Site Overview

What Are We Planning for the Site?

Planning for this site started with the Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan which outlines a comprehensive, forward-looking roadmap for City intervention to address urgent infrastructure needs, unlock housing opportunity, and lay the foundation for a more resilient, connected, and livable neighborhood. In February 2022, sixty Jewel Streets residents and stakeholders sent a letter to City officials demanding investment in their neighborhood, a long-overlooked area on the border of Brooklyn and Queens that experiences severe flooding due to a lack of storm and sanitary sewers. This letter led to a multi-year partnership between community stakeholders, City agencies, and lawmakers ensuring community leadership in the planning process. Since June 2023, the City has engaged over 300 local residents, community partners, and elected officials.

The plan was released in 2025 and includes five key long term planning goals:

• Reduce flooding now and in the future
• Ensure residents have access to safe, resilient, and affordable homes
• Make streets safer and better connected
• Encourage redevelopment of vacant land with new affordable housing, stores, and open space
• Increase access to essential businesses, jobs, and social services

A cornerstone of advancing the Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan goals is the development of the City-owned site with resilient infrastructure, new streets, and community amenities all anchored by affordable homes and rental housing. The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection are continuing to plan for development of the site in collaboration with the community, so navigate to the How to Get Involved tab to learn about opportunities to share your ideas! The development of City-owned land for housing is initiated through a competitive process called a Request for Proposals (RFP) that asks developers to respond to a set of goals and guidelines for the site that reflect community priorities. To learn more about the RFP process navigate to the RFP Process and FAQs tab.

Where is the Site?

The Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan City-owned site is a largely vacant 17-acre parcel a few blocks south of Linden Boulevard on the border of East New York, Brooklyn and Lindenwood, Queens. The site is bounded by Stanley Avenue to the north, 78th Street to the east, Forbell Street to the west, and Wortman Avenue/153rd Avenue to the south. The site connects to Spring Creek Park to the south. Unlike other parts of the surrounding neighborhood, the site is at a higher elevation and not subject to the same flood risk making it an appropriate location for new investment and development.

The eastern portion of the site will be used to construct DEP’s flood protection infrastructure: drainage ponds known as Bluebelts. Bluebelts are ecologically rich and cost-effective drainage systems that convey, store, and filter the stormwater precipitation that falls on our streets and sidewalks by preserving and enhancing natural drainage corridors including streams, ponds, and wetlands. In addition to being an excellent mechanism for reducing urban flooding and improving the health of local waterways, Bluebelts also provide open green space for communities and diverse habitat for wildlife. To learn more about Bluebelts visit DEP’s website.

The remainder of the site will be developed according to the Draft Zoning Framework and City-owned site planning principles outlined in the Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan. The plan envisions the site as an amenity for the larger community with new streets to better connect the neighborhood, diverse open spaces including flood protection infrastructure, commercial retail stores, community facility spaces, and affordable rental and homeownership housing. See an illustrative site plan example from the Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan below.

In addition to the new amenities that will be developed on the site, the wider neighborhood provides access to various existing and future amenities. North of the site are Pitkin Avenue and Linden Boulevard, commercial corridors offering various small scale retail stores and service businesses. Linden Boulevard is included in the Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan and envisioned to be further developed with additional retail and community amenities. Additionally, approximately one mile to the southwest is Gateway Center offering access to large commercial retail stores.

The neighborhood is served by the A express subway line which provides quick access to Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan and the local C subway line. The A and C trains run along Pitkin and Liberty Avenues with access at the Euclid Avenue, Grant Avenue, and 80th Street stations. Additionally, the New Lots Avenue station on the 3 subway line is located just over a mile to the east of the site. The neighborhood is also served by several bus lines including the B13, B14, B15, B20, BM5, Q7, Q8, and Q112. These bus lines provide connections for many neighborhood residents to the subway stations. Additional bus service will be available in the future with ongoing bus network redesign projects happening in Brooklyn and Queens.