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.
The city’s mismangement and its waste of tax dollars on this site is scandalous. Fifty million dollars later they have an obsolete facility that is half the size they need. Even by government standards this is disgraceful. As for the future, I would expect more of the same. It is still the same people in charge. The same push and pull of politics and money. I will not hold my breath for the debut of a fabulous shopping arcade on the site.
A three block bus ride from BHD is preferable to an hour long ride from Riker’s. Plus, people charged with misdemeanors are often held overnight. It makes sense to house these people near the court.
The city wants retail at this location – not because it is concerned about the neighborhood – but because they want the revenue.
One day someone will ask why the city is paying 100’s of millions of dollars to fix up a facility that hasnt been used in years.
The city would be better off selling this parcel to private developers and building the jail somewhere cheaper (near the Federal MDC seems logical) – it is nonsense that the reopening is due to transportaion costs – the BHD is next door to the OLD Brooklyn Criminal Court which is used only for arrainments (where the defendants arent in jail yet) and misdemeanors – where the vast majority of defendants are not being held. Supreme Court is 3 blocks away at Jay street and requires bus transportation.
I am not NIMBY – I have no problem with the jail being used but I do have a problem with the city putting another 100M (after the last 50M) into a facility that isnt even being used and for which could be sold and relocated CHEAPER.
What in the hell is Trader Joe’s??
Law enforcement supply store. Handcuffs. Badges. Bullet-proof vests. Mace.
I’ll be excited if TJ’s opens up at Court/Atlantic by 2012.
Hey, TJ’s is all about “going with the flow” and “taking it as it comes.” They wear Hawaiian shirts, after all. Just chill out and when they open, they’ll open, all right? Jeez.
I agree with 9:16. It’ll be interesting to see how they address the security issue, and it’ll be interesting how they get reputable retail tenants to lease and to stay in the space.
Incidentally, why is TJs so slow to expand into Brooklyn? They should have at least two stores open in this borough already–certainly there’s the business for it. Wonder what it is about their corporate culture that makes reasonable expansion so hard. They’re model seems really adaptable to the realities of a particular place.
A great place for Chico’s Bail Bonds.