Greenpoint Renter's Guide: Housing and Transit

Greenpoint housing comes in two very different kinds. Most homes (57%) are in row houses, walk-ups and small mixed-use buildings that PLUTO dates before 1940, and about a third are in waterfront and upland buildings finished since 2015. Older buildings call for checks on heat, lead paint and gas. New towers call for checks on lease terms, concessions and which tenant laws apply.

The figures below cover the area NYC Planning maps as the “Greenpoint” Neighborhood Tabulation Area (2020), built from the city’s PLUTO tax-lot data, version 26v2.

What the housing stock looks like

There is almost nothing in between. Fewer than 2% of homes are in buildings dated 1940 to 1999. Greenpoint went from a 19th- and early 20th-century neighborhood straight to a new-construction one.

Row houses and walk-ups

Older Greenpoint is small-scale. Buildings with 3 to 5 homes hold 18% of all homes, and buildings with 6 to 19 hold 35%. In PLUTO’s land-use groups, walk-ups hold 44% of homes and mixed buildings with stores 42%. That second group includes both older buildings with a shop at street level and new towers with retail.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Greenpoint Historic District in 1982. Its report describes buildings in the styles popular from 1850 to the end of the century. It notes that many frame houses on Milton Street and Noble Street were built for workers in the shipyards, and that Franklin Street has buildings from the early 1850s with shops below and flats above. In PLUTO, 333 residential lots with 1,429 homes fall inside the Greenpoint and Eberhard Faber Pencil Company historic districts.

Waterfront towers

The towers follow the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning, which the city approved in May 2005. City Planning described it as reclaiming two miles of East River waterfront for housing and more than 50 acres of open space. It added an Inclusionary Housing bonus: developers who provide affordable housing can build more floor area. The city projected that about a third of the new units would be affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

The biggest lots in PLUTO are all new: 834 homes on a West Street lot (2023), 766 at 85 Commercial Street (2021) and 745 at 1 Eagle Street (2020). Buildings with 100 or more homes now hold 27% of Greenpoint’s housing.

Getting around

The G train stops at Greenpoint Av and Nassau Av. In the MTA’s station dataset, Greenpoint Av is listed as fully accessible and Nassau Av is not. No other subway line has a station inside the area.

NYC Ferry’s East River route stops at Greenpoint, at 10 India Street. On weekday peaks (7 to 10am and 4 to 7pm) and on weekends outside winter, the route splits in two and only East River (B) trips stop at Greenpoint, so check the schedule. A one-way adult fare is $4.00, with $1.35 fares for seniors, people with disabilities and Fair Fares riders.

NYC Parks lists Msgr. McGolrick Park (9.1 acres) as the largest park inside the area, plus Box Street Park and Greenpoint Landing along the water. Bushwick Inlet Park (about 35.5 acres) straddles the southern edge, and McCarren Park (36.5 acres) sits just past it.

What to check before you rent

1. 1

   Old building: heat

   From October 1 to May 31, landlords must keep apartments at 68°F or more from 6am to 10pm when it’s below 55°F outside, and 62°F or more overnight, with 120°F hot water all year. In a small building with an old system, ask who to call and check the record for repeat winter complaints on Roofy.
2. 2

   Old building: lead paint and window guards

   Owners must presume lead paint in buildings built before 1960 unless testing shows otherwise. That covers most older Greenpoint housing. With a child 10 or younger, the owner must install window guards in a building with at least three apartments. See lead paint rights for NYC tenants.
3. 3

   Old building: gas

   Greenpoint is in Brooklyn Community District 1, whose Local Law 152 gas piping inspections were due in 2024 and are next due in 2028. One- and two-family houses are exempt. Ask whether the building has had a gas shutoff.
4. 4

   New tower: the real rent and the rules

   Some listings quote a net effective rent that spreads free months across the lease. Work out what you will actually pay with the net effective rent calculator. Homes built on or after January 1, 2009 are exempt from Good Cause Eviction for 30 years from the certificate of occupancy, so your renewal increase isn’t capped by that law unless the unit is regulated another way. Ask whether the building has 421-a stabilized or income-restricted units (see 421-a and rent stabilization).

Building conditions in the public record

HPD issued 3,074 Class A, B and C violations in Greenpoint from inspections in the 12 months to October 12, 2026. That is about 115 per 1,000 homes, against about 244 citywide (leaving out NYCHA-owned buildings). Class C violations, the immediately hazardous kind, ran about 27 per 1,000 homes against 77 citywide. The average mixes new towers with 100-year-old walk-ups, so judge any building on its own record.