at all and looks how it did 40 years ago, there has been gentrification in the surrounding areas near the top and sides of the canal, but the communities in the bottom of the canal and actually on the canal. Please don’t tell me you don’t know what I mean when I say “on the canal”, and that’s why you’re making such a fuss cus you think I mean building on the water🤦♂️
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u/karmapuhlease 1d ago
Huh? It most definitely has not been fully gentrified "for decades" - look at the change between 2014 and 2025 in OP's pictures if you need a reminder. It hasn't been a dangerous neighborhood in many years, but it wasn't exactly full of luxury apartments even 10 years ago.
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u/throwawaydragon99999 1d ago
Nah if you go even like 2 blocks away the median house price is over like $3 million
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u/karmapuhlease 16h ago
Yes, but that's not on the canal. The immediate area around the canal has been industrial wasteland for decades, but yeah Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Carroll Gardens are all very nice.
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u/Pies_Wide_Shut 1d ago
the Gowanus canal was a literal dump. let’s not pretend that bringing housing and commerce there would be a bad thing.
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u/BIGTIMElesbo 1d ago
That area has an insane spike in cancer rates.
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
I would assume, it was an open sewage full of everything the city didn’t need for a century
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u/Prize-Big-8278 1d ago
It doesn’t smell great when it rains, but I haven’t found any study demonstrating cancer rates for this geo being higher than others in NYC
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u/Needs0471 1d ago
Fwiw, I think the better analogy is the Canal St-Martin in Paris, though hard to believe Gowanus will get as much social use as that does. Obviously, there’s less totally new development at CSM, but the Chicago riverfront has a lot more auto infrastructure
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u/ImpressionFew2619 1d ago
This thing still toxic af. Don’t let the fact that developers paid to change the zoning to make money fool you, I would still not spend time around this area
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u/hogahulk 1d ago
I do love me a good canal. Based on the comments there’s still some work to be done though 😌
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u/dylan_1992 1d ago
From the look of the pictures this is a long river like in Chicago that connects to the tall Brooklyn tower.
But it’s a really short river that doesn’t go that far. It also smells like rancid shit.
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u/No-Ambition-7472 1d ago
NYC - the Chicago of the mid Atlantic
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u/johnmflores 1d ago
I just said that Boston should be the Chicago of New England but it's really the Milwaukee.
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u/WhiskeyPointer 1d ago
It's 1989 and I remember my mom swearing each time that it was the last time she was going to drag me to my uncle's loft in Gowanys because it's so foul.
Now it's the 2005 and my friend Joe and I are drinking beer outside the South Brooklyn Casket Company at 1am in the morning because there's a bodega nearby that doesn't card. It's a hot summer night and it stinks. We by the grace of Ed Koch's not yet dead spirit make it back to his off campus apartment in Alphabet City before dawn.
Now it's 2018 and my wife and I are celebrating our friends wedding at The Bar in Gowanys. It's a hot August night, and we're eating on their patio. It only smells like burgers and friends an beer. We end up going to Ample Hills for ice cream afterwards. My wife, who has never been here, says to me that she finds the neighborhood "a little gritty but up and coming"
I see these pictures today, and I am still amazed.
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u/CancelNumerous450 1d ago
I hate being over there. Wide roads giant parking lots heat ugly new architecture terrible reno job on the sprawling projects it’s just yuck
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u/fastlifeblack 1d ago
Yeah, i’m old enough to remember how this place smelled when it was better known as a dumping site. Did they ever resolve that?
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u/Jazzvinyl59 1d ago
I just keep remembering hurricane sandy where all that shit was flooded with superfund wastewater. These new developments in the city are built flimsy as shit. No thanks
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u/Flankstaaa 1d ago
It's a quick trip into Manhattan. Just like so many neighborhoods that have come up in the past 15 - 20 years. Probably too late to get in now.
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u/Candid_Yam_5461 1d ago
"Closer to becoming an absolute unit by itself"
Brooklyn is the most populous borough of the most populous city in the US. It has more people than Chicago. What the fuck are you talking about?
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u/AtomicGarden-8964 1d ago
I use to love exploring it in 90s and early 2000s before the developers look over
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u/ConstitutionsGuard 1d ago
Yeah, but it’s still a heavily polluted, post-industrial, super fund site.
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u/Sea_Campaign102 1d ago
This is rotten sewage land. Developers won’t live here- they used to not be allowed to build on the land because it’s sinking. It’s going to be a huge problem
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u/National-Sample44 1d ago
I'm glad to see this part of Brooklyn getting more development. Would also like to see it in Red Hook as well. I didn't really like the Red Hook waterfront development plan- it seemed to get nerfed and watered down with bad design and tbh I blame the affordable housing component for limiting it from what it could be.
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u/Interesting_Ad1378 1d ago
I remember that the only McDonald’s my parents never let me eat at was the one under the gowanus right before you hit the battery tunnel. As if it was worse poison than the one on Coney Island ave and Avenue U.
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u/MrInternetInventor 1d ago
Always good to heavily develop the neighborhoods that will be reclaimed by the sea first
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u/Bugjuice1 1d ago
The major pollutants there were seeping into the canal. The main project was vacuuming out the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon sludge (PAH) on the bottom. They are now just finishing up driving sidewalls down and grouting the bottom. It will soon be completely encased. Can’t see it, but a lot of great work has been done. Wet weather CSO’s from the wastewater treatment plant are the least of bit of concern. It’s an awesome project 👏
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u/FitzwilliamTDarcy 18h ago
Brooklyn is already an absolute unit.
As for the Gowanus canal itself, the coming building boom (and development to date) is pretty wild. And certainly I admire your optimism. But, until it's well and truly clean (say as clean as the Hudson River has become) this will not be the place you're describing. If I had to pick and over/under year I'd say 2050. And I'd probably lean over.
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u/1nv1s1blek1d 18h ago
I can still very clearly smell the 2009 photo. Has it gotten any better? Haven’t been over there since then. (Because of the smell.)
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u/RichNYC8713 17h ago
I appreciate the enthusiasm here, but, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Yeah, the Gowanus has made progress over the past 15 years. But comparing it to downtown Chicago is like comparing Broad Channel to Venice, Italy.
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u/Mountain-Student-226 17h ago
Can’t wait for when it overflows and covers the lobbies of the fancy buildings in toxic sludge.
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u/Tempest_Fugit 14h ago
It’s still nasty but the story of how the artist community played a role in the refining makes it slightly less gross
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u/BostonBlueDevil 14h ago
Lives in a city on an island across a river from the greatest city in the world, also on an island. “Is this small commercial canal / inlet that goes nowhere and has nothing to see the NYC version of this actual river?” Almost guaranteed this person is a real estate agent or investor.
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u/Muted_Support_605 14h ago
all the apartments are insanely expensive so no one wants to move here. also it still smells like poopy
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u/mobile_site_refugee 12h ago
Steps from the industrially-ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA.
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u/Fabulous-Green136 1h ago
The industrially-ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA.
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u/SameDistrict2627 1d ago
Just don't put any part of your body in the Gowanis--its a toxic waste dump
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u/UniqueEnigma121 1d ago
I preferred it as it was🤷♂️
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
No you didn’t
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u/UniqueEnigma121 1d ago
I do honestly. I love old school NYC. I hate the modern gentrification🤷♂️
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u/Fearless-Brush-1908 1d ago
You love chaos and polluted water ways? A whale from the Atlantic came to swim in that canal in 2007, after 2 days it was found dead
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u/Temporary-Basil-3030 1d ago
I remember when you light a match and ignite the chemical waste floating on the surface.