Brooklyn's Progress
December 2007/January 2008

BY JILL D’AMICO

The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a public-private initiative created to spur development in the area, unveiled its vision for the future last month with a set of images and an animated media presentation, narrated by Sir Ian McKellen. It is safe to say the Downtown Brooklyn you know now will look markedly different by 2012. But what does the plan mean for the small businesses holding out hope that they will be there when the towers top out?

Rose and Franchot Lee know a thing or two about grand plans. They relocated their business, Nature’s Lane, a florist and gift shop, from Brooklyn Heights to MetroTech in 1992, a year after the complex’s first building opened. They had been in business since 1974.

Sixteen years later, they are unsure what to make of the latest plans.

“It was good at first,” said Mr. Lee of their first years in MetroTech. “But then the businesses left.”

He told of how bank mergers and consolidations drove out employers like Chase Bank and  left the area with fewer workers – their customers – but the couple hopes residential development will help “pick up the slack” left by the corporate exodus.

A lot is riding on residential tenants in Downtown Brooklyn – DBP foresees nearly 15,000 units will be created within the next five years. Whereas office space was once expected to take up 4.5 million square feet, according to early projections when the area was rezoned in 2004, now only 1.6 million square feet is being planned.

While the DBP is optimistic more office space might be needed eventually, they are also touting the residential element will bring much-needed vibrancy to the area.

“In order for communities to thrive and grow, they have to be diverse… you want people living close to the area,” said Michael Burke, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s executive director of Policy & Strategic Planning.

Vincent Battista, president of the Institute for Design and Construction, a college on the corner of Flatbush and Willoughby, is carefully optimistic.

“We’re right in the middle of it and it will only add value to our building and location,” he said. “The development is good for architects and good for construction,” he said, but continued, “I have a feeling the problems are going to be the infrastructure.”

Infrastructure Concerns
“The roads can’t handle that traffic, the trains can’t handle the traffic, and the density’s increasing by 100%,” he said. “We’re going to have problems.”

One of the biggest projects is City Point, a mixed-use 58-story development to be built on the site of the Albee Square Mall. The property, developed by Acadia Realty Trust, now sits vacant while demolition is set to begin shortly on the parking garage behind the mall.

According to a summary handed out by the DBP, it will include 1,000 rental units, a hotel, retail space and 1,500 square feet of office space.

Across from City Point, plans are underway for Willoughby Square Park and a 700-space underground parking garage, for which the city has issued RFP’s; a developer is expected to be announce shortly. The park will be bordered by Willoughby and Duffield Streets, and Albee Square West. Across Duffiield Street will be two hotels – the Sheraton Four Points and a Starwood Aloft hotel, and another, unnamed building will be situated from the park to Fulton Mall.

It’s not all skyscrapers, however: there are street and traffic improvement projects underway to make the area more pedestrian-friendly. The MTA is currently building a connector tunnel to link the A, C and F subway lines to the R and M. A screetscape project is set to start in early 2008 for Flatbush Avenue and Adams and Fulton Streets, complete with trees, planters and new furniture.

Growing Pains
Most of small business’ problems will be on the surface: lack of signage and parking, sidewalk sheds and off-limit sidewalks are all issues they will have to contend with as construction is ramped up for meeting the plan’s 2012 goal.

Joe Chan, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, spoke candidly to the Brooklyn Paper last month, confirming some small businesses worst fears:

“Small businesses and residents will be inconvenienced,” he said. “And road conditions may worsen. There’s a need for ongoing attention and problem solving, and that’s something that we are and will be focusing on.”

“There will be a period where there is construction that may impact the area,” said Mr. Burke. “But all businesses need to understand that this only means more opportunity.”

Mr. Chan announced that in addition to two well-known restaurants, there will be at least one national retailer moving into the Downtown Brooklyn area, but added, "we think it will be more than one."

The Daily News’ Jotham Sederstrom has since reported Target is slated to open in the City Point building in 2011, less than a mile from their wildly successful location in the Atlantic Center Mall.

The DBP foresees a bustling, well-designed shopping district and a residential element that will feed those stores.

As for small businesses, there is help on the horizon, said Mr. Burke.

“The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and the individual BIDs are all working to make sure that business are impacted as little as possible, and that they will have access to resources,” he said. “That could mean the Chamber’s Business Solutions Center, the WorkforceOne center, Small Business Services – there are resources out there that businesses can turn to.

“In the long run, the area will be seeing thousands of more people coming in, which can only be good for business.”

Mr. Battista who tried to stay positive about impending construction helping businesses rather than hurting them added, “If there are any businesses left.”