A state-owned building that has sat vacant for nearly half a century in Clinton Hill will be transformed into a $111 million mixed-use development featuring 125 affordable apartments, according to an announcement Friday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The project at 1024 Fulton St. will include a 27,000-square-foot intergenerational community center and a health clinic, according to state officials. The development partnership, led by Fifth Avenue Committee, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and One Brooklyn Health, was selected through a competitive process run by Empire State Development.
“New York is proving that when we leverage state-owned land and listen to communities, we can build the affordable housing that our neighborhoods and our state needs,” Hochul said in a statement.
The three-story structure originally opened in 1912 as a Brooklyn Union Gas appliance showroom but has remained vacant for close to 50 years, according to state records. The city took control of the property in 1986 for unpaid taxes, and the state purchased it in 1997 with plans to create a community facility. Officials scrapped that idea after discovering major structural problems.
Multiple redevelopment efforts have collapsed over the years. In 2014, then-Assemblymember Walter Mosley intervened to halt an open-market sale of the building, arguing it should support affordable housing. A nonprofit selected through special legislation failed to produce a viable plan, and subsequent proposals also fell apart, including one that Mosley predicted would break ground by summer 2020.
Last year, the state moved toward demolition, estimating it could take more than two years just to clear the structure, according to state officials.
The new proposal reflects community input gathered in late 2024 and early 2025, when more than 150 residents participated in workshops about the site’s future, according to state officials. Housing for low-income New Yorkers and space for seniors and children emerged as top priorities during those sessions.
The roughly 149,000-square-foot development would include apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom units for households earning between 30% and 80% of Area Median Income, according to the proposal. Plans call for a community center operated by Fort Greene Council and a 1,000-square-foot health clinic run by One Brooklyn Health.
The building would be designed to “passive house” energy efficient standards and include all-electric systems and a green roof, according to the development plans. The project would be 100% nonprofit-owned, meeting a key demand voiced by local residents during community workshops.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the project “a declaration that our city can and must deliver an affordability agenda that puts people before profit” in a statement.
Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, who represents the area, and other local elected officials have long pushed the state to move more urgently on the property, according to state officials. Neighbors have described the location as persistent blight on a stretch of Fulton Street that has otherwise experienced significant development.
The state’s Office of General Services will oversee demolition of the existing building to advance the project, according to state officials. The development must still undergo public review before final approval under an Empire State Development General Project Plan.
State officials estimate construction will generate roughly 350 jobs, with commitments to exceed 35% participation by minority and women-owned business enterprises and 30% local hiring.
Housing and Planning Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg framed the project as part of a broader push to build on publicly owned land. “Delivering affordable housing on publicly-owned land is a key component” of the city’s housing strategy, she said in a statement.
The announcement represents the most concrete attempt yet to revive a property that has stood boarded up through decades of neighborhood change in Clinton Hill.
