Gowanus Houses Community Center Reopens After 14 Years

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — The long-closed Gowanus Houses Community Center will be reopened thanks to funding in the city's 2020 budget, officials announced on Thursday.

City Council members gathered at the NYCHA complex to reveal that nearly $1 million of council money will finally start the process of renovating and reopening the community center, which has been closed for 14 years except for limited senior services. The full funding ends a six-year-long wait since Gowanus residents first voted on a portion of it in Council Member Stephen Levin's participatory budgeting.

Residents said Thursday that it will mean classes, after school activities and community events once held in the center can now return to the housing complex.

“Now that the community’s voice has been heard and the funding has been allocated to renovate it and eventually reopen it we will once again have a center that the residents deserve," Ed Tyre and Theresa Davis, president and Vice President of Gowanus Houses Resident Association, said. "Thank you to everyone who made that happen."

Levin, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Council Member Brad Lander and Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel also revealed that another $2.5 million in the city's budget would be used to renovate and expand the nearby Wyckoff Gardens' housing complex community center.

The expansion will add a kitchen and classrooms to the community center, which no offers after-school programming and senior services. These new spaces will allow more skills and jobs trainings to be held in the space, officials said.

The reopening and renovation is possible in large part thanks to the City Council’s allocation of $947,000 in budget funds for the Center and surrounding area, including Council Member Levin’s previous allocation of $475,000 for the renovation project through Participatory Budgeting in 2014, after community members chose to fund upgrades for the center. Additionally, the de Blasio administration made a commitment of $3.5 million through NYCHA funding for the rehabilitation of the site.

Wyckoff Gardens Community Center is being renovated through $2.5 million in Council funding for FY20, which is in addition to $2.4 million previously allocated to the Center and surrounding area.

For the Gowanus Houses center, NYCHA and Levin's office will determine what services will be provided at the site after the renovation is complete. The council has given $50,000 so that some programming can take place while the renovations are being completed.

“These community centers are not only vital for NYCHA residents, but also for the entire neighborhood," Johnson said. "These spaces are places where neighbors meet to socialize, to participate in cultural and educational activities, to share their experiences... I applaud Council Member Levin, the advocates and the neighbors who tirelessly fought hard for the reopening of this center and the expansion of the Wyckoff Garden Community Center to provide more and better services."