New Barclays Renderings & Project Updates
Yesterday, Forest City released new renderings from SHoP Architects of the Barclays Arena and the public plaza planned for the triangular intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues; construction has been underway since this summer. The 38,885-square-foot plaza space—which will include a new subway entrance, seating area, and a 30 foot high canopy complete with an…
Yesterday, Forest City released new renderings from SHoP Architects of the Barclays Arena and the public plaza planned for the triangular intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues; construction has been underway since this summer. The 38,885-square-foot plaza space—which will include a new subway entrance, seating area, and a 30 foot high canopy complete with an oculus—got most of the attention in the press release and at the announcement. We of course want the Plaza to function well as a gateway to the Barclays Center, Bruce Ratner said in the release. But it was also designed much like a park so it can be programmed for community events and diverse activities, such as a greenmarket and holiday fairs. (According to reports, Ratner actually name-checked The Flea as a possible tenant for the plaza but that was news to us.) The other headline grabbing news had to do with the future of housing on the Atlantic Yards site. According to The Brooklyn Paper, there are currently plans to build just one out of the 16 promised towers, which ain’t good news to the folks who supported the project because of the supposed public benefits. “Virtually all of the economic and public benefits of the mega-development — which include more than 2,200 units of below-market-rate housing, thousands of construction jobs, tax revenues for the city, and public space — are dependent on Ratner finishing the project,” says The Brooklyn Paper.
Fashion Week Coming to Atlantic Yards? [Observer]
AY Arena Team Unveils Public Plaza Design [Curbed]
Arena Going Up — But Will Rest of Project? [BP]
New Plans for Atlantic Yards Released [NY Post]
Barclay’s Center [SHoP Architects]
I’ve completely lost track of this project, but what is this rendering of exactly? A basketball center with a tower nearby? Is that what the Atlantic Yards things has become?
To say this plaza is anything at all, is to say the space outside MSG is a piazza. It’s a place to sell Nets t-shirts and newspapers and people walk into the arena.
Has anyone tried walking to Atlantic Terminal lately from the other side of Flatbush? The construction zone is huge, you have to walk all the way around and traffic is even slower going than before. Montrose said pretty much what I’d like to say, except to remind everyone who thinks Daniel Goldstein is somehow to blame for this project not being well-planned, visionary, etc. Ratner only paid the MTA 10 million up front for the land! That’s like the price of four or five brownstones! You can’t cry poverty for poor FCR with that kind of deal. And if FCR is indeed that stretched, the land should have been sold to another developer – Ratner wasn’t the only one to submit a bid. Whenever my Q train is late, I stew a little about this.
ishtar – I dont want to get into a petty back and forth with you but…
1. You cant blame Ratner for all the bad architecture and then when it is great architecture – say it is due to the architect (as you try to do in relation to Beekman)
2. 80 Dekalb is a 36 floor residential tower, as one of the tallest buildings in downtown it is hardly small and again it is very attractive (you put my parenthetical on the wrong dev)
3. Finally on Metrotech you clearly either werent here or were sleeping when it was proposed and built. It was not designed to “bring people downtown” or to create a 24/7 environment. It was designed to be an alternative to jersey city back office type space. And as that it has fully succeed (almost perpetually rented, fostered Renaissance Plaza and is now home to largest residential tower in the boro – with more on the way.)
When it was built no one was even dreaming of making downtown Brooklyn a 24/7 area, all anyone hoped is to attract large companies to relocate space there that would have otherwise left NYC forever – and it was designed to attract those customers (which it did in part by making the “campus” somewhat separate from the then horrible and then dying downtown scene)
While I completely agree with Montrose, I believe that large-scale developments are always, and have always been, the product of backroom deals and imperfect planning.
If one were to wait for the perfectly thought-out project, nothing would get built ever. So I know it isn’t perfect, but it has potential. The siting for a new arena and mixed-use development is ideal due to all the mass transit. So like I said, it has potential. The problems will be worked out once they have to be. That’s the Big Apple.
What I really hate is dumbed-down development like what is happening on Fourth Avenue. That is just a travesty. We should have gotten so much more there.
So….what streets will the stadium actually sit on, not Flatbush – right?
am having trouble picturing this
what will make this space a success is how it is programmed and/or controlled by FCR. The design (ugh.) doesn’t matter a whole lot here. hopefully FCR will invest resources and creativity into making it a space where people want to go, and not just on game day.
Montrose wins the prize for first person to mention “back room deals” in this AY thread
Two words:
Shit Sandwich
All I here is a alot of whining here and hindsight. Get over it.