Brooklyn Broadside: What Will Downtown Brooklyn Look Like in the Year 2012?

April 5, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Holt%2C%20Dennis%2C%20new%20Photo%20by%20Krogius.jpg
Holt%2C%20Dennis%2C%20new%20Photo%20by%20Krogius.jpg
Share this:

By Dennis Holt

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — With all the development underway again in Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg and elsewhere, maybe it’s time for some crystal ball gazing. I’ve picked 2022, 10 years away, because it is safer than picking five years hence.

Subscribe to our newsletters

Andrew Cuomo will be in his second term as president, having been renominated at the 2020 Democratic convention held at Barclays Center. Christine Quinn will have just completed her second term as mayor, and Marilyn Gelber will be in her second term as Brooklyn borough president.

Almost all the projects in Downtown Brooklyn that are now underway will have been completed. The large Steiner residential project at Schermerhorn and Livingston streets and the City Point project will both be fully occupied by residents and offices. The tall building at the centerpiece of City Point will be completed; while it won’t quite be 65 stories as originally planned, it will still be the tallest building in Brooklyn.

The NYU-Polytechnic Science Center on Jay Street will be in full use, and the area immediately around it on Jay and Willoughby streets will have been fully redeveloped. Brooklyn Bridge Park will be complete by then, and work will be underway for the pedestrian entryway from Remsen Street down to the park.

St. Ann’s Warehouse will occupy the Tobacco Warehouse. There will be a permanent floating swimming pool between Piers 5 and 4 next to a berth for the Mary Whelan.

The most surprising development will be taking place at two sites of the north side of Montague Street between Clinton and Court streets — the Chase Bank corner and the building above the Sovereign/Santander Bank. Remember that City Planning did not include that side of Montague Street in the Skyscraper Historic District.

There will be two central business districts — one west of Flatbush Avenue, and the other east. The redesigned Flatbush Avenue Extension will not be as intimidating to cross as it is today, and the word “extension” will have been removed from the name.

The old Downtown, west of Flatbush, will be densely populated. The new Downtown, east of Flatbush, will have at least three new tall buildings.

But even I cannot predict how the building of the full Atlantic Yards project will take proceed — or when.


Leave a Comment

Related Articles

Leave a Comment