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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Would the AY arena, like the new Yankee Stadium, suck retail inside?

WNYC radio this week reported on a curious phenomenon: how the new Yankee Stadium gets Yankee fans to spend more money inside the ballpark rather than on the streets around it.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn suggests that's a cautionary tale for boosters of the Atlantic Yards arena.

Is it? Surely in part. After all, the official arena web site proclaims:
The Barclays Center concourses are designed to be wide, graciously active and accommodating with well distributed food and beverage locations... Prominent, active retail spaces are integrated into the main public concourse so as to contribute to the street life and activate the internal space.
Beyond the arena block

On the other hand, only some people would be arriving directly to the arena block by train or subway. Others would be taking buses or driving to parking lots, such as the interim parking lots sketched in the Atlantic Lots scenario created by the Municipal Art Society.

So those visitors would have the opportunity to go to retail outlets nearby on Vanderbilt Avenue, Dean Street, Atlantic Avenue, and Flatbush Avenue--likely a very mixed result, pleasing some retailers yet frustrating those in the relatively quiet residential district of Prospect Heights.

Changes coming?

Should the arena be built, major changes in the retail profile near the site are likely in the offing, such as at the building once housing Bergen Tile at the corner of Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue.

It's still available.

(Photography by Jonathan Barkey).

Comments

  1. don't forget that the new yankee stadium has plenty of nearby parking lots and bus routes

    yet that hasn't seemed to help local shop owners attract more customers

    for a variety of sociological reasons, yankee stadium visitors simply aren't attracted to the surrounding south bronx neighborhood

    that clearly isn't the case at newark's pru center or manhattan's madison square garden, where nearby bars & restaurants are thriving on game night

    neighborhood attractions and appeal determine the economic impact of a new stadium/arena on local businesses, not the number of parking lots or bus routes in the area

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