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The New York Observer has an interesting profile of someone I never heard of: Greg O’Connell. He owns 1,000,000 square feet of Red Hook but seems to be a developer with a social agenda — can a New York City developer with lot of waterfront property truly be benign? Here are a few excerpts from the article to give you an idea of what Mr. O’Connell has done in Red Hook:
“If Greg didn’t own the property he does, much of the Red Hook waterfront would probably consist of luxury condos today, and the neighborhood would undoubtedly have fewer jobs and be less interesting,” Mr. Bowles said. “Just about every other developer in the city has been singularly focused on building high-end housing, but Greg has been intent on providing relatively affordable space for light manufacturing businesses.”
In 1992, Mr. O’Connell purchased 28 acres of Red Hook waterfront from the Port Authority for just $500,000. “Greg took a lot of risk going in there,” said Ms. Uz of the Fifth Avenue Committee. The area had become a hotbed for drugs and prostitution. “The piers he bought were practically falling into the water.”
On a recent weekend, dozens of tourists strolled along his pier, stopping at a crafts fair and peeking in on an art show thrown by Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, in a space Mr. O’Connell donated to the group. A woman with a thick German accent turned to her husband. “Ve must see the Fairway before we get back on ze boat.” (Benjamin Popper)
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