NEW YORK | Citypoint (Phase 2) | FT | 19 & 30 FLOORS

[NYRebel]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://fort-greene.thelocal.nytimes....local-protest/

Armani Opening Spurs Local Protest





By CRAIG GIAMMONA
November 20, 2012

Smh. Hopefully this doesn't affect other stores from moving into the borough (thinking about it). I read on Brownstoner someone was quoted saying "Why would we support something, we can't effort?" Who's forcing people to shop here!? And just because some people can't afford AX doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't have that opportunity to shop there. Furthermore, in my humble opinion AX is NOT expensive. However if it is for some, just shop somewhere where your pockets are comfortable.

Brooklyn as a borough is lacking in retail. Especially Mid to Upscale. I'm STILL waiting on an Apple store, but if people protest about an AX, who know's what they will say (cry) about Apple.

Though I don't think 9 People will stop or hinder Brooklyn's retail boom that's ahead, I feel it makes them look so silly. Priorities are so out of shape. . .

[NYguy]

http://ny.eater.com/archives/2012/12...n_brooklyn.php

Alamo Drafthouse to Open in Downtown Brooklyn







December 3, 2012
by Greg Morabito

Today, the owners of Austin's beloved movie theater/restaurant chain Alamo Drafthouse announce plans to open a brand new location in Downtown Brooklyn in 2015. The seven-screen theater complex will be located at City Point, a 1.8 million square foot megaproject that was recently home to the Dekalb Market. Like all locations of Alamo Drafthouse, the Brooklyn theater will offer food, beer, and cocktails, delivered right to your seat. Founder and CEO Tim League notes: "Although more than two years on the horizon, I can tell you that the City Point Brooklyn Alamo will be our best theater yet."

http://drafthouse.com/blog/entry/the...When:17:00:15Z

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is pleased to unveil its plans for a third location in New York: Alamo Drafthouse City Point. The seven-screen theater will be located at City Point, a new 1.8 million square foot mixed-use project that is being developed by Acadia Realty Trust and Washington Square Partners.

"I am extremely excited about the major development in downtown Brooklyn and proud to be a part of it,” said Alamo Drafthouse Founder and CEO Tim League. “Although more than two years on the horizon, I can tell you that the City Point Brooklyn Alamo will be our best theater yet."

The venue will feature seven screens of new releases, repertory programming and the Alamo’s unique signature programming in both 35mm and digital formats. Like all Alamo Drafthouse theaters, Alamo Drafthouse City Point will provide food and drink service to your seat and will uphold its famously strict no-talking policy. The new theater is currently scheduled to open in 2015.

Kenneth Bernstein, President and CEO of Acadia Realty Trust said “We welcome Alamo Drafthouse to the growing tenant roster at City Point which also includes fashion icons A|X Armani Exchange and Century 21 department store. Alamo Drafthouse is a fantastic entertainment anchor for the downtown Brooklyn community.”

City Point is a 1.8 million square foot mixed-use development in downtown Brooklyn, at the crossroads of historic brownstone neighborhoods, civic landmarks, universities and one of New York City’s busiest retail and office districts. The project will strengthen and anchor Fulton Street and downtown Brooklyn, the city’s third busiest central business district, by adding a critical mass of new retail, restaurants and entertainment options. In addition, the project includes critically-needed affordable and market rate housing, and will create thousands of new construction and permanent jobs for the local community.

[NYRebel]

http://citypointbrooklyn.com/about/gallery/renderings/










(Notice in the last render Willoughby West is present.
So based off this render the last tower, Phase 3, won't be as gigantic as I once thought. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong! Maybe it's just the angle too?)

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYRebel;5925314[I

(Notice in the last render Willoughby West is present.
So based off this render the last tower, Phase 3, won't be as gigantic as I once thought. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong! Maybe it's just the angle too?)[/I]

"placeholder"


I like this rendering...

[Fardeb]

Ahhh more renderings, today has been crazy. NYC is almost too busy right now, can't keep up.

680ft was the last height we heard for the phase 3 tower. In the render the building on the left is supposed to be pretty much an even 600, so with the crown i am thinking it still looks to be at least in the 650ft range. The last were heard though they hadn't actually finalized pretty much anything about the third tower so it's really just placeholder stuff.

[NYRebel]

Originally Posted by NYguy

"placeholder"


I like this rendering...

Originally Posted by Fardeb

Ahhh more renderings, today has been crazy. NYC is almost too busy right now, can't keep up.

680ft was the last height we heard for the phase 3 tower. In the render the building on the left is supposed to be pretty much an even 600, so with the crown i am thinking it still looks to be at least in the 650ft range. The last were heard though they hadn't actually finalized pretty much anything about the third tower so it's really just placeholder stuff.

