Washington Square Partners (WSP) provided advisory services to the Downtown Brooklyn Council (DBC), a not for profit economic development group and the City of New York in the comprehensive redevelopment plan for Downtown Brooklyn, New York City's third largest business district after Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. MetroTech, with 5 million square feet of Class A office space that was fully occupied, had become an established commercial core of the downtown. Downtown also had several colleges, strong cultural uses and revitalized residential neighborhoods. However, areas adjacent to the established strong uses were underutilized and deteriorating. The plan was envisioned as a catalyst for attracting major corporate users, enhancing academic and cultural institutions, linking with residential neighborhoods and creating jobs. It became a key component of the City's long term economic development strategy.

The plan called for a major upzoning to encourage development of commercial, residential and cultural uses, significant infrastructure improvements including a new park, a public parking garage and the redesign of a heavily-trafficked arterial roadway to make it more pedestrian friendly and attractive as well as design guidelines to insure that new construction was responsive to the context of surrounding buildings and existing neighborhoods. Urban Renewal Plans were also amended and provided the ability to assemble key development sites so that they would be available to capture the next demand cycle. The overall plan as approved by the City Council will facilitate the Phase I development of 4.6 millionsquare feet of office space, approximately 1,000 residential units, 844,000 square of retail and 260,000 square feet of community facility space.

The Downtown Brooklyn Council initiated this planning effort, engaging WSP to assist in the development of the conceptual plan and an implementation strategy. When the City formally took over the planning process, WSP continued to provide services, primarily in presenting the private development perspective to development in the Downtown as well as assisting with the outreach strategy to stakeholders including community groups, private developers, and elected officials.

KEY ELEMENTS:

• Master Planning
• Zoning