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February 15, 2008
Forest City in the News
The Washington Post, A Different Kind of Park Springs From the Drawing Board
Ballpark and Beyond is adapted from Jacqueline Dupree's blog on development in Near Southeast, an area between Capitol Hill and the Anacostia River that is being transformed by the construction of the Nationals baseball stadium.
Although Nationals Park is getting the lion's share of attention these days as Near Southeast's biggest development, the 42-acre site two blocks to the east known as the Yards is starting its transformation away from its former life as the barren walled-off Southeast Federal Center. And we're now getting our first peeks at early designs for the development's 5.8-acre park on the banks of the Anacostia River.
Designed by M. Paul Friedberg and Partners, the park will have "passive and active" recreation spaces, along with retail and entertainment offerings that Yards developer Forest City Washington believes will make it a lively year-round destination for residents and tourists in the daytime and at night. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission have approved these preliminary plans in the past month, with compliments for what the CFA called the site's "energetic design."
Chicago Journal, Gateway project could cost $4 billion
Forest City Enterprises gets in on the action of another megadevelopment over train tracks, this time in Chicago.
Gerald Fogelson, the real estate impresario responsible for keystone South Loop projects such as Central Station, has announced plans to build another massive development in the neighborhood.
If the project, which is still in its preliminary stages, is ultimately built, more South Loop railroad tracks, the infrastructure that once defined the area, will be covered by development. It is a process Fogelson started with Central Station, built atop an old train depot.
Gateway, as the project has been tentatively called, could include 3,000 hotel units, 4,000 residential units and 300,000 square feet of office space, according to Tim Desmond, president of the Central Station Development Corporation. An office tower could be included in the plan, said Desmond.
The parcel designated for the site measures 23 acres....
Much of Gateway would cover railroad lines currently used by Metra, the commuter rail service. It would cost $4 billion and is expected to take a full decade to complete. Forest City Enterprises, a Cleveland-based developer responsible for such mega-projects as the Atlantic Yards buildings in downtown Brooklyn and the New York Times Co. building in Times Square, will partner with Fogelson on the project.
Posted by lumi at February 15, 2008 4:47 AM