Development Watch: Acadia Starts Albee Demo
As the Brooklyn Eagle noted earlier this week, demolition has begun at the Albee Square parking garage, site of the future 650-unit residential tower that will be brought to you by the nice folks at Acadia Realty Trust; when we stopped by yesterday, we saw the digger doing its thing on the roof (inset). As…
As the Brooklyn Eagle noted earlier this week, demolition has begun at the Albee Square parking garage, site of the future 650-unit residential tower that will be brought to you by the nice folks at Acadia Realty Trust; when we stopped by yesterday, we saw the digger doing its thing on the roof (inset). As you may recall, Acadia bought the property from Thor Equities early last summer for $120 million. At the time, the building (rendered at right) was rumored to come in at somewhere between 40 and 60 stories. It’s also slated to have at least 475,000 square feet of retail space and 125,000 square feet of Class A office space. Think there will be adequate demand for the latter?
Demolition Work Begins at Albee Square Mall [Brooklyn Eagle] GMAP
Albee Square Deal Closes, Fewer Apartments Planned [Brownstoner]
“what makes you think that the current credit situation and housing situation are going to severly derail things? all industries are cyclical, including financial services – some trimming/reorg following multiple years of record earnings is normal. if this progresses for several years to the point where we are erasing years of growh then there is need to set off alarms.”
This is our first global bubble. This explosion of credit cannot and will not sustain itself. Very soon this debt MUST be paid back. America as been on a credit binge for the last 10 years! And when not if it implodes, we will be in plenty of trouble.
When people respond to my post they not cannot come with any thing different. It’s always “Brooklyn is different” or “The Demand Bah Bah” but, no fundamentals of a real economy. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid, It’s too sweet for me.
The What
Someday this war is gonna end……..
I think 12:45/1:01 bends over backwards “in the interest of fairness.” Most of the tenants that s/he lists in the second post are in the MetroTech Business Improvement District but are NOT part of the MetroTech development project, which is entirely bounded by Jay, Tillary, Flatbush, Gold and Willoughby (less CUNY and Westinghouse).
Like the FDNY headquarters, 320/330 Jay Street was constructed FOR the Supreme and Family Court, as the anchor tenants. I stand by my original accusation of “revisionist history.” — 12:46
Mr/Ms/Mrs What – long term capital, tech bubble, 9-11, war in iraq and afg all have combined over the less than 10 past years, and things are still humming along pretty nicely, in fact much much better than prior to those events. what makes you think that the current credit situation and housing situation are going to severly derail things? all industries are cyclical, including financial services – some trimming/reorg following multiple years of record earnings is normal. if this progresses for several years to the point where we are erasing years of growh then there is need to set off alarms. do you actually believe in the alarmist viewpoints in many your posts? you seem a bit too well informed to.
In response to 12:33’s comment regarding there being “MUCH nicer” areas to live in Kings County, its really a matter of personal taste. I have lived in University Towers in downtown Brooklyn for the past 5 years and I just bought an apartment at ORO (also in Downtown). Before that, I used to live in Park Slope. One could certainly argue that the Slope, Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, etc. are “nicer” places to live than downtown Brooklyn. However, from my perspective, I have always enjoyed Downtown Brooklyn’s proximity to Manhattan. I don’t enjoy spending excessive portions of my day commuting. I work in midtown and on the Q train I have a 25 minute commute door to door…when I worked down on Wall street I had a 7 minute commute door to door on the R train. A cab ride home from midtown is $15. From Park Slope, my commute to Wall Street was 30+ minutes and was about 1 hour to midtown. My cab fare from midtown to the Slope was $22 or more. Personally, I think that once the enhanced retail services resulting from the forthcoming condo buildings, rental buildings and hotels come on line (when combined by the unparalled convenience) there will not be a “MUCH nicer” area in Kings County to live than Downtown Brooklyn.
12:45 here, in the interest of fairness:
HRA
Dept of Motor Vehicles
NY State Supreme Ct and Family Ct
IRS
and Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield (which was quasi Govt when the lease was signed)
But you are 100% correct, there was no bailout at Metrotech – both the private and Govt leases was contemplated PRIOR to a shovel hitting dirt.
By every measure Metrotech is a total success and assertions to the contrary are simply revisionist history; applying todays realities (which Metrotech helped create) to a project conceived in a much different past, decades ago.
any word on the retail tenants?
please no more ghetto discount chains that are polluting brooklyn retail
there are plenty of us here who are willing to spend a little more for quality goods & services
By the time this space is complete, there may be little or no Class A available, as there are several deals in the works for the vacant space now on the market.
the demand is and will be there, in an exponential fashion – as poster 1 alludes to, demand and pricing will build as the area progresses.
re desire to live in this immediate area alluded to in post 2, i think that there will be strong pref to live here from the non-family professional set. there is going to be lots of lux retail and resi in the metrotech area once all is fully developed, the working centers of manhattan are very convenient, the various social centers of lower manhattan are very conveninent, many social centric bk nabes are very convenient, and the whole arena and surrounding developments are w/n walking distance.
this area is going to be a nyc powerhouse 30 years from now – residentially and commercially.
Don’t like Atlantic Yards and/or Bruce Ratner and/or MetroTech? You’re entitled to your opinion. However, I just looked at the “Description and Location of the Proposed Action” from the FEIS for MetroTech and 12:33 is engaging in revisionist history. The project as built is pretty much as proposed.
I could belabor the point, site-by-site, but the statement above is just not true. Besides FDNY, the new HQ for which was included from the beginning, name the other major government tenants at MetroTech? The 9-1-1 call center? Sounds like “tech” to me. Anyone else?