You guys are right, I just hope the height is in that range or higher. So many renderings released today & this week is correct though! When people say NY is slowing down or can't build any more/no room to build I laugh with glee!

[NYguy]

http://furee.org/news/alerts/demand-...ent-city-point

Demand Good Jobs & Fair Development at CITY POINT!

When:
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Where:
In front of City Point, located at 1 Dekalb Ave off the Fulton Mall (Fulton St.) in Downtown Brooklyn.

Fed up with rich developers taking millions of our tax $$ and then screwing the community with low-wage jobs?!?
Join hundreds of union workers & community members to demand justice at Downtown BK’s largest development

CITY POINT: A bad deal for Brooklyn!

•Low-wage jobs
•Taxpayer $$ abuse
•Unaffordable housing
•Displaced small businesses

Together we can make City Point developers commit to:

•Use union construction labor with fair wages & benefits!
•Give workers and communities a bang for our buck for the $20 million in bailout funds the developer received!
•Build more real affordable housing for working families, not for people earning six figures!
•Hire local residents for upcoming retail jobs!
•Provide opportunities for local small businesses & those displaced from the Albee Sq. Mall!

[NYguy]

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories..._12_21_bk.html

Unions rally against Downtown’s City Point development




December 19, 2012
By Natalie Musumeci

Hundreds of union workers rallied at the under-construction City Point development in Downtown on Tuesday and accused developer Acadia Realty Trust of short-changing the non-union laborers building the massive housing and retail complex — which received a $20-million federal bailout in 2009.

A coalition of unions including sheet metal workers and carpenters argued they should have been tapped for the job and claimed project officials had no excuse for not paying higher wages to the non-union construction crew employed at the Dekalb Avenue site because the development received the tax-exempt stimulus funds.

Rally-goers — including politicians and members of the Brooklyn-based community group Families United for Racial and Economic Equality — chanted, blew whistles, and carried signs that read: “Acadia got bailed out; Brooklyn got sold out!”

“The only reason they’re not using union workers is because they don’t want to pay a fair wage,” said Terry Moore, the business manager of the Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers for Local 46.

City Point spokesman Tom Montvel-Cohen claims union protesters are wrong when they say the federal stimulus money is a taxpayer handout — it’s actually a bond that the developers will pay back in full, with interest.

“They have been saying this all along and it is not so,” said Montvel-Cohen, whose project could wind up being the tallest building in the borough.

“It’s borrowed money … it is still a loan.”

[NYguy]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Project Highlights Labor's Lag





January 21, 2013
By LAURA KUSISTO

As developers plan to break ground this week on the second phase of the City Point development in downtown Brooklyn, the long-anticipated project has become a flashpoint in a simmering battle over the use of nonunion construction labor.

Developers said construction work on City's Point's 670,000 square feet of retail space portion will be at least partially nonunion, and at least some of the space for about 700 apartment units likely will be as well. The 1.8 million square-foot project is being built with affordable-housing subsidies on city-owned land on the site of the former Dekalb Market and is among the largest developments in Brooklyn since the recession. The three-part project's first phase was also nonunion and was the site of periodic protests, but the labor situation for the larger second phase underscores how the city's powerful construction unions are losing their grip on development projects.

Paul Travis, of Washington Square Partners, which is developing City Point's retail portion with Acadia Realty Trust, said City Point's retail component would use a mix of union and nonunion labor to cut costs, get the project built faster and use more minority workers. The second phase will create about 3,780 construction jobs. "We're beginning to really have a good group of highly qualified competitive minority contractors," said Mr. Travis. "If you looked at a job like this 10 years ago, the world has really changed."

Construction of the second phase will begin with a huge retail space that will include Century 21 and a "market hall," similar to the Ferry Building in San Francisco or Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, which will include local food vendors. The second phase also includes about 565 units of market-rate housing and 125 units of affordable housing.

[Design-mind]

I am actually surprised that there is not more developments going in along Fulton, as it seems to be such a bustling area of Brooklyn. Nice project for the area. Hope there are more to come!

[NYguy]

http://commercialobserver.com/2013/0...nt-developers/

Gary LaBarbara of Building Trades Thrashes City Point Developers as Community Groups Rally for Changes





By Al Barbarino
January 31, 2013

Gary LaBarbara has an axe to grind with developers at City Point before they dig any deeper into Downtown Brooklyn. In a move that could exacerbate friction that’s already occurring at the community level, the president of the Building & Construction Trades Council of New York thrashed the builders of the development project, claiming that they are “failing” to meet the needs of the community by instead catering to private interests.

