It sits on 12.57 acres (5.09 ha) of land, consisting of sixteen separate buildings.

[1] In 1944 NYCHA announced their plans to demolish the existing row houses on the blocks bounded by Hoyt, Bond, Douglass, and Wykoff Streets, to make way for a series of sixteen modernist towers, designed by William T. McCarthy, Rosario Candela, and Ely Jacques Kahn.

[2] By 1946 the land was cleared,[3] however, due to a wartime restriction of materials,[4] the project was delayed until 1948.

In January of that year,[5] NYCHA broke ground[6] and the project was completed by June of 1949.

However, following the recent rezoning & redevelopment of the Gowanus neighborhood, the community has secured the funds needed to reopen the center, along with other improvements.