"This is my waterfront! You mess with it, I break your legs!" This is the public statement of a cheerful black-and-white dog, wearing sunglasses and clamping an unlit cigarette in his mouth. The man moving the dog's jaw and speaking on his behalf is Kevin Catucci, Executive Vice President of American Stevedoring.

Since the family-run shipping company took over a lease from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1994, the marine terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn, has been transformed from a moribund outpost to a thriving port, right near the belly of lower Manhattan. On any given day, it employs upwards of 200 people, depending on the volume of boat traffic, and Catucci claims an annual payroll of $37 million. Piles of lumber bound for Home Depot, sacks of cocoa from Indonesia heading to Nestlé, truck-size containers of the power beverage Red Bull--this is how they all come into New York. "We've made a success out of Red Hook," boasts Sal Catucci, Kevin's father and CEO of the company.

City Limits Magazine


April 2003:
Housing: The Next Generation

But the Catuccis and their business may not be in Red Hook for much longer. Their lease expires a year from now, and the Port Authority, which leases the site from the city's Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and spends several million dollars a year to keep it going, has sent strong signals that it does not intend to renew it.

This winter, the Port Authority and EDC hired the consulting firm Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler (HR&A) to study the economic viability of other possible uses for the 80-acre Red Hook Marine Terminal site, which encompasses Brooklyn piers 6 through 12--including housing, retail and recreation. The two agencies' request for proposals for a "Preferred Alternatives Development Plan" stresses "strategic advantages" that could attract developers, including "idyllic vistas of the Manhattan skyline...proximity to major business districts...and a number of economically and culturally vibrant neighborhoods, such as Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Park Slope."

Even in the current weak economy, the Red Hook waterfront could attract big private development dollars. At the eastern border of the marine terminal, a Boston developer is looking to turn a former dock warehouse into lofts. Directly to the north is the site of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Bridge Park, which the Port Authority has committed $85 million to help build on its old piers 1 through 5. And just to the west is the hot property of Governor's Island.

One of HR&A's tasks will be to identify developers and commercial tenants who are interested in the Marine Terminal site; another is to assess the real estate market and land use trends just inland from the waterfront. The consultant will ultimately come up with three or more development schemes that maximize economic benefits for the neighborhood, city, state and Port Authority.

But even if HR&A discovers that new commercial development could bring in more public revenue than a port, some urban planners argue that shutting down shipping would be disastrously shortsighted. "A diverse economy that includes a balance of industry and commerce and services is a key to urban stability," points out Laura Wolf-Powers, a planner with the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development. "The Port Authority is driving this, and EDC is going along. Someone should hit them upside the head and say, 'What are you doing?'" Wolf-Powers is talking with the Municipal Art Society and the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation about putting together an alternative plan for the site that would focus on retaining industrial and maritime operations.