The Plan: Balance and Nuance Reign at Gowanus’ Douglass Port

As Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood continues to reshape itself from a polluted wasteland into a vibrant live-work-play hub, Charney Companies and Tavros are leaving their mark on the area, creating a residential campus across five buildings and thousands of mixed-income units all within walking distance of one another. 

The latest development in this project known as Gowanus Wharf is Douglass Port at 251 Douglass Street. The 15-story, 260-unit property offers residents — who began moving in at the start of June — more than a nice place to live. It offers a vast community across several rental buildings that all share amenities and offer condo-level sophistication. 

“We realized we couldn’t build all of our amenities in one building,” said Justin Pelsinger, chief operating officer at Charney. “So there’s a rooftop pool at our Union Channel building, and then there’s a basketball court here at Douglass Port. You get reciprocity as a resident. The whole point of the Gowanus Wharf is to make people feel like they’re in a community.”

So, a resident who works up a sweat shooting hoops on the full-size basketball court at Douglass Port can then walk five minutes to Union Channel at 240 Third Avenue and take a dip in the rooftop pool, and vice versa. The same goes for all of the Gowanus Wharf amenities. 

Amenities that are specific to the Douglass Port building include a rooftop lounge, BBQ grills, and stunning views that includes the Manhattan skyline, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. There is another outdoor space on the third floor adjacent to the gym, plus a coworking lounge and children’s playroom. 

Douglass Port is about 20 percent leased, and still undergoing some nips and tucks, which should be wrapped up in the coming weeks, Pelsinger said. Of the 260 units, 58 are designated as affordable housing under New York State’s old 421-a tax program.  

Market-rate units include studio and three-bedrooms that range in rent from $3,400 to $4,750 per month. Each unit has an abundance of natural light, tons of storage space, and kitchen islands that  Pelsinger said were a must-have. 

“The biggest value that we see in the apartments is an island,” he said. “We’ll have a very grand island because naturally people just end up congregating and hanging around the island. We’re social creatures, and that’s what we do.” 

And that social aspect extends outside the units. Residents of any building that is part of the Gowanus Wharf campus will have access to the Gowanus Wharf app. This not only allows for keyless entry into apartments and for logging service requests such as maintenance and even dog walking, but also acts as a community center, allowing residents to come together over shared interests. 

“Because we have this app, we have so many community groups,” Pelsinger said. “People created their own groups. We have a gardening group, a football group, a fitness group, and people can come together.” 

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com