New York City will take control of 120 acres of Brooklyn’s coastline, intending to develop a rugged patch of land into housing, retail, green space, and a modern, environmentally friendly port.

The no-cash deal, which will be announced Tuesday, represents the city government’s biggest real estate transaction in terms of physical size in at least two decades. The redevelopment zone stretches more than a mile, from the southern edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park down to the Red Hook neighborhood, and in some places a block inland. Most of that land is currently controlled by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.