Community Meeting About Brooklyn’s Retail Jail

If you’re wondering what’s going to happen with the city’s plan to reopen, add retail space to and double the population of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue, there’s a Community Meeting on Thursday (6/21). The meeting will take place at 7:00PM, at the Belarusian Church, 401 Atlantic Avenue (Atlantic and Bond). Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn will be the principal speaker. Community groups and affected residents make up the Stakeholder’s Group, which is hosting this event, including the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, the Boerum Hill Association, 53 Boerum Place, the Atlantic Avenue LDC, Brooklyn Vision Foundation and the Brooklyn Heights Association. According to the email for the forum:

This event will provide Commissioner Martin Horn a community-wide forum to present the DOC’s plans to reopen the currently closed Brooklyn House of Detention, and plans to expand the inmate capacity of the HOD — from 759 to 1,479 — in a new facility on State Street. The Commissioner’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion, and those attending will be given an opportunity to present questions and comments.

The city has requests “expressions of interest” from developers interested in participating in the project.

Related Post:
Meet the Really Big House on Atlantic Avenue

Meet the Really Big House on Atlantic Avenue

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px;The city’s Economic Development Corp. has issued a “Request for Expressions of Interest” for the Brooklyn House of Detention (AKA the Jail with Retail) on Atlantic Avenue.

The RFEI, as it’s known, talks about a 165,000 square foot jail expansion for 720 inmate beds and two towers with 238,500 square feet of residential or commercial space. Also an “urban plaza” at ground level and, of course, ground floor retailing. And “dormitory-style” cells. There’s a nice rundown of the possible future at the Brooklyn Eagle and you can catch the RFEI page itself here. The new-ish blog McBrooklyn also has a post up about it.

It is the start of what is certain to be a long and contentious process about the jail’s future.

Related Post:
Free Rooms with View: Atlantic Ave. Jail Expansion Update

Free Rooms With a View: Atlantic Ave. Jail Expansion Update

There was a meeting between community members and the Commissioner of City Corrections at Boro Hall yesterday to discuss details of the reopening and doubling in size of the Brooklyn Detention Center at Atlantic Avenue and Smith Street. Apparently, details will be released publicly next week. The writer of the email says:

The DOC has dangled before us the illusion of obeisant cooperation and transparency, going so far as to entertain (as a swap for expansion approval) retail uses on the ground (street) floor of this property, most particularly on Atlantic Avenue. With others, including AABA [Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association] I am opposed to expansion for any reason, even with the lure of retail as a sweetener….

In summary, matching location with commercial success requires a good bit of luck, not to mention perfectly tuned location for the use. It is true that we are in the midst of a major retuning of tastes and preferences. Speaking as an optimist and the owner of more than a few retail businesses and landlord of businesses over the years in this area, my instincts are ringing alarms of warning at the prospect of commercial success in this property. Who might want to occupy such a space? A major space user like a supermarket? Not. The block is in the vortex of major traffic volume, with deliveries virtually impossible. Enough commercial space exists, even with the foreseeable growth in our area, for likely needs…

We in downtown Brooklyn have had more than our fair share of overselling of proposed public uses (Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn Bridge Park, among others) with frequent failures of promised performance.

Can’t wait to see the details, and the reaction, next week. Maybe Trader Joe’s wants the retail space?