5 Minutes With The Gotham Point Team

Gotham Point, Awards for Excellence in Affordable Housing Development Finalist 

Bryan Kelly, President, Gotham Organization

Who has had the greatest influence on your career and what was the best advice he or she gave you?  

Over the last 8 years, I’ve worked with Rev. A.R. Bernard from Christian Cultural Center as a partner to create the Innovative Urban Village. He has been a key mentor and has made me a better developer by viewing the responsibility of development through the lens of the community – considering civic, sustainability, economic, and design attributes as an integral whole. The Gotham Organization, for over 110 years, has been a civic-and-community-oriented developer, and my relationship with A.R. has helped me further strengthen and reinforce those core values. 

As a ULI NY Awards nominee, what makes you most proud of your project?  

I moved to Long Island City in 2005 when only a few buildings existed at the waterfront. We didn’t even have a grocery store in the neighborhood. As a young project manager at the time, I dreamed of building a mixed-use development at the LIC waterfront that would be the pinnacle of its transformation. I lived there for nearly a decade and watched change unfold before my eyes. Twenty years later, I believe that vision has come to reality with Gotham Point. 

What excites you about the future of New York City?

New York City has vigor. It’s about innovation, transformation, and diversity. It never sleeps and always comes back. New York City has the best talent in the world, and many of our public and private marketplace leaders see our challenges as opportunities. We need to reinvent and put the status quo behind us. I believe the “Yes to Housing” movement is part of that momentum.