It's Supermarket Sweep at Admiral's Row

Photo by Jake Dobkin

The Municipal Art Society attended a meeting today at which the negotiations between the National Guard, the owner of the property, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) discussed the future of the buildings at Admiral's Row. The meeting was part of the federally-mandated Section 106 process that requires federal agencies to study the impact of their actions on important historic buildings. Sadly, it seems their minds were made up, the Brooklyn Paper reports that they will save two of the historic buildings in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and destroy the others, making way for a supermarket.

This deal would not guarantee that the buildings (the Timber Shed and building B) would be preserved, rather, ownership would be transferred to the city, who would then "solicit bids from developers to build a supermarket and an industrial building as well as to 'test the market' to rehabilitate and maintain the two crumbling 19th-century structures."

While the city is smiling upon this agreement, MAS (who had their own plans proposed) and other preservationists are not. The former just released the following statement: “MAS appreciates the National Guard’s focus on this issue and the rigorous review it is conducting as part of the Section 106 process. We will continue to work with them to address issues that they have articulated in our effort to preserve more of the buildings. The Brooklyn Navy Yard is seeking to demolish the buildings to create a very large surface parking and we strongly believe that more of the historic buildings could be preserved by reconfiguring their plan.”

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By Jen Carlson in News on May 27, 2009 6:43 PM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

Could it be a Pathmark? Dare I dream?

Brooklynbobby

Looks to me like the buildings have been neglected beyond repair.

Preservationist

Sounds to me like you don't know what you're talking about. Two separate architectural firms - Beardsley Design and Crawford and Stearns - have judged those buildings sound, level, plumb, and certainly salvageable.

And to Sam and everybody else embroiled in the "does the neighborhood need a supermarket?" debate - yes, the neighborhood needs a supermarket; that doesn't mean they need to demolish Admiral's Row. Under the current plan, most of the buildings' footprints will become a PARKING LOT; the supermarket will sit on the land BEHIND them.

Brent Porter over at Pratt has given us a brilliant alternative - a green high-end supermarket / light industrial building AND the renovation of the AR buildings for ADDITIONAL community services. Why isn't this under consideration, I wonder?

Sam Crick

A parking lot, eh? Now that is a shame...

streber

The area has plenty of space for a decent grocery store. You don't have to knock down admirals row, just look around.

Just across the street from the historic lumber yard is a gigantic parking lot for Farragut that always sits half empty. Why not there?

Or on one of the many lawns of Farragut that you aren't even allowed to walk on, why not there?

They aren't building the supermarket for the community. They are building it for the community they hope to come.

Why not rebuild 'Fine Food'?

They're tearing down some really beautiful buildings to make a traffic retail nightmare. (This corner is already slammed with traffic every morning because of it's proximity to both bridges and the bqe)

There's plenty of space elsewhere for a supermarket, I'm so tired of hearing that argument.

JRod5417

I beg to differ. There is a sizeable community already present in an area that has very little in the way of amenities. Another food market to supplement "Fine Foods" is a necessity. If that means knocking down a couple of delapidated buildings that no one has bothered to maintain in the past several decades, then so be it. For better or worse, the City's landscape is in a constant state of change and this is just one example of thousands.

streber

What is this sizable community you speak of?

Farragut has been around since the 50's and has managed without tearing these down.

And, if this was really for the community, what do we need the parking for?

Another food market to supplement 'fine foods' is not a necessity. Go to the associated on myrtle, Gristedes on clark, choice on tillary, 'fine foods', whole foods on atlantic, the soon-to-be clinton hill food co-op... and if you have a car, don't bring it here... drive to fairway.

I get the feeling that the only people who want this are residents of DUMBO/Vinegar Hill who moved here within the past 5 years and hadn't realized when they moved that although they were paying manhattan prices, they weren't getting manhattan. Now they want a supermarket and since they're afraid to walk through Farragut that market had better have parking.

Haunted houses bring more character to the community than these folks.

Sam Crick

Just because Farragut has been around since the 50's, it doesn't necessarily mean the residents have been happy with the arrangements. You're right that people with cars can go to those other markets... and the people without them have nowhere to go but unhealthy fast food restaurants and very incomplete delis. The more supermarkets the better.

I do wish they could somehow make use of the vast amount of mostly useless "green space" surrounding the Farragut towers, but if the only way to get a supermarket is to raze several dilapidated, uninhabited shells of buildings, then so be it.

sw1inthebk

I hate to be the one to point this out, but that area could really use a decent grocery store. I'm aware of the Fine Food, and have shopped there. Nothing about that experience was "fine" or had much to do with "food." I'm not in favor of destroying historic buildings to get one into that area, but if buildings are going to sit there rotting and unpreserved (although artistically I enjoy that as a concept), from the standpoint of city planning, community access to resources and all that, it makes a lot of sense to preserve a few buildings and lose the rest for a grocery store.