« FCR pushes back timetable for Building 2, hopes for groundbreaking by end of year, says SHoP will design that first tower | Main | Gehry’s $875 Million Tower Ripples High Above Brooklyn Bridge »
February 10, 2011
Brooklyn arena architect to design first residential tower at Atlantic Yards
The Brooklyn Blog [NYPost.com]
by Rich Calder
A hot Manhattan architectural firm has been tapped to design the first residential tower for Brooklyn’s long-delayed Atlantic Yards project – although officials confirmed they still lack the financing to build it.
As developer Forest City Ratner continues construction on the project’s NBA arena in the hopes of moving the Nets there by Fall 2012, company officials confirmed today that SHoP Architects would design the 400-unit building slated to go up next door at Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street.
Jane Marshall, a senior VP for FCR, said during a project meeting at Borough Hall that SHoP was selected in part to ensure the new construction blends with the arena.
...Marshall said she expects the residential tower design to be complete by June and hopes to break ground on it by the end of the year.
However, she said financing still isn’t secure for the tower – although the hope is that producing designs will generate interest from lenders to fund it. The rest of the project’s 16 residential and commercial towers remain on hold because of the slumping economy.
From the department of transparency and openness:
Although the press was not shut out of the meeting, the 90-minute session was not advertised as is required under the state’s Open Public Meetings Law. But Arana Hankin, who oversees the project for ESDC, claimed her agency’s lawyers “determined” Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meetings are “ad hoc committee” meetings and not subject to public meeting laws. The only reason the public knew of the meeting is because blogger Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report was tipped off about it and posted some information about it on his website. Oder, while allowed to take notes, was told he could not take video footage of the meeting when he arrived.
Posted by eric at February 10, 2011 9:45 PM