NEW YORK | Citypoint (Phase 2) | FT | 19 & 30 FLOORS

[reencharles]

Wooow...
This is incredible. I just hope the city approves this project ... Brooklyn deserves a building like this, and among others that will be built soon. The city has to grow!

[JayPro]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Bedrock depth has nothing to do with highrises. You can build 100-floor buildings on swampland.

A long time ago, it made construction much cheaper and easier, but it's no longer very relevant.

Thanks for all the info, gents. This comment got me thinking for starters about Shanghai and the rumor (fact?) that the sheer sizes and density of the skyscrapers there is causing the land to give way beneath them.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

That massing diagram is for the previous proposal.

There are apparently no released massing diagrams for the newer proposal.

Right, and the massing shows 1 tower where the new rendering shows one large, or possibly two thin towers in the final phase, hard to tell.
Here's another look from The Local: Fort Greene / Clinton Hill

[plinko]

^Look closer, that's one building, not two.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by plinko

^Look closer, that's one building, not two.

Yeah, it looks like one building, but the rendering is so vague, it could also be slender towers with a shared base. Also part of the confusion comes from the article that states two "gargantuan" towers will be built.

The mock-ups, which were presented to Community Board 2 earlier today, showed two gargantuan skyscrapers on Flatbush.

It's likely that it's still just one tower. The massing of the smaller towers doesn't look changed to me, but the taller does. Anyway, it'll be cleared up as specifics become available.

[NYguy]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/0...nary_tower.php

City Point's Actual Plans and 'Totally Imaginary' Tower



Wednesday, March 28, 2012
by Dave Hogarty

It's difficult not to fixate on the image of a 65-story tower standing over DoBro's Albee Square, but the plans for Phase 3 of the City Point development that includes the tower still have renderings that are "really totally imaginary," according to Tom Montvel-Cohen, a representative of Albee Development LLC. The development consortium is just finishing up Phase 1 of their project—45,000 square feet of retail space that is about to get its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy—and concrete details about Phase 2 are now being released. The second stage of development consists of two towers—a 250-unit 19-story building, and a 400-unit 30-story building—connected by a four-story structure containing half a million square feet of retail space. Both buildings will be rentals, with the taller building leasing at market rate and the shorter building renting at a 50-30-20 mix of income levels, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. Any plans for that 65-story tower rumored for Phase 3 are still far in the future.

__________________________________



http://www.brooklyneagle.com/article...ft-retail-base
City Point’s Phase II Will Have 2 Residential Buildings Plus 500,000-Sq.-Ft. Retail Base
250-Unit 19-Story Building Will Be 50-30-20 Mix; 400-Unit 30-Story Building Will Be All Market Rate

By Linda Collins
March 27, 2012

In a presentation on Phase II of the City Point development last week before the Land Use Committee of Community Board 2 (CB 2), Tom Montvel-Cohen reported that Phase I, the four-story retail building that faces the Fulton Mall, is nearing completion. Montvel-Cohen, a representative of the development team, identified as Albee Development LLC, said that a TCO (temporary certificate of occupancy) was expected shortly. He also told the Eagle this week that announcements of any new retail tenants for the 45,000-square-foot building will also be made shortly. He had hinted earlier that rumors of who they are are not entirely incorrect.

But the real purpose of the CB 2 presentation was to gain acceptance for the design for Phase II and recommend it for approval to the city’s Public Design Commission — required because the project is being developed on city-owned land. For that, the decision was 12-2 in favor with one abstention, according to Rob Perris, district manager of CB 2.

Phase II will include two residential buildings — one a 250-unit 19-story structure that will contain the affordable units in a 50-30-20 mix of income levels; the other a 400-unit 30-story structure that will contain market-rate units. All will be rentals, according to Montvel-Cohen. Beneath the two residential buildings will be a four-story base containing approximately 500,000 square feet of retail. And throughout there will be green roofs and open spaces.

Although the image above shows the very tall tower of Phase III, which has been rumored to be potentially 65 stories, they are misleading and “really totally imaginary,” according to Montvel-Cohen. “There have been various conceptualized visions of it over the past few years, but we can’t talk about it because we don’t have a final design plan yet,” he said.



A model of the City Point development. Photo by Rob Perris

[NYguy]

http://fort-greene.thelocal.nytimes....eer-and-music/


DeKalb Market Returns on Saturday — Now with Beer and Music




The Local: Fort Greene / Clinton Hill


By LINDA VILLAROSA
April 3, 2012

The DeKalb Market returns this weekend — but now it’s not just a mall, but a hangout.

The one-year-old bazaar, which occupies the vacant lot on Willoughby Street at Flatbush Avenue Extension, was already popular thanks to its 60 food, arts and crafts, antique and vintage clothing vendors. But in the off-season, the shipping container souk added a beer and wine license and will now feature live music in the beer garden.

[Zapatan]

So the 65 story tower is a vision? damn

[sbarn]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

So the 65 story tower is a vision? damn

The design may be a schematic vision, however the third phase of this project will include a substantial residential tower.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

So the 65 story tower is a vision? damn

It's a vision because it hasn't been designed, it's phase 3. The other towers have.

[NYguy]

The market returns...


