125-Year-Old Manhattan Nonprofit Is Moving To Gowanus: Report

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — A longstanding architectural nonprofit from the Flatiron District is making the move to Brooklyn, according to the Architect's Newspaper.

The Van Alen Institute, which has been around for 125 years, announced last week that they will move their Manhattan headquarters to a new space in Gowanus, according to the outlet.

The design organization will set up shop in a 3,500-square-foot space at 303 Bond St. that they say will help them continue answering questions about displacement, city growth and the impacts of climate change.

“For Van Alen, maintaining a street-level space is not just symbolic; it is absolutely critical to our work,” Executive Director Deborah Marton said in a press release. "“As we’ve learned in our Flatiron District space, street access gives us the single most important tool in answering these questions: a direct connection with the public. Our doors will be open to our Gowanus neighbors and we look forward to listening to them.”

The Van Alen Institute, started in 1894 as the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, puts on a variety of public programming across the globe, including design competitions and research.

Their goal is to use design to improve people's lives and work with communities, scholars, policymakers, and professionals to work on the "most pressing social, cultural, and ecological challenges of tomorrow," according to their website.

That public programming will continue in the Bond Street space, where they plan to move in early 2020, owners said.

The announcement comes a year after the first hints that the nonprofit would be leaving the Flatiron District, when it sold its 30 West 22nd St. storefront, according to the newspaper.

“Van Alen’s new Gowanus space is an important mission-driven investment, and provides a sustainable home for our next 125 years,” said Jared Della Valle, Van Alen board chair and CEO of Alloy Development.

Read the full Architect's Newspaper report here.