The New York Times - First Condos Soon for Sale at Barclays Center Site lyrics

By the time Barclays Center, the Brooklyn arena, opened in 2012 as a centerpiece to a ma**ive redevelopment plan then called Atlantic Yards, the project had endured years of lawsuits, a financial downturn and no small measure of controversy. Thousands of new apartments, initially projected to be done by 2016, had not yet begun to materialize as timelines were pushed back again and again to as far off as 2035. Now, after a yearlong sprint under a fast-tracked plan, the first 278 apartments at Atlantic Yards, rechristened Pacific Park Brooklyn, are to open for sales later this month. Construction is also underway on two other buildings with some 600 rental units, many of which will be subsidized. And more are in the pipeline. Roughly bounded by Flatbush and Fourth Avenues to the west, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, Atlantic Avenue to the north and Dean and Pacific Streets to the south, the $4.9 billion Pacific Park project encompa**es 22 acres designated for residential and commercial redevelopment. Eight acres of public green space will be included, replacing Pacific Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues. In all, the plan, now more than a decade in the making, calls for 14 residential buildings with 6,430 apartments, including 2,250 subsidized units, with a completion date of 2025. Six of those buildings are to be constructed above the Vanderbilt Yards, a storage facility for the Long Island Rail Road, which must be reconfigured to accommodate construction work before the final apartment buildings can go up. The new timeline was the result of an agreement reached last June among the developer Forest City Ratner, state officials and a coalition of community groups. At around the same time, Forest City Ratner secured an influx of fresh capital through a partnership agreement with Greenland USA, a subsidiary of Greenland Holding Group, a deep-pocketed Chinese development company. The joint venture, Greenland Forest City Partners, then pledged to expedite the affordable housing component or face steep fines imposed by New York State. The 2025 deadline was reached after a coalition of community groups, concerned that low-income residents of the neighborhood would be pushed out by rising rents before the affordable housing was completed, threatened to sue. The deal with the Chinese firm helped avert the lawsuit, as the project now has an additional source of capital to speed development. “I think we realized that we have this relentless sense of urgency, which this project needs,” MaryAnne Gilmartin, the chief executive of Forest City Ratner, said of the partnership. Acknowledging that the housing component has been a long time coming, Ms. Gilmartin said: “One of the frustrating things as a developer is the sense that we were dragging our feet when you do a project like this and you put so much early equity in.” She continued, “When you have litigation that prevents you from financing, you simply can't build.” Then, with the recession on top of that, “it became very, very difficult,” she said. Designed by CookFox Architects, 550 Vanderbilt, a 278-unit market-rate condominium scheduled to open next summer, will be the cornerstone of the planned community. At the corner of Vanderbilt and Dean Streets along the eight-acre park, the 17-story luxury building is designed to bridge the low-rise townhouses of the Prospect Heights Historic District and the high-rises of Pacific Park. Its facade of custom-fired bricks was inspired by the light-color masonry of the nearby Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph. The building will have planted rooftop terraces and oversize windows in the apartments; lobby and elevator vestibules are positioned to take in the park. A gla**-enclosed lobby will allow pa**ers-by to see the public park behind it. Windows bring daylight to the elevator corridors. “Every time you're waiting for an elevator you will be looking back out at the park,” said Rick Cook of CookFox, which states its mission as a dedication to “integrated, environmentally responsive design.” “People feel good when they are connected to nature,” Mr. Cook said. To attract a range of buyers, apartments will vary in price and size from $550,000 studios to maisonettes with their own backyards and entrances for more than $4 million. Interiors, also designed by CookFox, will have upscale finishes including chestnut floors and Carrara marble. The long list of amenities includes bike storage, a children's playroom and a pet-washing station. A sales office with a model kitchen and bathroom is to open later this month in the Barclays Center. CookFox is also the architect for 535 Carlton Avenue, the 18-story, 298-unit rental building going up at the corner of Dean Street. Apartments there, for low-, moderate- and middle-income families, will range from studios to three-bedrooms. Like a bookend to the park, 535 Carlton will sit at the other end of the block from 550 Vanderbilt. It will have a rooftop garden and take design cues from the existing neighborhood with gradual setbacks and brick facades. About a block away, at the back of the Barclays Center, foundation work is underway on another rental, this one designed by SHoP Architects with 300 subsidized units at 38 Sixth Avenue. It is scheduled to officially break ground later this month. In the fall, work will begin at 615 Dean Street on a market-rate condominium designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates with about 250 units. It will be on the park, next door to 550 Vanderbilt. Next summer, construction will begin on a 336-unit market-rate rental, with a public school at its base, designed by Marvel Architects. It will round out the Dean Street side of the park block between Carlton and Vanderbilt. All the buildings will seek LEED certification from the United States Green Building Council. Meanwhile, 461 Dean Street, a 32-story prefabricated rental going up beside the Barclays Center, recently restarted construction after a hiatus stemming from a dispute with Skanska, the Swedish construction company. It was designed by SHoP architects to be the tallest modular building in the world and was the first to break ground at Pacific Park. It is being developed by Forest City Ratner separately from the joint venture, with half of the 363 apartments intended for low-, moderate- and middle-income tenants. Ms. Gilmartin, of Forest City Ratner, said that after years of delays, “having the capacity just in terms of the partnership, the equity, a strong market and now great architects, that's the winning formula. So it feels really good to be here, because it's been a very long road to get here.”