New Big House Retail Idea Making the Rounds
The city is once again keen on the notion of adding retail to the ground floor of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue. Daily Intelligencer reported yesterday that city commissioners are shopping around a new proposal that will result in a vibrant shopping arcade for the building when it reopens at double its…
The city is once again keen on the notion of adding retail to the ground floor of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue. Daily Intelligencer reported yesterday that city commissioners are shopping around a new proposal that will result in a vibrant shopping arcade for the building when it reopens at double its old capacity in 2012. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill produced the rendering above as an example of what the space could look like, with Trader Joe’s as an imaginary anchor tenant. The revamped vision for the jail comes about a month after the Observer reported that the city had given up on its plans to allow for retail and condos in the property because of a lack of developer interest; a scheme to put a middle school in the jail also crashed and burned. Sandy Barboza, head of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, told Daily Intel that the city was merely trying to soften the blow of the jail expansion. It is not worth retail to have the jail double in size, said Barboza.
Jail Reopening and Expansion Proposed [Daily Intel]
Plans for Ground-Floor Retail at Brooklyn House of Detention [NY Daily News]
Try, Try Again: Brooklyn’s Jail with Retail is Back [Curbed]
Brooklyn House of Detention Plans Falter [Brownstoner] GMAP
Rendering from Daily Intel.
11:37 is correct. The NIMBY battle that would ensue if the HOD were proposed to be moved anywhere else would be monumental.
The city officials really don’t know what to do about the facility and were praying that a private developer would help them out of the wilderness. But the RFP for a mixed-use developemnt on the site failed and now they are back to square one. It is a mess.
Yes it makes a ton of sense to sell this jail and build a new one elsewhere. The chances of that actually happening are somewhere south of zero. There’s not a neighborhood between here and the north poll that wouldn’t launch a nimby campaign like you’ve never seen before. You think AY is bad? They just want to put condos over train tracks. A jail on the waterfront? You are delusional.
How about Eastside of Columbia Street – South of Atlantic?
10:29-three words for you: never gonna happen.
Want more words? The only way the jail will relocate is if someone can find a (a) big enough site, (b) more-or-less as close to the courts, (c) in Yassky’s district. You think there is enough political muscle to put a new jail in the Navy Yard? I don’t, but let’s just put that idea to the side for now. Your other suggestions are?
Let’s see, we could tear down Borough Hall…no; that’s a landmark. Uhh, instead of partnering with Ratner, the College of Technology could do a deal with the Department of Corrections. Now we’re thinking outside the box! Anything else?
Hey, 10:50:
That’s what I’m talking about! – 10:04
Condos, hotel and school all flopped here, but why has no one explored office space? Particularly government office space. They own the property, they want something done with it, they always need office space. They should cut a deal with a developer to build and lease back office space or a new court or something in the space around the jail (with retail at the base), then empty out a nearby government building and sell *that* to be turned in to condos. Makes financial sense for everyone, disguises the jail, and it’s good for the community.
10:39 – Misdemeanor defendants who are held awaiting arrainments are held AT THE CRIMINAL COURT – only defendants with bail set go to Jail (Rikers/BHOD)
That being said – there are plenty of locations that are within 2-3mi which the city could rebuild the jail on and at the same time take advantage of the higher land value of this amazing location (a retrofit is more expensive then ground up construction.). A 2mi bus trip does not cost significantly more or take significantly longer then a 3 block one.
That being said – reopen the current facility (for which 50M was recently spent upgrading) and demonstrate that the facility is NEEDED. If transportation costs are major justification – why do we need to expand the facility to take advantage of it now??
10:50 – The jail is directly next to Criminal Court (there are underground connections between the two) and down the block from Supreme Court. How much closer to the courts could it be?
Hey, 10:04, is it getting hot in here or what? I’m blushing.
The jail is an offense to the eye. It is an oppressive towering symbol of humanity’s failure, aimed, like a middle finger, at the residents of South Brooklyn.
We need to Howard Roark that sh$t. Force these corporate-party tools to build the jail where the courts are, and not where mothers and children live.
I still say turn it into a glossy, jail-themed hotel with big searchlights on the top and a rotating penthouse bar called “Murderer’s Row”. Where’s my CBA? Daaaamn.