A year since the vote: What has happened at the BMT?

In September of 2025, 25 members of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force gathered alongside staff of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to vote on the vision plan that was to guide the redevelopment of the waterfront site. 

Huddled inside an office building at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal (BMT), the task force approved the vision plan with a narrow two-thirds majority (which was required to advance the plan) during a tense meeting that included several heated exchanges. 

Since then, the planning has progressed slowly. A Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation (BMTDC) has been formed to shepherd the project from vision to reality, the environmental review is ongoing, a lawsuit has been filed and denied, and repair work has begun on Pier 10 to allow for the installation of a new crane.

Here is a rundown of everything of note that’s happened since the vote that fateful September day. 

September 22, 2025: The BMT Task Force votes to approve the vision plan, 17-8.

October 2, 2025: The EDC launches a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI), seeking responses from the maritime industry for ideas for how to optimize maritime use at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. A promise of an RFEI like this was what flipped Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso’s vote from a no to a yes. The responses to the RFEI, while informative, are not binding and will only guide planning insofar as they fit within the vision plan. 

October 22, 2025: Three community members file a lawsuit against the EDC for failing to comply with the Open Meetings Law. In its response to the lawsuit, city lawyers admit the task force was purely advisory, despite repeated assurances from both EDC officials and local lawmakers that the task force had “final say” on the vision plan. On March 19, a judge denied the petition. 

October 28, 2025: The first of three public scoping meetings about the environmental review is held at the Miccio Center in Red Hook. Once a city agency has identified a project needing an environmental review, a process—which includes a public comment period—to prepare a Draft Scope of Work begins. Once complete, the scope is used to guide the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

November 19, 2025: The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) holds a Blue Highways Freight Ferry Field Day in lower Manhattan. The goal is to make the BMT a key hub for the city’s Blue Highway system by 2030. 

November 26, 2025: The Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corporation is officially incorporated as a not-for-profit entity. 

December 1, 2025: The initial board of directors for the BMTDC meets for the first time. The meeting lasts for eight minutes and is purely procedural. Corporate policies are approved. This three-person board is later replaced by a group of 23 members, which includes local lawmakers and city officials, as well as representatives of local nonprofits, the maritime industry, the community, and special interest groups. We provided an explanation of the BMTDC, as well as bios for all board members, in the July issue of the Star-Revue.

December 19, 2025: The new board meets for the first time, but not at full capacity. The meeting includes an update on various aspects of the redevelopment, including repair work on site, Blue Highways, the RFEI, and the environmental review. 

March 31, 2026: EDC extends public comment period for the Draft Scope of Work to May 8 following a push from local electeds. The deadline had already moved twice, from Nov. 17 to Dec. 11, 2025, and to March 31, but is now moved again to allow the community more time to review the responses to EDC’s RFEI. 

April 30, 2026: The BMTDC meets for the first time in 2026, now with Fifth Avenue Committee Executive Director Michelle de la Uz as chairperson. The meeting did not include much of note, other than a presentation from the EDC of the responses it had received to the RFEI. The auditorium at Borough Hall was open to members of the public, and while the room was far from packed, some community members had made their way there. One group of Red Hook and Columbia Street Waterfront residents wore hospital masks with red X’s on them, protesting a BMTDC rule which states that, while members of public may attend meetings, they are not allowed to address the board or the EDC.

End of July 2026: Components for a new crane are delivered in pieces via ship to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, where they are to be assembled during the fall of 2026. Simultaneously, upgrades are being done to the crane rail on Pier 10, which the crane will run along. Upgrades are needed because the new crane is heavier than previous ones. 

July 31, 2026: The Brooklyn Marine Terminal Advisory Task Force (BMTATF) convenes for the fifth time, on this occasion discussing transportation. Parallel to the BMTDC, the EDC also created the BMTATF to “advise and guide the refinement of the site plan for the duration of the GPP process.” (This task force is different from the one which voted on the vision plan; that one was disbanded following the vote.) Previous meetings have covered the environmental review process, the plans for the “BMT North” and Atlantic Basin portions of the site, and sustainability and resilience. The meeting on transportation included a presentation of plans to make the neighborhood “pedestrian first, including by severely reducing the amount of cars that go down Columbia Street and introducing a “parking maximum” for new residential developments (the rationale being that if there are fewer parking spots, fewer people will own a car). 

Fall 2026: This fall, both the BMTDC and the BMTATF will direct their focus to maritime issues, like maintaining a working port and how Blue Highways will be integrated into the redevelopment. The BMTDC will meet next on Sept. 17; the BMTATF will convene sometime in September and again in October for meetings six and seven.

The Star-Revue will continue to cover the planning process.