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August 21, 2010
In Washington, federal money gets a Forest City project started; the adaptive re-use looks like... Brooklyn
Atlantic Yards Report
It shouldn't be a surprise that the first new construction in two years for Forest City Enterprises, outside of the Atlantic Yards arena, is a building that depends significantly on government subsidies.
What is something of a surprise is that the federally-insured mortgage loan for Foundry Lofts, a 170-unit, 80/20 multifamily apartment building at The Yards, a Forest City project in Washington, involves the adaptive re-use of historic former Navy Yard industrial building (right).
That looks a bit like Newswalk in Brooklyn, or the Ward Bakery, or the building once owned by Henry Weinstein near them at 752 Pacific Street.
The Ward Bakery is already demolished, with the Weinstein building (below; photo taken December 2008 by Tracy Collins) likely to serve as offices during the construction phase of the arena, even thought Forest City Ratner executive Maryanne Gilmartin said in court papers that the developer plans to demolish that building.
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Also notable is that, like Battery Park City but unlike Atlantic Yards, at The Yards a park will come first.
In fact, it will feature a 5.5-acre public park--not publicly accessible private space, as at MetroTech and planned for Atlantic Yards--though, as with many parks today, the financing is creative.
NoLandGrab: This is yet another indication that the ESDC and all those politicians who supported Atlantic Yards without reservation could have pressed Bruce Ratner for a much better project that would have saved some of the historic structures on the site and delivered goodies like promised open space first, instead of who knows when.
Posted by steve at August 21, 2010 8:29 AM