Downtown Brooklyn to have 25,000 residents by 2012

Downtown Brooklyn is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in the borough and is drawing many residents to the area with the promise of new commercial, residential and cultural developments.

A revitalization project began in the area in 2003 and should be completed in 2012. The project will create 23 million square feet of new development in the area that is bordered by Tillary Street, Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue.

Developers who are working closely with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP), hope to transform the area and create the atmosphere of more popular residential brownstone areas, like Park Slope.

The first step is to update the commercial spaces in the area. Downtown Brooklyn is already home to Fulton Mall, which will be given a facelift as part of the project.
Junior Melissa Mielnicki who lives at the St. George Residence near Downtown Brooklyn, frequently shops at Fulton Mall and agrees that the area does seem rundown and would benefit from the improvements.

All of the new retail spaces will focus on giving residents more diversity in their shopping choices. The DBP hopes that the addition of these businesses will provide all of the necessities residents need within walking distance from their homes.

Once developments are finished, residents would also have access to arts and cultural institutions within walking distance as well.

The DBP plans to expand the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), add a theater on Lafayette Street, create a visual and performing arts library and build a new stadium for the New Jersey Nets basketball team at the Atlantic Yards.

Integrated into both commercial and cultural developments will be greener spaces like Willoughby Square, a proposed 1.25 acre park and tree-lined medians on Flatbush Avenue.

With good access to public transportation and all of the new improvements to the area, the DBP believes they can attract enough residents to fill housing developments which will be a mix of luxury condos and more affordable housing.

Just a decade ago there were only 3,270 residents in Downtown Brooklyn, according to census data. By 2012, when the project is complete, developers estimate that 20,000 to 25,000 residents will be living in the area.

“It would have been a stretch to call Downtown Brooklyn a residential neighborhood a decade ago, or even a year and a half ago. But I think we are hitting critical mass now, and over the next 18 months we’ll be seeing things here that we’ve never seen before: thousands of people on the street after 8 p.m.,” President of the DBP Joe Chan told The New York Post.

While the DBP is confident that all of the new developments will improve the area, some current residents are worried about how all of these changes will impact the neighborhood.

The number of new residents predicted to move into the neighborhood worries Mielnicki. “That many people could defeat the whole homey, family oriented feel of the area,” she said.

Other residents share these worries and have even created a Web site, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), to protest many of the plans like the Atlantic Yards project.
Groups like DDDB believe that the developer’s use of eminent domain is unconstitutional and should not have been used to acquire the 22 acres needed for the project.

Locally-owned businesses, such as bars and restaurants were put out of business, residents lost their homes and important community services like homeless shelters were closed because of the project.

Junior Kathleen Black, who also lives at the St. George Residence, is also hesitant about the development plans.

“They need to find a balance between total commercialization and the community. We don’t need more silly shopping malls with a Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen,” Black said.

A group of residents sued Bruce Ratner, who is in charge of the Atlantic Yards Project, over his use of eminent domain because they claim he will profit more than the public will benefit from the project.

Both the initial lawsuit and the appeal case were dismissed. Despite protests, the Atlantic Yards project is continuing as planned.

The DBP hopes that as the project completes, current residents in the area will understand their vision of creating a vibrant, inclusive community and agree that it is a neighborhood anyone would be happy to call home.