Atlantic Yards Becomes “Pacific Park,” Hires New Architects & More
Greenland Forest City Partners, the joint venture of Forest City Ratner and China’s Greenland Holding Corp/Greenland USA, have chosen to rename Atlantic Yards as Pacific Park, according to an article this morning on Curbed. The renaming is part of a larger rebranding effort, which also includes bringing on architectural firm CookFox–a company whose site says it’s dedicated to “integrated, environmentally responsive architecture”–in addition to Barclays Center designers SHoP.
New renderings have been released for Atlantic Yards Pacific Park, which show brown brick facades departing from the modular construction of B2 (now 461 Dean) and more closely emulating existing local architecture.
“[I]t would be shortsighted to launch more [modular construction] right now,” Forest City President and CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin told Curbed, although she said she hoped to implement it again at some point in the Pacific Park project.
“We want these to be urban buildings, not towers in a park,” CookFox’s Rick Cook told Curbed, explaining a staggered communal terrace and gardening area as a space “made… purposefully low so you can connect to the neighborhood.”
Curbed says work will begin on 535 Carlton Avenue (18 stories, 285,000 sq ft, 298 rental units; on the corner of Dean Street) this December, with construction at 550 Vanderbilt (275 market rate condos, 330,000 sq ft; also at Dean) soon to follow and work at 30 Sixth Avenue (300 units of affordable housing; between Dean and Pacific) to start in June.
535 Carlton and 550 Vanderbilt will each overlook a “specifically public” eight acre park designed by Thomas Balsley. Besides the 6,430 residential units and public park, the development will feature nearly 600,000 sq ft of retail and commercial space.
The affordable units to be built will be available to families making $48,000 to $104,000 annually, says Curbed. Greenland Forest City told Curbed they expect the entirety of Pacific Park to be completed by 2025.
What’s your take on the new name, look, and architect? Does it change your feelings for better or worse about the development?