It’s full steam ahead for a multi-million-dollar project to redevelop the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Red Hook.

The city plans to transform the 122-acre terminal into a modern maritime port and mixed-use development.

“This is the way New York Harbor was built. Why it was built? Shipping served as a Mecca in New York Harbor, still does,” Michael Stamatis, Red Hook Container Terminal CEP, said.

The New York City Economic Development Council recently secured nearly $260 million in city, state and federal grants to redevelop the terminal for its Blue Highway Initiative, which would use New York Harbor to expand maritime delivery and reduce truck traffic across the five boroughs.

“The idea here is that you would have a new, modern pier with ships that could come up sideways to it. Probably, this will be the area most focused on Blue Highway. Goods coming in by barge and fast boat and out by barge and fast boat,” Andrew Kimball, NYCEDC President and CEO, said.

Developers also plan to add cold storage containers along the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in order to streamline deliveries to supermarkets, bodegas and restaurants.

“If that food can come directly into Brooklyn, go into cold storage, go out to its final destination or get on a barge and go up to Hunts Point and be processed, that is a huge win,” Kimball said.

As part of an agreement announced in May, the city is taking control of the entire terminal which was previously a Port Authority facility and officials established a task force to meet with community members and stakeholders about the plan which could include creating green space and housing on the property. But some residents say things are moving too quickly.

“We’re saying slow down this process. By the time we found out about it, it was already in full swing. Give us some actual transparency, let us have an actual voice,” Leah Carroll, who lives in Red Hook, said.

To address community concerns, officials pushed the deadline for a master plan from the end of the year to March and they say that is not to be taken lightly.

“Every day that we wait is another day that a pier might collapse here. We have now won $164-million in federal money. To secure those moneys, we need to move quickly to a master plan so we can deploy it,” Kimball said.

The Economic Development Council has held two public workshops and one virtual seminar.

There are two public site tours in the next few weeks and a public workshop being planned in the coming months.