Greenline (which is not online) is reporting that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development has suspended the redevelopment of the Greenpoint Hospital site in order to review its RFP process. In April, the agency had awarded the development rights for the property to TNS Development, a Queens- and Westchester-based affordable housing developer. That award was made despite the fact that two local groups with extensive experience developing affordable housing in North Brooklyn – Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation and Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council – had submitted bids.

GREC was particularly upset about getting passed over in the designation process, and for good reason – they had been advocating for development on the site for over 25 years, had already developed 45 units of affordable housing elsewhere on the hospital site, and had the support of Community Board 1. To top it off, TNS’s winning bid was remarkably similar to what GREC had proposed.

The suspension of the development process came after GREC had a joint meeting in July with HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero, the Mayor’s office, BP Marty Markowitz and Councilmember Diana Reyna. In suspending the development, HPD has agreed to reconsider GREC’s proposal and to “develop a line of communication with the community” (a promise that HPD has made many times before).