A huge complex with an area of more than 9 hectares, including residential and office buildings (a total of 16 skyscrapers), as well as a basketball stadium, will appear opposite Manhattan, located from Brooklyn across the East River. The 53-storey Miss Brooklyn Tower will take center stage there.
This complex, the first versions of the project of which appeared three years ago, caused a wave of indignation among Brooklyn residents. This county could become the fourth largest city in the United States if it suddenly acquired independence. Its typical development consists of solid apartment buildings, rarely more than five floors, lined with tree-lined streets.
Now, in the middle of this prosperous and calm area, there will be a "variation on the old landscape of Manhattan" (in the words of Frank Gehry himself). In addition to the striking change in scale, the new plan also has social shortcomings: 15,000 new residents will settle in 6,860 new apartments, 23,000 cars will arrive at Atlantic Yards every day, and 18,000 fans will flock to the stadium during basketball games.
The developers tried to win over the local residents by the fact that the complex would supposedly have a lot of cheap apartments - the so-called "social housing". But today it is known that they will make up only 13 percent of their total number, while the rest will be elite.
The first version of the project (December 2003) was much more modest: the Nets stadium dominated the ensemble, surrounded by medium-sized office towers. In 2005, an updated version was presented: the skyscrapers were supposed to be higher than the current, final version by almost a third. But public outrage forced developers to change plans; but even a little smaller, the project continues to be rejected by Brooklynians. Despite its approval by the authorities, the Atlantic Yards plan has yet to survive two trials initiated by residents of the area.