“City Point is receiving vast amounts of public subsidies ranging from tax exempt bond financing to property tax abatements,” Mr. LaBarbera wrote in an op-ed that appeared in Real Estate Weekly yesterday. “But on a score central to responsible economic development for everyday New Yorkers — creating good jobs that strengthen local communities — City Point is failing.”

“With so many responsible real estate development projects advancing in a way that creates good jobs paying area standards for wages and benefits, why isn’t City Point doing the same?” he said, aiming the next blow at the city. “Why aren’t city officials seeing to it that a taxpayer-supported project of this size is producing the best results for a workforce reeling from years of economic distress?”

The 500,000-square-foot, four-story building where Armani signed the 10-year lease—and where anchor tenant Century 21 will take 125,000 square feet in 2015—is part of what will ultimately comprise nearly 2 million square feet of retail and residential development space at City Point.

The project, which replaces the Albee Square Mall, is an anchor for the gentrification in the area, where a growing student population, thousands of new residential units in the area, new hotels and millions in infrastructure spending hit the area, brokers who viewed the project favorably told The Commercial Observer last month.

[J. Will]

Kind of wished I walked through downtown Brooklyn last summer. I skipped over it by taking the subway from the western edge of the downtown area by Brooklyn Heights to the station across the street from the new arena.

[NYguy]

^ It's worth a walk around...


http://commercialobserver.com/2013/0...t-in-brooklyn/

Arcadia Realty Trust Speaks Out After Verbal Assault of its City Point Development in Brooklyn


By Al Barbarino 1/31/12

While a spokesperson for developer Acadia Realty Trust expressed reluctance to get into a full-on spat over the issue, he defended his firm’s stance on the project, countering critics who said the project abuses taxpayer dollars. He claimed that the project benefits from a single government subsidy — and that it is essential for the affordable housing component.

“City Point will generate thousands of jobs and enhance Downtown Brooklyn’s quality of life,” said Tom Montvel-Cohen, with Acadia Realty Trust. “We are committed to maximizing local and minority contracting and employment as we create a LEED-certified development with the affordable housing, retail and entertainment options that the neighborhood well deserves.”

The three-phase project’s first installation, the site of the new Armani Exchange store that fueled animosity among some community residents, was built with non-union labor, as will much of the second phase, which includes roughly 690 units, 125 of which will be affordable. City Point’s developers have also pledged to rely more on minority workers than would be possible if working with a union.

“We’re beginning to really have a good group of highly qualified competitive minority contractors,” Paul Travis of Washington Square Partners, developer of the retail portion at City Point, told The Wall Street Journal, adding that a mix of union and nonunion labor will cut costs, save time and create 3,780 construction jobs during the second phase. “We’re pretty confident that in the next phase, we’ll be able to continue the hiring record that we have so we will become one of the largest employers of local workers in the neighborhood.”

[NYRebel]

Guys, I've found some videos! This project is one of my favorites in Downtown, I'm drooling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th0pi...ature=youtu.be
• Video Link




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyz9m...ature=youtu.be
• Video Link



Especially the first video (nice perspective, of the skyline)!
Though you can tell it's a little old because Barclays Center is no where near done. But nevertheless, enjoy it's worth the watch!

[NYguy]

Nice videos. I think this development is better than Atlantic yards in some ways.

[dc_denizen]

I like all the new development in Brooklyn, but would be concerned with the fate of the Fulton Street market once all these developments are completed. Hopefully something can be done to ensure that these independent businesses can survive if parts of the rest of the neighorhood move upscale.

[NYC2ATX]

Originally Posted by NYRebel

Guys, I've found some videos! This project is one of my favorites in Downtown, I'm drooling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th0pi...ature=youtu.be
• Video Link




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyz9m...ature=youtu.be
• Video Link



Especially the first video (nice perspective, of the skyline)!
Though you can tell it's a little old because Barclays Center is no where near done. But nevertheless, enjoy it's worth the watch!

Well f*ck.

[Duck From NY]

I used to work at Metrotech Plaza, and I found the neighborhood visually unappealing, but I also felt that it had great potential to be a canvas for some striking new buildings. I love the plans, and to hell with the nimbys.

[Fardeb]

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01

Recent permit filings show the first two smaller towers at 27 stories and 38 stories respectively, with the taller reaching 525 feet in height. Seems a bit higher than the renderings were showing.

Maybe tower 3 will push 700ft+ after all?

[NYguy]

Yeah, the retail base pushes the heights up. By the time the third tower is built, it could be Brooklyn's first 800 foot tower, assuming nothing else goes up that tall.