About those repositioned Atlantic malls and the "Brooklyn Bowtie"

So, let's take a look at the page for Madison International Realty that incorporates the recently purchased (closed late 2017) Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal malls, developed by Forest City Ratner (later Forest City New York) and then sold by parent Forest City Realty Trust (since absorbed by Brookfield):

Madison International Realty was founded in 2002 by Ronald M. Dickerman, Madison’s President, with the idea of building a world-class global investment platform focused on providing liquidity to real estate owners and investors who otherwise had few options for facilitating early exits from their illiquid real estate ownership positions or monetizing embedded equity. Today, with offices in New York City, London, and Frankfurt and more than 40 professionals dedicated to the sourcing, underwriting, acquisition, asset management, and investor relations for the firm, Madison has become a global leader in providing equity capital in a diverse range of real estate transactions involving class A properties and portfolios. Madison International Realty is proud to introduce our retail platform dedicated to the operation of a recently acquired New York City retail portfolio which includes Atlantic Terminal + Center, Harlem Center, and Queens Place. With these acquisitions we are poised to become one of the largest owners of urban retail in New York City. Our vision is to bring a fresh perspective and many exciting, beneficial changes to these properties in order to create truly outstanding shopping experiences.

(Emphasis added)

In other words, they want to upscale the retail, add food vendors, and raise rents, as previously described. No longer should the malls be seen as the locus of middle-class/working-class shopping, especially since the neighborhoods nearby have steadily gentrified.

Regarding Atlantic Center, it states that "Well positioned vacancies of up to 50,000 Sf will allow for re-tenanting and renovation." Among the vacancies, by the way, is the former Office Max along Atlantic Avenue, which, for the winter season is the weekend home of the Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg.

Unmentioned is the potential for towers over the Atlantic Center mall, which were mentioned in the Amazon bid.

From Madison International web site

A new term

The web site refers to the "Brooklyn Bowtie":

— Nexus of Flatbush Ave and Atlantic Ave
— Public plaza space and Fort Greene Place provide significant opportunities for programming activations and relaxed public gathering spaces
— Excellent pedestrian flow and transit access from surrounding residential neighborhoods, the rest of Brooklyn and Manhattan
— Adjacent to the BAM Cultural District

I'm not sure if that's a bowtie if they don't include Site 5 across Flatbush Avenue, home to Modell's and P.C. Richard (and an ambitious proposed development plan) but it is an intriguing formulation.

Other context

The web site also touts the nearby Barclays Center and the many activities, as well as this neighborhood description:

Atlantic Terminal + Center are in Brooklyn’s hip Fort Greene neighborhood, located at the epicenter of Downtown Brooklyn, home to over 120,000 workers; 60,000 college students; 1,500 tech/innovation companies, 3,800 hotel rooms and an additional 3,000,000 square feet of additional commercial space under construction. The two Centers sit alongside Pacific Park, a 22-acre mixed use development with 6,400 residential units in 15 towers surrounding Barclays Center – home of the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Islanders, and over 250 events per year.

While the malls are at the bottom edge of Fort Greene, they occupy former urban renewal land that's almost an island in itself. The hipness, heavily touted in the photo collage below, is a few blocks away.

From Madison International web site

Also, while Pacific Park is touted as "a 22-acre mixed use development with 6,400 residential units in 15 towers surrounding Barclays Center," what goes unmentioned is that only four towers are complete, and project construction likely will last until 2035.