Dive Brief:
- Global construction and engineering giant AECOM has proposed a 246-acre waterfront residential development containing up to 45,000-units for the Red Hook area of Brooklyn, NY — a project at least twice the size of Battery Park City and nearly nine times that of the 28-acre Hudson Yards development in Manhattan.
- AECOM provided three variations of its plan, with the most aggressive including: 45 million square feet of new development, 11,250 affordable units, a waterfront protection system, almost six miles of neighborhood infrastructure improvements, 100 acres of new parks, and an extension of the subway with three new stops — together generating a $130 million tax boon for the city.
- The firm maintains that its development, which includes 80 acres of land currently owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, would help the area better withstand storms. It would also help to alleviate demand for housing in a city that expects its population to rise by 1 million residents in the next 10 years, according to the developer.
Dive Insight:
AECOM has not yet provided funding, logistical or cost specifics, but it has acknowledged that outside funding sources would be necessary to execute the project, according to Crain's New York Business. For example, the firm's most zealous plan would only pay for 45% of the $3.5 billion required to extend the subway, according to Gothamist.
This is just the latest in the growing trend toward megadevelopments in major cities. Related Cos.' Hudson Yards complex is built over a former rail yard and is expected to provide almost $19 billion in economic benefit to the city when completed. In Chicago, a Lendlease-led JV just broke ground on the $1.5 billion, 3,600-unit Riverline project in the city's South Loop neighborhood. The riverfront development will take approximately 10 years to complete and will feature a mix of for-sale and rental units.
Related's Midwest business unit is also tackling a large-scale Chicago development similar to its Hudson Yards project. The company has announced plans to build a multibillion-dollar, mixed-use development on the site of a former rail yard, currently a de facto homeless community. According to Related, over the next 15 years, the 62-acre riverfront property will become home to thousands of new residential units and millions of square feet of office and retail space.
