The Gowanus as an ecosystem and as a neighborhood is so interesting because it is being remade at a systemic level in so many different ways over a relatively short period of time for an urban area.
Life Time, creator of 185 athletic country clubs including 13 in the Big Apple, signed a lease for a mammoth health-and-fitness mecca at Charney Companies' and Tavros' 175 Third St. with 85,000 square feet indoors on three levels, plus a 13,000 square-foot rooftop pool deck. Soon to be the largest building in Gowanus, 175 Third St. is part of the development partners' five-building campus called Gowanus Wharf.
Gary Francis had spent much of his life fishing, boating and diving in the vast blue waters of the Caribbean. When he came to New York City, he was mystified. The city is surrounded by water, but access to it was incredibly limited. Largely closed off and isolated, the city's water was unwelcoming, much of it bordered by barbed wire or "no trespassing" signs.
