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Brooklyn-based urban farmers look for new home after developer gives them the boot
By
David Brand
Published Oct 13, 2024
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Valery Rizzo, courtesy of OKO Farms
By
David Brand
Published Oct 13, 2024
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A group of urban farmers raising fish, growing vegetables and donating their harvest to low-income Brooklyn residents have about six weeks to find a new location before developers reclaim the site to break ground on a new Williamsburg waterfront skyscraper.
Oko Farms has operated from a vacant lot along the East River, between Metropolitan Avenue and North Third Street, since May 2021, while property owner Two Trees awaited approval to begin construction of the final piece of its Domino Park megadevelopment a few blocks away.
In August, Two Trees notified Oko Farms that it had until the middle of November — the tail-end of the harvest season — to leave the location so the developer could start work on the neighboring project.
Oko Farm staff and volunteers say they expected to get the boot eventually, but not so abruptly. They say they have little time to find a new location for their unique aquaponics system, in which plants filter water for around 600 fish that in turn fertilize the crops with their waste.
“It’s heartbreaking because we put in a lot of work to build a huge beautiful farm, and over the next month we have to break it down and move it into storage as we find a farm site,” said Sarah Perlmeter, a former Oko Farms operations manager who now serves as an adviser.
Perlmeter said Oko had been signing yearlong agreements before Two Trees activated a clause in the contract allowing them to evict the farm with three months' notice.
She said farm staff have asked to remain in place until mid-winter in order to finish their harvest and secure a long-term space for their fish and equipment elsewhere. She said Two Trees gave them an extra week and offered to let them store equipment in a nearby structure until March.
Two Trees spokesperson Jeremy Soffin said the company needs the lot as a staging area to store construction equipment and that it has already allowed Oko to use the site rent-free since 2021.
“We are now preparing to begin construction on the last building at Domino, which will deliver more than 250 units of affordable housing, and require use of the site,” Soffin said.
Fish as OKO Farms in Williamsburg
Valery Rizzo, courtesy of OKO Farms
The final Domino building, known for now as Site B, will contain about 1,000 apartments, including the units reserved for low- and moderate-income renters. Work on the complex will begin as New Yorkers contend with a serious housing shortage. Policy experts and city officials say the city needs more apartments to alleviate the housing crunch.
Two Trees plans to eventually develop two apartment towers — which are expected to reach 700 and 560 feet respectively — on the stretch of waterfront that includes the lot where Oko Farms now operates.
That development, dubbed River Ring, will also include around 1,000 new apartments, most of them priced at market-rate. One-bedroom units in other nearby waterfront buildings currently rent for around $7,000 a month, while two-bedrooms go for up to $11,000 a month, according to StreetEasy listings.
Perlmeter said farm staff are hoping to find a permanent location so they don’t have to continue moving their fish to different sites in a short period of time. Multiple moves could kill the fish they raise in the aquaponics system on the property, she said.
The farm is looking for its “forever home,” according to a section of its website that describes its relocation needs, which consists of a no- or low-cost lease on a half-acre, ideally part of what the farm calls a “positive community.” Oko employs local young people to work through the winter and grows a diverse mix of crops, with a focus on Afro-Indigenous vegetables and herbs, like okra and collard greens.
The pending eviction highlights “the precarity of urban farming in the city,” Perlmeter said.
“It’s a real barrier and stumbling block that we’ve faced and people are encountering constantly,” she said.
Tagged
housing
brooklyn
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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