Pacific Park Developer Wants to Replace Modell's With Borough's Biggest Office Building
Greenland Forest City — the developer partnership behind the Pacific Park mega-development — now wants to build one of the borough’s largest buildings across the street from the Barclays Center, according to Crain’s. Pacific Park’s behemoth office tower could employ thousands of Brooklyn workers and be as big as 1.5 million square feet, but only if the developer…
Greenland Forest City — the developer partnership behind the Pacific Park mega-development — now wants to build one of the borough’s largest buildings across the street from the Barclays Center, according to Crain’s.
Pacific Park’s behemoth office tower could employ thousands of Brooklyn workers and be as big as 1.5 million square feet, but only if the developer can transfer air rights from the nearby Barclays Center plaza, a triangle of land jutting out into one of Brooklyn’s busiest intersections.
Right now, 590 Atlantic Avenue is occupied by a Modell’s Sporting Goods and a P.C. Richard & Son. But in the fall, the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) — a state-run economic development group that helps coordinate public and private interests and complex real estate transactions — began the eminent domain process of transferring ownership of the site to Greenland Forest City.
With 590 Atlantic Avenue’s current development rights, GFC can build a 440,000-square-foot office building — something it’d planned to do for years. But with a little clever maneuvering, that square footage can be tripled.
You see, GFC also controls a triangle of land in front of the Barclays Center formed by the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues — across the street from Modell’s. At one point, the developers had planned to build a second commercial building there.
Right now, it’s home to a public plaza with wooden benches, metal planters and a sedum-topped subway station entrance. But GFC’s new idea is to keep the plaza as is and move its development rights over to the site across the street.
This is a big change for the heavily trafficked area and for Pacific Park. Originally the plan was to build a smaller 440,000-square-foot office building at the Modell’s site and a larger 1.1-million-square-foot office building at the Barclays Center plaza site, instead of one giant building.
With an air-rights transfer, the developer can construct at 590 Atlantic Avenue the borough’s biggest office building — practically on top of Brooklyn’s biggest transit hub at Atlantic Terminal.
Before this clever development-rights-transfer proposal can move forward, it needs to be reviewed and approved by the Empire State Development Corporation. An environmental impact statement will also be required.
As we mentioned above, the ESDC has been working closely with Greenland Forest City on the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park development — most recently using eminent domain to seize seven houses and condemn the Modell’s and P.C. Richard & Son stores.
The prospect to keep the pedestrian plaza while still creating approximately the same amount of space for workers could be appealing, although 1.5 million square feet is enormous and could mean a tower taller than the iconic Hanson Place clocktower nearby.
“Pacific Park was always meant to include modern office space,” said a Greenland Forest City Partners spokesperson in a statement. “We think the time is right for the borough to have an iconic office building for the new Brooklyn economy and the thousands of jobs it will bring to the doorstep of one of the city’s largest transit hubs. We’re exploring the best way to achieve this while preserving the plaza in front of Barclays Center as open public space.”
P.C. Richard & Son, which owns a portion of the development site at 590 Atlantic Avenue, announced last month that it is suing Forest City over the whole eminent domain sitch, according to The Real Deal. P.C. Richard & Son claims that in 2006 Forest City promised to give it a new space if the Atlantic Avenue site was ever taken with eminent domain.
At this point, it’s unclear how soon P.C. Richard and Modell’s might close.
Brooklyn needs more office space. Brownstoner readers already know the demand for offices is particularly high in Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo and the Navy Yard —- the highest it’s been since World War II. Only 3 percent of office space in the area is currently vacant, according to a study by the Brooklyn Tech Triangle. Add this one to the growing list of office developments now in the works.
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This should absolutely be built, but the developer should need to pay for improvements to the 4th Avenue station of the Atlantic/Pacific complex. The existing exits there won’t be sufficient.
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Additionally, once this is built, a pedestrian scramble crosswalk should be implemented at the 4th/Atlantic/Flatbush intersection.
This wont add to foot traffic because the pacific street entrance is in the same lot. Therefore the office building will have direct subway access. No need to cross any streets. It would be great if the resurect the original Miss Brooklyn by Ghery and put it in this lot.
In my view this article should be rewritten because it is confusing to the public. I have already seen the “air rights’ terminology adopted elsewhere and it is not correct. There is no such thing as “air rights” with Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. The project is defined by a General Project Plan and Design Guidelines which were developed largely without meaningful community or public input. When they have been modified in the past the State has withheld information from the public dishonestly and even illegally. That being said, the scaling and location of the buildings was detailed to the public as being the way it is for a reason. In order to make changes the developer and the State are going to have to explain the costs and benefits of their new plan.
Really what’s needed with Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park is open government working for the public explaining the benefits and costs of any changes in a genuine way.
When the office building’s final design is put together they should seriously consider a tunnel or attractive sky bridge.
Brooklyn needs more office space, and tearing down these two very unattractive low buildings would be great news. They will have to figure out a way to make that intersection a little more pedestrian friendly, for sure. But overall, it’s a good location for new office space.
They will need to do something about that intersection, if they are planning on having that many office workers coming through there every week day. I think that two smaller buildings would be more contextual with that side of Flatbush and Atlantic, as it is the entry point into low-lying Park Slope and Boerum Hill, but Forest City clearly doesn’t care too much about context or incorporating their builds into the existing surrounding area. Definitely do not see how they can justify eminent domain or the air right transfer.
Is that the official rendering? Could be worse.
That little plaza has been absorbed by Barclays according to the tax map history. First, I don’t know how one can transfer air rights across a street in a non-landmarked district and second, they must be trying to use the remaining development rights for ALL of Barclays Center, not just that sliver since it’s all one zoning lot.
Isn’t this just a shift of the already approved commercial space?
The benefit is : The plaza stays and the original allocated office square footage stays the same.
The cost: Added height and bulk of the office building would look a little out of balance on the Park Slope side.
— This tall bulky building could actually be a plus for the neighborhood. It would act as a shield,barrier/wall against the noise and pollution of the Atlantic/flat bush& 4th ave intersections.
Do you plan on opposing this project?
Honestly I dont see much opposition to this building. We really need more office towers and less residential towers.
I rather have an office building next to me than a comparable residential building any day of the week. For every other residential unit there is a dog. The first thing a dog does when they get outside is pee. In a building with 100 units you will have at-least 50 dogs. Every dog pees at least twice a day. That building will give you 100 dog urination’s in your area every day. 700 every week. Any time you walk by the Brooklyner you smell the results. Not to mention the added pressure on local schools and infrastructure. Downtown Brooklyn has to somehow disincentive any more tall residential buildings and incentivize office buildings. We have enough with the “affordable units” actually market rate scam.
More office space in Brooklyn should help alleviate some of the subway ridership heading from Brooklyn into Manhattan. If one lived in Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, parts of Bed Stuy and Crown Heights, or Park Slope one would be able to walk or Citibike to this proposed office building. I would certainly relish the thought of never again having to experience the horror that is the daily subway commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan. More office buildings in Brooklyn please !