NBA’s Taj Gibson Tries His Hand at Building Housing on Brooklyn Home Turf
By Abigail Nehring July 23, 2024 12:12 pm
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Veteran National Basketball Association player Taj Gibson launched a real estate company he hopes will be a slam dunk for affordable housing in his native Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Gibson partnered with childhood friends Tameek Floyd and Malik Brown — who all grew up in public housing together — to start a new community-driven builder, GFB Development. The company will team up with Alloy Development for its first project to bring affordable housing to the former Navy Yard Clubhouse at 240 Nassau Street, the firms announced Monday.
A spokesperson for Alloy said the developer hasn’t determined the size of the project, the number of units the joint venture hopes to create or how it will be financed. The property is currently zoned for up to 59,321 square feet of residential development, and the spokesperson said the firms plan to submit a rezoning application later this year to increase the development rights at the site, which Alloy purchased for $15 million in November, according to property records.
The project will give the 15-year NBA veteran, who had two stints with the New York Knicks, a reason to stick around home, as the ink is still drying on Gibson’s deal to play with the Charlotte Hornets for the next season.
Gibson said in a statement that he launched the firm with his co-founders to help give back to their native Fort Greene, which is home to three New York City Housing Authority developments.
“Growing up in NYCHA was a blessing and a curse,” Gibson said. “It made me who I am today, but I’ve also seen how limited resources and poor housing conditions can take a toll on families.”
State records show that GFB launched in February. Its first project will help revitalize a piece of the neighborhood with a bit of a checkered past.
Nonprofit youth services provider Madison Square Boys & Girls Club built a 24,180-square-foot clubhouse on the Nassau Street site at the edge of Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn in 1975. But the organization entered bankruptcy in 2022 after it was hit with some 140 sexual abuse claims tied largely to a single doctor, Reginald Archibald, who volunteered for the nonprofit decades ago and died in 2007.
Madison Square agreed to sell the property to Alloy last fall to settle its bankruptcy and use the proceeds to resolve the abuse claims.
The revelations left the longtime community hub at 240 Nassau unused, and many residents are reluctant to lose it. Alloy and GFP have started to address residents’ concerns by hosting dozens of public engagement sessions that began last year, according to the companies.
A spokesperson for Alloy said the joint venture has received valuable feedback, with residents emphasizing the need for truly affordable housing. Neighbors also asked for more local jobs with on-site training, retail that prioritizes local consumers, and a new community facility to replace the after-school programming Madison Square previously provided.
Alloy agreed to keep a community facility at the site as part of the redevelopment, and the developer has committed $2 million to help launch a temporary after-school program nearby while the Nassau Street project gets under way, as New York YIMBY previously reported.
Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.
