Prisoner of Atlantic Avenue
3333 Broadway, between 133rd and 135th Sts., as seen from Google Earth
Sounds positively suburban next to the density envisioned by Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn (below): between 436,363 and 523,636 inhabitants per square mile (based on estimated population of between 15,000 and 18,000 residents over 22 acres). That is the density for the whole footprint, including the open space, the arena, and the office towers.
More Manhattan than Manhattan: Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards
Jim Stuckey, Forest City Ratner's project manager for Atlantic Yards, said this morning (after the release of the draft environmental impact statement) that many areas of the city have the same zoning designation that Atlantic Yards would. True, but those areas are just narrow strips of intense zoning that apply to the lots lining major thoroughfares such as York Avenue and West End Avenue, while the side streets of the Upper East and West Sides are dappled with charming brownstones.
Imagine that high rise from "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" being replicated, side by side, front to back, for seven city blocks, with only a few narrow streets in between.
Will Forest City get its target $800 a square foot for market-rate condos amidst such density? Let's hope they did their market research.
For comparison purposes, here are the other densest census tracts in the country, compiled by The Real Estate from Census 2000 data. They are all in New York City.
2. Bronx: E. Kingsbridge & 198th St. b/w Valentine & Grand Concourse: 212,000 inhabitants/square mile 3. Washington Heights: 173rd and 180th Streets b/w St. Nicholas & Amsterdam: 210,628 4. Queens: LeFrak City: 201,878 5. Yorkville: 86th & 89th Sts. b/w 1st & 3rd Aves.: 199,444 6. Washington Heights: 158th & 165th Sts. b/w St. Nick & Ft. Washington: 193,382 7. Yorkville: 89th & 94th b/w 1st & 3rd Aves. (incl. Ruppert Towers): 191,747 8. Washington Heights: 169th & 173 Sts. b/w Amsterdam & Ft. Washington.: 191,199 9. Yorkville: 94th & 96th Sts. b/w 1st & 3rd Aves.: 189,172 10. Upper East Side: 69th & 74th Sts. b/w 1st & 3rd Aves.: 186,884 -Matthew Schuerman
Excellent insights.
When Jim Stuckey said repeatedly "we're listening to the community," and Marty Markowitz said "the project is too big," am I crazy for having thought that meant that they WOULDN'T foist the country's densest, most-bloated development project EVER upon Prospect Heights, Fort Greene and Park Slope? As Rosie says, "where's the love?"
Add this extreme density to the most important vehicular and subway hub in the largest borough, and the potential disaster becomes truly frightening. This is not just a fight over a quiet Brownstone neighborhood. If we don't study the borough-wide effects of this project carefully, the City is screwed.
This development will kill the quality of life and the neighborhoods surrounding it for miles. I say kill the project before it even starts. And anyway, why the Nets? Send them back to New Jersey.
Atlantic yards need to be basically halved in size because the transport and automotive impact to the area would be devastating. You already can't drive Atlantic Ave on weekends or rush hour! What happens when you ad a stadium crowd PLUS six figures worth of tenants and workers? A LOGISTICAL CATASTROPHE!
One of the reasons I love Brooklyn so much is because it ISN'T like Manhattan. Now that's about to change. How can the politicians who claim to love this borough stand by and watch what made it so special be destroyed? Once it's gone, we can never get it back. This is indeed a very sad time for Brooklyn.
I agree with Jill and the other posters - if i wanted a Manhattan, or in this case, a second rate Manhattan, i'd live there. Also this taxpayer subsidized project will drive out the mom and pop coffee shops and restaurants and bring in the chains. It will just be a more crowded uglier version of the worst sort of suburb...
I also think Frank Gehry is a sensationalist fraud.