Consultant Stantec calls Atlantic Yards a "game changing" Transit-Oriented Development project (really?)

From Railway Age, 3/11/19, TOD: How New York got it right, by Stuart Lerner, Executive Vice President Infrastructure, Stantec (a design/engineering/consulting company):

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has gained prominence in boardrooms around the country with the increasing urbanization of society. The TOD terminology used by real estate developers, transit agencies and political leaders is “development that focuses on dense, mixed-use communities, integrated into a neighborhood within a reasonable walk of high-order mass transit—generally high-frequency rail or bus lines.” It serves as a way of capturing the value of large mass transit earlier in a project’s life cycle, thereby increasing the sustainability of the TOD.
This can be done by offering developers something they want—higher-density development, friendlier zoning laws or more retail—in exchange for sharing the cost of big-ticket items that benefit the entire community. The result is a walkable community that contributes to sustainable, resilient economic development that in turn increases property values and long-term financial stability.

And in New York, he writes:

It’s logical then that the New York Metro area has been one of the regions in North America where TOD has been most successful, using large-scale projects to generate the most significant improvements for the community.

Examples are projects like Grand Central Terminal (GCT) and its surrounding district, with "a new tower, One Vanderbilt Avenue, being constructed right across from the Terminal itself," which will supply more than $200 million for transit improvements. (Yes, Stantec is working on that.)

From the article:

Hudson Yards and Atlantic Yards, also game-changing TOD projects, have been under development in New York City in recent years, and there is no shortage of similar projects. As New York City continues to grapple with updating and upgrading its century-old-plus transit system, it can look to TOD as one valuable funding tool needed to help complete infrastructure projects and stimulate economic development.

Wait a sec. Hudson Yards, with much fanfare, opened its first phase. It has one subway stop, and a proposed second stop along the way wasn't built (but should have).

Atlantic Yards isn't game changing if it takes until 2035 and the transit improvements were primarily (not exclusively) to facilitate arena access. It's another example of what I call "Atlantic Yards down the memory hole."

Looking back at 2007 critique

Urban planning professor Tom Angotti wrote 6/5/07 for Gotham Gazette, in Atlantic Yards and the Sustainability Test

Atlantic Yards is promoted as a prime example of “transit-oriented development” because it is located over the third largest transit hub in the city. Yet Forest City Ratner plans to build a parking garage with 3,670 spaces, and in the first phase, which could last 10 to 20 years, create over 2,000 spaces in open parking lots. These would attract more cars and increase traffic congestion. At the same time, the plans currently provide for no improvements to subway and train stations, which are already over-capacity, and no additional trains. Bus service, under the latest proposals, would not be expanded and could even decline.

Note that the amount of surface parking was far less, was hardly used, and is now gone, and the underground parking, planned with 3,670 spaces, was ultimately reduced to 1,200 spaces, recognizing the proximity of transit (and the cost of building parking).

He wrote:

This “transit-oriented” development would bring in some 15,000 to 20,000 new residents of mostly luxury housing, a demographic that relies heavily on auto use. It would serve up to 18,000 Nets basketball fans during each game--fans who would come largely from the auto-dependent outer boroughs and suburbs and who will prefer to use their cars in the late evenings when games let out.

While its true residents of mostly luxury housing are more likely to use cars, the picture has shifted: the number of such residents would be less, and the proliferation of car-sharing and app-based ride hailing makes car ownership less imperative or attractive. Here are the numbers, from my FAQ:

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park has a projected 6,430 apartments housing 2.1 persons per unit (as per Chapter 4 of the 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement), which would mean 13,503 new residents, with 1,890 among them in low-income affordable rentals, and 2,835 in moderate- and middle-income affordable rentals.
That leaves 8,778 people in market-rate rentals and condos, though let's call it 8,358 after subtracting 420 who may live in 200 promised below-market condos. So that's 5,145 in below-market units, though many of them won't be so cheap.

Also note that the Brooklyn Nets fan base has been largely reconstituted, with those from New Jersey, the most likely to drive, dropping off during the New Jersey Nets' long goodbye, and many more from Brooklyn.

Game attendees significantly use public transit; those around the neighborhood point to far greater vehicle-related problems when there are children's shows or shows aimed at a senior demographic.

Bottom line: it's not nearly as bad as feared. But Angotti was right to observe that there "is no plan to reduce roadway capacity or introduce congestion pricing in Brooklyn.... If Atlantic Yards becomes a model for transit-oriented development in the city then just about any major project near a transit hub will be able to wear the mantle of sustainability, even if it ends up encouraging more, rather than less, driving."

Stantec's role

Yes, Stantec has been involved in Atlantic Yards, saying the construction value of the project it worked on was $150 million. The breakdown isn't specified, but presumably that includes not just the new subway entrance on the arena plaza and the Carlton Avenue Bridge, which are specified, but also some aspects of the revamped Vanderbilt Yard.

From their page:

Laying the foundation for the Atlantic Yards Development
When the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets decided to call Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center home, the community needed a major infrastructure facelift. Our team partnered with project sponsor, Forest City Ratner Companies, to design a new subway entrance, vehicular bridge, and other improvements to accommodate the arena. These upgrades now make it easier to get to and from one of the country’s busiest—and hippest—neighborhoods.

Um, not sure that fragments of a 22-acre site constitute a neighborhood.

Nine subway lines run through the station carrying tourists, shoppers, and sports fans to their various destinations. Over 66% of Brooklyn residents commute by public transit daily. And on game days, the Barclays Center Station can accommodate the 9,000 extra riders taking the subway.
Using our design as a guide, the construction team moved in equipment, switched over utilities, and rebuilt a bridge after dusk. By saving the big work for the wee hours, we could keep Brooklyn up and running.
Making way for the new arena meant reconfiguring the active Long Island Rail Road tracks that lead into the underground station. These tracks carry some of the busiest commuter rail lines in the country: up to 20 trains enter and leave the rail yard on any given day.
Part of the design involved reconstructing the Carlton Avenue Bridge to provide enough clearance for trains in the newly reconfigured rail yard. The catch? The trains had to keep running throughout bridge construction. The plan called for excavation on the north side of the yard and a rebuild of half the bridge. This would allow the trains to use the tracks on the other side. Once that half was complete, the whole thing would get flipped. Excavation would take place on the south side while construction would happen on the other half of the bridge.

That sounds like a formidable job. Unmentioned is that the bridge reconstruction was supposed to take two years but took nearly five years, closing in January 2008 and reopening just in time for the arena's 9/28/12 debut.

A Stantec video on the subway station redesign

Yes, it's a crucial component to visitor flow for the arena. That said, there are have been serious problems with the escalators and the elevator.