Red Hook #1: Meet Red Hook Beach & the Brooklyn Maritime Center

We first took note of a Red Hook Beach blog in September and have been watching it for more information ever since. Well, the blanks have now been filled in. The map outline above shows the area in Red Hook that would include Red Hook Beach, which would be built by New York Water Taxi, the same outfit that created Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City.

It's part of a much bigger proposal for a Brooklyn Maritime Center, which would be part of the huge waterfront redevelopment that will eventually extend from from Pier 7 to Pier 12. The entire plan is part of a pitch by developer Douglas Durst. The rest of the Brooklyn Maritime Center would include space for artists, a "destination spa and boutique hotel," docks for working boats and a workyard, a recreational marina, waterfront esplanade, the Brooklyn Greenway, a New York Water Taxi port, and more. Supporters point out that it would not displace the New York Container Port--whose fate will be a point of contention with those opposing plans that would remove it--and that all of the development would be low rise.

There are competing proposals for this part of the waterfront and some of them are likely to be very contentious. There is a City Council Committee hearing on the Red Hook waterfront on Thursday and the battle that will decide the future of more than a mile of waterfront will likely be one of the more pitched Brooklyn development battles of 2007. There are many competing visions, some of which would entirely eliminate the working port. The amount and nature of housing included on various parcels is likely to be a major sticking point.

You can absorb the details of the interesting Red Hook Beach/BMC proposal here.