At two-tower 595 Dean, Chelsea Piers (two canopies) trumps Dean St. residential entry (one canopy); East Tower (B12), when a standalone, had its own entrance.

595 Dean residential entry far left, Chelsea Piers near left

The two-tower 595 Dean complex (B12/B13), filling out the southeast block of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, was said to open last week, thanks to the placement of a seeming press release from developer TF Cornerstone in the cheerleading publication YIMBY.

It was accompanied by renderings (example below left) showing the buildings surrounded by green, including street trees that have yet to arrive.

After walking around the towers last week three times, I was struck by how the buildings, at the sidewalk, cede so much space to Chelsea Piers, which is operating a fitness center in the East Tower and a field house in the West Tower.

And that means diminished Dean Street space for residents, with the two towers sharing a single lobby. That wasn't the plan before TF Cornerstone and Chelsea Piers entered the picture, as I'll explain below.

How many canopies?

595 Dean rendering, MOSO Studio

The complex--confusingly, to me--features only one lobby, in the West Tower, and an underground passage to the East Tower, leaving (it seems) relatively few places for residents of the East Tower to enter at its perimeter.

Consider, as shown in the photo above right, the West Tower has two canopies--a larger one at the far west end of the building, and a smaller one to the east for the Chelsea Piers Field House, which, like the fitness center, is expected to open in June.

Most of the space for both facilities is below grade, with 96,000 square feet once destined for parking dubiously reclassified as "recreational space."

The latter is a new category outside of the previously established project limits for commercial, retail and residential space, yet which somehow escaped scrutiny from Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project.

That delivers more revenue to the developer TF Cornerstone, and was approved by ESD, despite criticism from the coalition BrooklynSpeaks that it came without reciprocal public benefit nor any assurance that the 2025 affordable housing deadline would be met.

That contemplated plan, I suspect, helped ease the sale of development rights to the parcels from master developer Greenland Forest City Partners.

East Tower, with Chelsea Piers canopy

The East Tower, on the other hand, has only one canopy--and it's devoted to the Chelsea Piers Fitness Center, as shown in the image at right.

While in an alternative plan for the complex it might've been plausible to demarcate the building's entry with a canopy, in this case the interests of the commercial tenant take precedence.

The revised plan

And that, actually, has been the plan since 2019.

As shown in the schematic below, the two-tower complex has only one residential lobby, presumably to concentrate staff and manage deliveries, located at the western end of the West Tower, aka B13.

From 2019 presentation

It's hardly clear where residents of the East Tower, B12, enter the building.

A recent marketing brochure from TF Cornerstone, excerpted below, indeed shows a residential lobby in the West Tower, with retail spaces at the eastern end of the West Tower and the western end of the East Tower. 

The section in the East Tower west of Chelsea Piers, labeled BOH (back of house) in the presentation two images above, is the loading dock, as shown in the photo below. used for move-ins, as well as sanitation pick-ups, according to the architect.

East Tower: Chelsea Piers Fitness Center plus Canteen, and loading dock 

Looking at the lobby plan

So how do people get between the two towers? As indicated in the schematic below, from the developer's 2019 presentation, there looks to be an underground passage (aka Gallery) between the two buildings.

From 2019 presentation

Indeed, a filing with the Department of Buildings indicates that, in the building's cellar, there's a "Lower level residential lobby providing access to East Tower."

As shown in the excerpt below from the 2019 presentation, the lobby is at the West Tower.

From 2019 presentation

Other ways in: Dean Street?

But what about alternative entrances? If you're approaching the East Tower from the east, say Vanderbilt Avenue, there's no reason to enter the West Tower unless, perhaps, you're picking up mail.

At the western end of the Chelsea Piers section, at right in the image below, it looks like Chelse Piers has a door devoted to a Canteen, a snack bar. Then there's a large loading dock, for things like garbage pickup. Just to the left of that, there are two metal doors, which could be--maybe?--used by residents.

East Tower: loading dock flanked by service doors and Chelsea Piers Canteen

Other ways in: from open space?

Do consider, however, that East Tower rises 28 stories, with a nine-story podium fronting Dean Street, and the West Tower rises 23 stories, with an eight-story podium fronting Dean. That means the bulk of the buildings extend north of Dean, toward Pacific Street, within the open space.

So there may be some sort of entrance--I couldn't quite tell, and was shooting through a fence--at the eastern perimeter of the East Tower, as seen in the back of the photo below.

Looking west from open space toward East Tower

There are doors at the western perimeter of the East Tower, as shown below, but those look like emergency doors. That said, those approaching from the west would have less trouble entering through the West Tower and going downstairs.

Looking east from open space toward East Tower

The bottom line

YIMBY quoted what was surely a press release:

“Like all of our projects, 595 Dean Street was developed with a focus on enlivening and catering to the local community,” said Zoe Elghanayan, principal and senior vice president at TF Cornerstone. As our Brooklyn portfolio expands, we’re excited to bring much-needed, exquisitely designed, constructed, and managed housing to Prospect Heights, and look forward to welcoming new residents to our largest ground-up residential project in Brooklyn.”

2015 rendering of B12

Or, alternatively, catering to its tenants. 

It's hard not to think that, in the absence of the major Chelsea Piers complex, which is not "neighborhood retail" as promised but more of a magnet, that the East Tower especially would function more autonomously, with its own street number and residential canopy.

After all, when in September 2015 the B12 tower was proposed as a standalone condo building, with the address 615 Dean Street, it very much had its own residential lobby, as shown in the image at right, from a public presentation by the architect.

That plan never went forward, for reasons not fully explained, though in November 2016 Forest City--the junior partner then with 30% ownership but able to make unilateral decisions--announced a pause on the project. 

By 2018, Greenland USA had acquired all but 5% of Forest City's share going forward.

More on the retail

As indicated in the developer's brochure, there's retail space at the eastern end of the West Tower and the western end of the East Tower. Below, the glass front at the West Tower is retail space, destined--it seems--for a Chinese restaurant.

Neighbors and Community Board 8 have been alerted to a liquor license application that seems to be from a restaurant alternately referred to in documents as Ni Hao Restaurant (Ni Hao means "hello" in Chinese) and Pinch Chinese, which is an extant restaurant on Prince Street in Manhattan.

The glass front at the East Tower, as shown below, seems destined--as shown in a screenshot above--for a pizzeria named SIMÒ, which is already established in the Meatpacking District and near NYU. As shown in the photo below, the space is still being built out.