In this week’s Forefront story, Dan Rosenblum unravels the complicated saga leading up to Brooklyn’s much-discussed megaproject, Atlantic Yards. Taking a look at the community-developer agreements that made the project possible, Rosenblum explores how local leaders have reacted to both the met and unmet standards set down in the negotiation process.
Paul Gargagliano’s photography accompanied the story. Below, we have a slideshow of extra images that illustrate downtown Brooklyn’s evolving spatial and social landscape. Use the white arrows to toggle between photos.
Gallery: Brooklyn’s Evolving Cityscape
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A Brooklyn Nets fan representing his home team while leaning against an equally stylish ad for Barclays Center – the new 19,000 seat arena and home court for the NBA team in downtown Brooklyn.
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Construction on Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn begins to change the neighborhood.
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Barclays Center lights up the city after dark.
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Inside Barclays arena lobby.
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Sterilized and organized at Barclays.
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Paint job for retail space across the street from Barclays Center.
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Some retailers around Barclays have benefitted from the huge crowd drawn by the arena, while others have not.
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Atlantic Terminal Mall, the first Forest City property in downtown Brooklyn, is a mixed used development with a huge enclosed shopping mall, office tower and transportation hub.
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The view of Barclays from an eatery inside Atlantic Terminal.
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Chuck E Cheese at Atlantic Terminal serves lunch and dinner as a “reward” for youngsters with good shopping behavior.
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Chuck E Cheese offers games galore!
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It’s a tough choice of which prize to choose after a long day of gaming.
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Try your hand at the “Wheel of Fortune” in Atlantic Terminal.
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Retail humor for Atlantic Terminal shoppers.
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Besides Atlantic Terminal and the future Atlantic Yards complex developed by Forest City, other luxury high-rise units are being constructed around Brooklyn, changing the urban fabric for current and future residents.
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A view from the bottom of the neighborhood’s new soaring skyline.
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Triangle Sports, a family owned and operated sporting goods retailer, closed last year after almost 100 years of business.
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The three-story retail building that was once the home of Triangle Sports was sold for $4.1 million, setting the record for comparable retail space in the borough.
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The Raymond V. Ingersoll housing project resides in the second poorest census tract in Brooklyn. It is mere minutes away from the site of the Atlantic Yards megaproject.
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The Ingersoll Garden of Eden provides beautiful green space for the community to grow fresh food and enjoy leisure time.
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Gentrification has already begun to redefine the Park Slope neighborhood, but the number of Brooklynites receiving income support has rose 5% between 2005-2011. The widening inequality gap make issues surrounding Atlantic Yards even more pressing.
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Neighborhood street in Park Slope.
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The first community benefits agreement (CBA) in New York was signed by eight community activist groups, Mayor Bloomberg and Forest City Ratner as a pledge to provide affordable housing, local work opportunities and community enrichment programming to lower income residents with the Atlantic Yards development project.
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Reverend Herbert Daughtry of the Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance, was one of the community groups that negotiated the CBA. One of the perks they secured was a sweepstakes giveaway with a grand prize of free tickets to the Jay-Z inaugural concert at the arena. Rev. Daughtry and his staff devised a “fair and open system” to determine the winners.
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The two faces of downtown Brooklyn in transition.
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Urban art and flyers lining downtown Brooklyn streets.
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Megaprojects such as the Barclays Center, Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Yards will have huge impacts on the future of Brooklyn. CBAs attempt to mitigate damages and changes to the community, but real estate market pressures and profit-driven motives push developers to find loopholes in fulfilling their promises. These types of megaprojects are becoming a common trend in today’s rapidly urbanizing world.
Photos by Paul Gargagliano
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