What Is the NorthShoreNYC Plan for Staten Island's North Shore?

Staten Island's North Shore has a new plan to become a dense, walkable downtown, and it is drawing excitement and deep skepticism in equal measure. According to reporting from Crain's, Gothamist and The Real Deal, on Friday, September 25, 2026, City Council Speaker Julie Menin and North Shore Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks unveiled a vision plan called NorthShoreNYC to transform the waterfront from St. George to Stapleton into a real downtown Staten Island, one meant to rival the New Jersey waterfront across the harbor.

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What is the NorthShoreNYC plan?

NorthShoreNYC is a vision plan unveiled on September 25, 2026 by City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks, according to Crain's, Gothamist and The Real Deal. The goal is to turn the waterfront from St. George to Stapleton into a dense, walkable downtown district with housing, jobs and public space along the harbor. The framing is ambitious: leaders pitched it as Staten Island's answer to the Jersey City and Hoboken waterfront, which grew into high-rise neighborhoods over the last few decades.

What does the NorthShoreNYC plan include?

The plan envisions up to 2,500 new mixed-income homes, more than 20 acres of waterfront open space, and thousands of jobs. It targets long-stalled sites, including the former New York Wheel site and the underused Empire Outlets. Renderings released with the plan show a pair of 14-story residential towers on Bay Street. Those numbers are targets in a vision document, not commitments in a signed development deal, so the final count of homes and the mix of uses could look quite different once real projects go through review.

Is the North Shore plan approved?

No. This is a vision plan, not an approved project. It largely amounts to the City Council calling on the mayor's administration to rezone parts of the waterfront and to accelerate development on city-owned sites, while hoping private developers step up to build. Any rezoning would still have to go through the city's land use review process. The central challenge is the private side: even after the recent Bay Street Corridor and St. George rezonings, significant private development has not materialized on the North Shore, and only 1 developer, a nonprofit, appeared at the announcement.

Why are some Staten Islanders skeptical?

History. The North Shore has been promised transformative projects for decades and has often been left with failures instead, most memorably the New York Wheel, once planned as a roughly 630-foot Ferris wheel that was ultimately cancelled after construction had begun. Skeptics also raise practical concerns about traffic, transit and whether local infrastructure, from roads to schools to sewers, can absorb the added density. They question why this round of promises should be trusted when so many before it went unfulfilled.

What do supporters of the plan say?

Supporters argue the investment is long overdue. The North Shore sits next to the ferry, has some of the best harbor views in the city, and has large sites that have been sitting empty or underused for years. Residents who back the plan want the jobs, the housing and the waterfront access it promises, and they argue that doing nothing has a cost too: vacant lots, struggling retail and young families leaving the borough because they cannot find housing they can afford.

What could the North Shore plan mean for Staten Island homeowners and buyers?

For now, very little changes on the ground. Until a rezoning is actually approved and private developers commit real money, the plan remains a rendering rather than a reality, and homeowners should not price in a downtown that does not exist yet. If it does move forward, the likely effects cut both ways: new amenities, jobs and transit-oriented housing near the ferry could lift demand around St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton, while added density could strain traffic and services. Buyers and sellers on the North Shore should watch for concrete milestones, such as a formal rezoning application or a signed developer agreement, rather than headlines.

Questions about how this affects your home in Staten Island or Brooklyn? Work with Joseph Ranola, or text or call (917) 905-2541. New episodes of Daily Tesla News break down the NYC real estate stories that move the market.