Scoboco

[The Jerk]

Pics from last week;

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by The Jerk

Pics from last week;

Fantastic, I like the mix of the old and the new. I used to work in the area, but I don't even remember what the Al B Square Mall used to look like. But I'm sure this building is an improvement.

[blueskylover]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Fantastic, I like the mix of the old and the new. I used to work in the area, but I don't even remember what the Al B Square Mall used to look like. But I'm sure this building is an improvement.

I know... turning out much better than i expected... still no word about who will occupy this nice looking building?

[Busy Bee]

Per Architect's Newspaper with short article.


A|N

[colemonkee]

If I've ever seen a candidate for tear-down and rebuild, it's this horrible patchwork of a building across the street. Citypoint looks good so far, though I'm not sure about the corrugated panels that don't seem to line up. It looks like a conscious design choice, though.

Originally Posted by The Jerk

[Busy Bee]

I think the corrugated panels are supposed to have a more kinetic look by being offset like that. Sort of like when someone is wearing a really busy tie on tv news, and the camera just seems to go crazy, yeah like that.

[Bronxwood]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

If I've ever seen a candidate for tear-down and rebuild, it's this horrible patchwork of a building across the street. Citypoint looks good so far, though I'm not sure about the corrugated panels that don't seem to line up. It looks like a conscious design choice, though.

That building is actually a handsome prewar structure. Unfortunately the side facing fulton street, the side in the your quoted picture, has either been reclad or is an ugly extension added decades ago. Here is the building from Bond street and Livinston Street:






Funny thing is, the new facade we see today (grey paint with Air conditioner cut outs) is supposed to be "an improvement" over the previous one. Quite a joke. They've made it look even worse than before.

[NYguy]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/0...nt_project.php

New Retail Anchor Century 21 Speeds Up City Point Project



Thursday, May 10, 2012, by Jessica Dailey

Plans for City Point in Downtown Brooklyn have been inching along, but now the whole development may be completed faster than expected. The Journal reported this morning that City Point developers have signed Century 21 as a retail anchor, and the decision should speed up the rest of the development. Developers Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty said they would not have moved forward before signing an anchor, and now they plan to break ground this summer on more than twice the previously planned 300,000 square feet of retail space and 250 residential units. Century 21 expects to open the new store by 2015.

_________________________________________



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Dressing Up Fulton Mall With Style

May 10, 2012
By LAURA KUSISTO

The transformation of Fulton Mall from a Downtown Brooklyn den of cheap cellphone outlets and fast-food joints into a more upscale shopping hub is set to take a significant step forward Thursday with a deal to open a Century 21 Department Store. The popular discount retailer would provide a high-profile anchor for the City Point development, a mix of mostly retail and apartments that is one of the largest projects under way in Brooklyn. It would be the first new traditional department store to open in Downtown Brooklyn since the area slid into decline in the 1970s.

By landing Century 21, developers said they would be able to break ground this summer on the bulk of the City Point development—675,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and 690 new market-rate and "affordable" apartment units at Dekalb and Flatbush avenues.

The deal—set to be announced on Thursday—could also potentially accelerate the timeline on a later phase of the development, a 680-foot-tall residential tower that would be the tallest building in Brooklyn. The developers, Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty Trust, plan to break ground on the tower by 2017.

"We would not have moved forward without an anchor. Century 21 was what we really needed to make this project a reality," said Paul Travis, project executive and president of Washington Square Partners. Century 21 said it would open the new 125,000-square-foot store—twice the size of its Upper West Side location—in the fall of 2015. The chain already has deep roots in the borough given that its second location opened half-a-century ago in Bay Ridge. Members of the Gindi family, which owns the chain, still live in the borough.

City Point would join other glossy new projects moving forward in Downtown Brooklyn, including the Atlantic Yards project and a new applied-science school planned by New York University.

Mr. Travis said the rapid redevelopment of Downtown Brooklyn helped move forward City Point, a city-owned site that developers said is the first new commercial development in more than 30 years on the Fulton Mall. The first, modest 50,000-square-foot tip of the project began in 2010 thanks to a $20 million bond from the federal government's stimulus program. The developers had planned to break ground this summer on 300,000 square feet of retail and about 250 units of market-rate and affordable housing. Instead, they now plan to announce Thursday more than twice that much retail and residential development. BFC Partners will build one building with 250 apartment units, half of which will be below market-rate and financed by the New York City Housing Development Corp. The second building is being developed by the Brodsky Organization and Michael Field, with 440 market-rate apartments.

[NYguy]

http://fortgreene.patch.com/articles...ails-citypoint

With a Promise of Benefits For All, Development Execs Hail City Point
Mega project gets plenty of kudos—though the status of a planned residential tower is far from clear.





By Paul Leonard
May 10, 2012

It was all smiles and handshakes on Thursday as development executives and elected officials gathered to celebrate the signing of City Point's first major tenant. Luxury discount retailer Century 21 will fill the mixed-use project's first completed space at 1 Dekalb Ave.—adding yet another recognizable brand to nearby Fulton Street's exploding shopping district.

However, the timeline for construction of perhaps the most anticipated component of City Point—a 680-foot residential tower that would surpass Fort Greene's One Hanson Place as the borough's tallest building—was far from certain. According to sources with knowledge of the effort, construction on what would be Phase 3 of the City Point development is dependent on a highly volatile real estate market.