An example of an easy transformation

Backing for a Behemoth in New York City. But it flies under the radar because it is only $1 billion on 14 acres with 3.3 million square feet. So why would I mention it here? Because of the fascinating and novel solution found by the architect to "[m]aking sure those lease revenues offset the project’s huge cost." The story continues:

If stores had simply been clustered at the ground floor of stand-alone towers, as they are in many developments, the site would have yielded just 250,000 square feet — about one-quarter the amount he ended up including.

The ingenious solution? (so the article seems to suggest):

...increase the project’s retail square footage by creating its distinctive full-block pedestal-style base.

(click to enlarge)

Putting snarky humor aside, what is significant here? They've transformed a horrible Corbusian isolated-towers plan to a basic urban layout reflecting the three rules which meets the street with ground-floor retail.

Obviously there are many other aspects of this project which demand attention. The project is roughly 25% retail. (Retail = 800,000 SF. Total project is 3.3 million with 1,100 apartments.) There is no way that 1,100 for-sale apartments can support 800,000 SF retail so the retail must perforce be relatively larger stores (maybe even big box?) to draw from other parts of Queens. So there is a question of compatibility of large-scale destination tenants with residential living.

And the driver was certainly not an attempt to make a better urban project but simply to make enough (or more) money for an adequate return to the developer. But the interesting point is how dramatically and simply a terrible project can be converted into what has the potential to become a good one.

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More on the project: Developer of $1B Sky View Parc condo is bullish on Flushing.

Bullish, eh? So what else is new?