On Thursday, August 3, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined Mayor Bloomberg at St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East New York for the groundbreaking of The Nehemiah Spring Creek Houses at Gateway Estates, a mixed-use development in East New York that will transform a former municipal landfill into a shining example of innovative, public-private solutions to Brooklyn and New York City’s affordable housing crunch.

Borough President Markowitz was joined by Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Shaun Donovan, Council Member Charles Barron, St. Paul Pastor Johnny Ray Youngblood, Related Companies President Jeff Blau, and other community leaders.

A 227-acre mixed-use community, Nehemiah Spring Creek Houses at Gateway Estates will include more than 2,000 housing units for sale at below-market rates, a 625,000 square-foot retail center, street-level retail shops, more than 100 units of housing for seniors, new parks and open public space, and a new public school. The project, more than 20 years in reaching fruition, is the result of a collaboration between public entities, private developers, and community and church groups, including Related Companies, East Brooklyn Congregations, a community organizing group focused on revitalizing former industrial sites, Community Preservation Corporation, and Nehemiah, a non-profit community development corporation with a track record of success in East New York.

“This is what we mean when we talk about smart development: mixed-use, income-diverse communities with street-level commerce,” said Borough President Markowitz. “This is not a case of ‘If you build it, they will come.’ This is based on the belief that ‘If you build it, they will stay’ — and that’s what we want East New Yorkers and Brooklynites to do: stay, participate in, and benefit from the Brooklyn Renaissance today and in the days ahead.”