Despite widespread opposition to the proposed $440 million expansion of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue, looks like it’s imminent. “The Department of Design and Construction inked a $32.5-million deal to hire Manhattan architecture firm Ricci Greene Associates to transform the prison into a 1,469-inmate facility with ground-floor shopping,” reports The Brooklyn Paper. The jail sits across the street from new boutique hotels and a slew of new building projects; might be bad for tourism, but the city contends is best for the judicial process. “It is more efficient to have prisoners in Downtown Brooklyn — near the courts and their lawyers — and it is better public policy to make it easier for families to visit the incarcerated, who currently await trial on remote Rikers Island,” they write. Opponents have vowed to fight the project, either through the ULURP process or in court.
City Says ‘Go’ Directly to Jail [Brooklyn Paper]
Brooklyn’s Jail with Retail is (Maybe) Moving Forward [Curbed]