diff --git a/components/dashboard/src/projects/NewProject.tsx b/components/dashboard/src/projects/NewProject.tsx
index 47cce7c49d5822..74c532e4d07a35 100644
--- a/components/dashboard/src/projects/NewProject.tsx
+++ b/components/dashboard/src/projects/NewProject.tsx
@@ -315,15 +315,17 @@ export default function NewProject() {
                                 <div key={`repo-${index}-${r.account}-${r.name}`} className="flex p-3 rounded-xl hover:bg-gray-100 dark:hover:bg-gray-800 focus:bg-gitpod-kumquat-light transition ease-in-out group" >
 
                                     <div className="flex-grow">
-                                        <div className="text-base text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50 font-medium rounded-xl whitespace-nowrap">{toSimpleName(r.name)}</div>
+                                        <div className={"text-base text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50 font-medium rounded-xl whitespace-nowrap" + (r.inUse ? " text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-500" : "text-gray-700")}>{toSimpleName(r.name)}</div>
                                         <p>Updated {moment(r.updatedAt).fromNow()}</p>
                                     </div>
                                     <div className="flex justify-end">
-                                        <div className="h-full my-auto flex self-center opacity-0 group-hover:opacity-100">
+                                        <div className="h-full my-auto flex self-center opacity-0 group-hover:opacity-100 items-center mr-2 text-right">
                                             {!r.inUse ? (
                                                 <button className="primary" onClick={() => setSelectedRepo(r)}>Select</button>
                                             ) : (
-                                                <p className="my-auto">already taken</p>
+                                                <p className="text-gray-500 font-medium">
+                                                    @{r.inUse.userName} already<br/>added this repo
+                                                </p>
                                             )}
                                         </div>
                                     </div>
diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/project-db.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/project-db.ts
index 35c7948b23e4f0..d18fab1b1d8d95 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-db/src/project-db.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/project-db.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ export const ProjectDB = Symbol('ProjectDB');
 export interface ProjectDB {
     findProjectById(projectId: string): Promise<Project | undefined>;
     findProjectByCloneUrl(cloneUrl: string): Promise<Project | undefined>;
-    findProjectsByCloneUrls(cloneUrls: string[]): Promise<Project[]>;
+    findProjectsByCloneUrls(cloneUrls: string[]): Promise<(Project & { teamOwners?: string[] })[]>;
     findTeamProjects(teamId: string): Promise<Project[]>;
     findUserProjects(userId: string): Promise<Project[]>;
     storeProject(project: Project): Promise<Project>;
diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/project-db-impl.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/project-db-impl.ts
index ea6abab77cf606..38e7bbe23b732e 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/project-db-impl.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/project-db-impl.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export class ProjectDBImpl implements ProjectDB {
         return repo.findOne({ cloneUrl, markedDeleted: false });
     }
 
-    public async findProjectsByCloneUrls(cloneUrls: string[]): Promise<Project[]> {
+    public async findProjectsByCloneUrls(cloneUrls: string[]): Promise<(Project & { teamOwners?: string[] })[]> {
         if (cloneUrls.length === 0) {
             return [];
         }
@@ -41,7 +41,23 @@ export class ProjectDBImpl implements ProjectDB {
         const q = repo.createQueryBuilder("project")
             .where("project.markedDeleted = false")
             .andWhere(`project.cloneUrl in (${ cloneUrls.map(u => `'${u}'`).join(", ") })`)
-        const result = await q.getMany();
+        const projects = await q.getMany();
+
+        const teamIds = Array.from(new Set(projects.map(p => p.teamId).filter(id => !!id)));
+
+        const teamIdsAndOwners = teamIds.length === 0 ? [] : (await (await this.getEntityManager()).query(`
+                SELECT member.teamId AS teamId, user.name AS owner FROM d_b_user AS user
+                    LEFT JOIN d_b_team_membership AS member ON (user.id = member.userId)
+                    WHERE member.teamId IN (${teamIds.map(id => `'${id}'`).join(", ")})
+                    AND member.deleted = 0
+                    AND member.role = 'owner'
+            `)) as { teamId: string, owner: string }[];
+
+        const result: (Project & { teamOwners?: string[] })[] = [];
+        for (const project of projects) {
+            result.push({...project, teamOwners: teamIdsAndOwners.filter(i => i.teamId === project.teamId).map(i => i.owner)});
+        }
+
         return result;
     }
 
diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/gitpod-service.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/gitpod-service.ts
index a0911270311551..a4ad550efb49a9 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/gitpod-service.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/gitpod-service.ts
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ export interface ProviderRepository {
     installationId?: number;
     installationUpdatedAt?: string;
 
-    inUse?: boolean;
+    inUse?: { userName: string };
 }
 
 export interface ClientHeaderFields {
diff --git a/components/server/ee/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts b/components/server/ee/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts
index e56ebee99cb8ce..5f164b98ca3c29 100644
--- a/components/server/ee/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts
+++ b/components/server/ee/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts
@@ -1440,8 +1440,25 @@ export class GitpodServerEEImpl extends GitpodServerImpl {
         }
         const projects = await this.projectsService.getProjectsByCloneUrls(repositories.map(r => r.cloneUrl));
 
-        const cloneUrlsInUse = new Set(projects.map(p => p.cloneUrl));
-        repositories.forEach(r => { r.inUse = cloneUrlsInUse.has(r.cloneUrl) });
+        const cloneUrlToProject = new Map(projects.map(p => [p.cloneUrl, p]));
+
+        for (const repo of repositories) {
+            const p = cloneUrlToProject.get(repo.cloneUrl);
+            if (p) {
+                if (p.userId) {
+                    const owner = await this.userDB.findUserById(p.userId);
+                    if (owner) {
+                        repo.inUse = {
+                            userName: owner?.name || owner?.fullName || 'somebody'
+                        }
+                    }
+                } else if (p.teamOwners && p.teamOwners[0]) {
+                    repo.inUse = {
+                        userName: p.teamOwners[0] || 'somebody'
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
 
         return repositories;
     }
diff --git a/components/server/src/projects/projects-service.ts b/components/server/src/projects/projects-service.ts
index 182f6861282578..7042371ec485f0 100644
--- a/components/server/src/projects/projects-service.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/projects/projects-service.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ export class ProjectsService {
         return this.projectDB.findUserProjects(userId);
     }
 
-    async getProjectsByCloneUrls(cloneUrls: string[]): Promise<Project[]> {
+    async getProjectsByCloneUrls(cloneUrls: string[]): Promise<(Project & { teamOwners?: string[] })[]> {
         return this.projectDB.findProjectsByCloneUrls(cloneUrls);
     }