Tower Watch Update: Brooklyn's Tallest Office Tower May Come To 590 Atlantic Avenue

Image via Google Maps.

In more Times Plaza news, there is an effort to develop the current site of the one-story P.C. Richards & Son and Modell’s Sporting Goods at 590 Atlantic Avenue — across from Barclays Center and Atlantic Terminal — into a skyscraper full of office space.

Greenland Forest City — the partnership between Forest City Ratner and Shanghai-based Greenland Holdings, which also oversees the development of the Pacific Park (fka Atlantic Yards) project — is behind the idea to create what Crain’s New York Business notes would be “Brooklyn’s largest office tower.”

The idea is to transfer 1.1 million square feet of air development rights from Times Plaza across the street. 590 Atlantic Avenue currently only has 440,000 square feet of space.

In order to transfer development rights and build a bigger tower there, the developers need to go through a state review process through the Empire State Development Corp. (ESDC), the state-controlled agency that has overseen the development of Pacific Park (the $5 billion project formerly known as Atlantic Yards). A spokesman for the agency did not return a request for comment.

As it turns out, Forest City Ratner is also one of the maintenance and funding partners for the Times Plaza redesign/expansion by the city Department of Transportation (DOT). Although they don’t control the plaza space, their existing relationship with the city and ESDC could aid their application.

With office space in high demand across much of Brooklyn’s waterfront (i.e. DUMBO, Downtown, in and around the Navy Yard, and Industry City in Sunset Park), it’s not a big surprise that the possible project already has some supporters in the business community.

The office tower already has the support of Tucker Reed, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a major local business group.

“Our office vacancy rate in downtown Brooklyn has fallen to a historic low of 1.6%,” Reed said in a statement. “We risk losing significant investment and further job growth in downtown Brooklyn if additional inventory does not come online in the immediate future.”

However, civic and community groups are more cautious and circumspect, bringing up the issue of traffic and safety.

S.J. Avery, co-chair of Forth on Fourth Avenue (FOFA), explained that

“from a FOFA perspective, it seems insane to build a mega tower on a site with such severe existing deficits in traffic control and public transport (bus and subway) capacity.”

The proposed office tower would not impact any existing or planned public space, such as the open space that is part of the Pacific Park project, the plaza in front of Barclays, and the city Department of Transportation’s planned transformation of Times Plaza at the intersection of Flatbush, Atlantic, and Fourth Avenues — surrounded on multiple sides by all the developments in question.

Reporting contributed by Donny Levit.