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October 31, 2009
Would the AY arena, like the new Yankee Stadium, suck retail inside?
Atlantic Yards Report
WNYC radio this week reported on a curious phenomenon: how the new Yankee Stadium gets Yankee fans to spend more money inside the ballpark rather than on the streets around it.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn suggests that's a cautionary tale for boosters of the Atlantic Yards arena.
Is it? Surely in part. After all, the official arena web site proclaims:
The Barclays Center concourses are designed to be wide, graciously active and accommodating with well distributed food and beverage locations... Prominent, active retail spaces are integrated into the main public concourse so as to contribute to the street life and activate the internal space.
...
On the other hand, only some people would be arriving directly to the arena block by train or subway. Others would be taking buses or driving to parking lots, such as the interim parking lots sketched in the Atlantic Lots scenario created by the Municipal Art Society.
So those visitors would have the opportunity to go to retail outlets nearby on Vanderbilt Avenue, Dean Street, Atlantic Avenue, and Flatbush Avenue--likely a very mixed result, pleasing some retailers yet frustrating those in the relatively quiet residential district of Prospect Heights.
Posted by steve at October 31, 2009 8:00 AM