Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation

GREC's mission is to bring together community residents through collective institutions and to put forth proactive initiatives, suggesting what the city government of New York could be doing to make the neighborhood better for all of the residents. This includes planning the physical space in the neighborhood in order to make it into a place where people can have a decent quality of life in a safe environment. The consortium initially came together to coordinate community involvement around the redevelopment of the former Greenpoint Hospital Complex after the city closed the facility, preparing a comprehensive plan with the Williamsburg/Greenpoint community that reflects the broad community consensus on the reuse of the campus.^[2] The plan was adopted by Brooklyn Community Board 1 as the "Community Plan," and supported by all elected officials.

The community vision seeks to utilize this public resource to create a broad range of health, residence, and community services to meet the current and future needs of residents in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, as well as greater North Brooklyn.

Greenpoint Hospital was shut down by the City of New York in the winter of 1982. Once the heartbeat of community health services, the hospital represented an anchor institution of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg community. Neighborhood residents and leaders responded by forming the Greenpoint Hospital Task Force in a cooperative effort to help protect the vacant property and develop a comprehensive plan for its reuse.^[2]

In 1983 the New York City government began to move homeless men from various parts of the city into the vacant buildings of Greenpoint Hospital without the knowledge or approval of the local community. The number of men rose quickly, reaching a peak of over 1,100 men by 1984. The men were offered (virtually) no support services other than housing and were turned out into the street each day. The local crime rate increased drastically; “men who badly needed support to get back on their feet were often found living in hovels throughout the community, stripping homes of aluminum and otherwise engaged in a broad array of antisocial and criminal activities. New York City’s decision to reuse the facility as a homeless shelter without local consultation and with complete indifference to its impact on community life enraged local residents."^[2] As a result, led by community leaders Tish and Guido Cianciotta and the Concerned Citizens of Withers Street and Area Block Association, residents spent 140 nights in a vigil outside the complex to draw attention to the combined injustice to homeless men and the host community.

In 1984, following New York City's release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) to redevelop the overall campus of the hospital, community members formed the Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation (GREC). GREC is a consortium of six local and community organizations including Neighborhood Women of Williamsburg/Greenpoint, Concerned Citizens of Withers Street and Area Block Association, St. Nicks Alliance, North Brooklyn Federal Credit Union, Cooper Park Houses Resident Council, and Conselyea Street Block Association. These diverse organizations came together transcending race, income, and religion to focus on a consensus community plan. GREC planned an adaptive reuse project for the Greenpoint Hospital Complex that would address a broad range of housing and healthcare problems facing the community. Unfortunately however, while the RFP seemed to be a step in the right direction, New York City was simultaneously “aggressively turning Greenpoint Hospital into the largest men’s homeless shelter in the United States.” ^[2]

GREC developed a broad vision for the complex and forged ahead with the support of City Hall (following a $5,000 good faith deposit) to attempt to finance the project. In 1986 GREC secured $4.5 million in funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop senior housing in the former nurses’ residence building. Unfortunately, the city government blocked the project's development by withdrawing site control.

The developmental deadlock lasted until 1987 when GREC, with the help of Brooklyn Legal Services, filed a suit against New York City got violating its own Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). The Brooklyn Supreme Court agreed and issued a preliminary injunction barring further expansion of the shelter; this marked GREC's first legal victory in its campaign to end expansion of the shelter and begin the site redevelopment plan. However the city government continued to block development.

Frustrated by the issue, local residents staged a protest to raise awareness by blocking the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in May 1989. The three main demands of protesters where:

1. Phase down the shelter to 200 beds
2. Provide GREC with the site control stalled senior citizen housing
3. Establish a timetable for the implementation of the GREC redevelopment plan.

The protest was successful; in September 1989 Mayor Edward Koch reached accord with GREC to phase out the Greenpoint Shelter over a five-year period while phasing in GREC's redevelopment plan. The agreement dictated that by May 1990, five buildings (which housed more than 500 homeless men) were to be vacated and turned over to GREC for rehabilitation as permanent elderly and family housing with 10% if these units going to homeless families; New York City would keep one of the buildings to shelter 200 homeless men and the remaining buildings would be vacated and developed for health and community services. However, in November 1989, the city government again stalled the plan. GREC quickly returned to court and in January 1990, Supreme Court Judge Garry forced the City to vacate four buildings and remove 293 beds (reducing the size to 650 beds). This marked a huge victory for the organization.

GREC member organizations secured financing to rehabilitate the four buildings, creating 45 affordable housing units within the Greenpoint Hospital complex, a task that was accomplished in 13 months. Unfortunately, the green light for full implementation of the GREC plan continued to elude its leaders.

In March 1993 New York City issued another RFP to lease and manage the 650-bed shelter inconsistent with its pledges to reduce the shelter to 200 beds. GREC met this issue with demonstrations and protests, causing Mayor David Dinkins to issue a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that gave GREC control of the site and ordered the immediate reduction of the homeless population from 650 to 450 men. It was again agreed that the outpatient building and nurses’ residence building would be relinquished, with the main building being retained to accommodate 200 beds for permanent shelter. With New York City's cooperation, the former outpatient building was acquired by the St. Nicks Alliance and developed as a community facility providing home healthcare, housing, and youth and business development services. The building was named the Greenpoint Renaissance Center. In 2010, the St. Nicks Alliance opened the Art@ Renaissance, which offers 4,500 square feet of space for cultural, art, dance, and music activities. The Arts@ Renaissance program is designed to bring the community together to celebrate its culture.