Buildings
Revised Atlantic Yards Plan Less Bulky, Yet Still Huge
(archrecord.construction.com - 05/17/2006)
By Sam
Lubell
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courtesy Forest City Ratner |
On May 11, Frank Gehry, FAIA, unveiled
new models for his 22-acre Atlantic Yards development in downtown
Brooklyn. He says the latest work is more sympathetic to the
scale and character of the residential area that the project
borders. Some of the buildings are shorter and less bulky
than those that were previously presented. Many of them will
have glass walls at street level, and others will not be built
so closely together. Most of the buildings will be clad either
in metal, glass, or brick, and their designs are generally
much less unorthodox than the models presented last July.
For instance many buildings that had been tilting in various
directions in the prior models are now standing straight up.
Making the project fit into the neighborhood
will certainly be a challenge. The $3.5 billion project, which
would be located at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic
Avenues, would be the largest project in the history of the
borough. It would include about 600,000 square feet of office
space; 6.79 million square feet of residential space; 850,000
square feet of sports and entertainment area, which would
be used as a new arena for the New Jersey Nets. There would
also be 247,000 square feet of retail, and seven acres of
open space. The plan calls for four office towers of 35 to
60 stories, located near downtown Brooklyn’s commercial
corridor.
“It’s possible to make this
project fit into the area, to open it to more light and air,”
says Jim Stuckey, president of Atlantic Yards Development
Group. He says the arena will be fronted on most sides by
residential buildings, helping it blend into the area. Its
glass portions will be open to the street, showing off the
building’s interior. While huge buildings, like the 620-foot
Miss Brooklyn Tower and the arena itself, highlight the project
the majority of structures will be low-rise brick residential
buildings. Stuckey says the materials of many of the projects
are undecided, but that some would be more iconic than others.
“If we had all iconic buildings
this would be just a jumble,” he says.
The eastern edge of the site, which
creeps into the more residential, low-density neighborhood
of Prospect Heights, would form a superblock, with seven residential
buildings of 20 to 40 stories. Gehry’s design includes
4,500 rental units and 1,500 market-rate condos.
Neighbors still complain that the project’s
developers, Forest City Ratner, have not solicited enough
public input for the plan, which will likely utilize eminent
domain to condemn at least six buildings. Others complain
that the giant project will never fit into the neighborhood.
In a press release, the Brooklyn group Develop Don’t
Destroy Brooklyn said, “"The new design unveiled
by Gehry and Ratner today is 16 skyscrapers worth of window-dressing.
It puts a Gehry sheen on top of repudiated 1960's style urban
renewal.”
But Stuckey says his team has already
met with many local groups. Public review of the project is
now scheduled for the end of June, and completion of an environmental
impact statement is set for the end of July, he says. He adds
that the team has now procured 90 percent of the land it needs
for the project, and hopes it will not have to resort to eminent
domain to get the rest.
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