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Just blocks away from the hot dog stands, roller coasters, and boardwalk amusements of Coney Island in the heart of South Brooklyn, there lies a little known enclave of Mid-Century apartment blocks and related strip mall known as Trump Village. The development is named after the late Fred Trump Jr., father to the current President-Elect whose much glossier, gilded, gold-and-black tinted Trump Tower has been making headlines in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Presidential Election. The only complex named after the elder Trump, Trump Village remains a testament to the days of "Tower-in-the-Park" urban renewal and redevelopment that once defined inner-city neighbourhoods of North American cities from coast to coast.
Having enjoyed a recent return to the spotlight in light of the Election, Trump Village has been the subject of many an editorial piece over the last year. Long-time residents recall Mrs. Trump collecting quarters from the laundry room in her fur coat while a black limousine idled at the curb, and a certain young go-getter with orange hair stopping by to collect rent cheques. Today, however, in the wake of a proposal to redevelop the all-but-defunct Trump Village Shopping Center, it would appear that Trump Village will never be the same.
After being sold off back in the early 2000s by Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert S. Trump, to developer Cammeby's International Group, the Trump Village Shopping Center has long been in need of a makeover. The rows of empty storefronts are a symbol of the retail centre's long decline since its heyday in the 1950s and 60s. The current proposal, with designs by S9 Architecture, seeks to address many of the beleaguered strip mall's woes. The complete overhaul would include a brand new shopping centre anchored by the addition of a centrally located, 40-storey, 544-apartment, mixed-use tower. The 430-foot structure would become the tallest residential building in South Brooklyn.
Dubbed Neptune/Sixth, the new development will be located at 532 Neptune Avenue on the site of the former Trump Village Shopping Center, just steps from the adjacent Trump Village. Proceeding despite objections from some local residents, who have cited concerns over the temporary loss of their local services and shops, the new shopping centre will provide 90,000 square feet of retail and 15,521 square feet of community facilities including a medical centre and pharmacy, along with the much larger, 511,115 square feet of residential space which will be added by the tower, for a grand total pf 752,880 square feet of new development.
Encompassing an entire city block, the bulk of the multi-part Neptune/Sixth redevelopment will be clustered around a central courtyard. The publicly accessible open space will be sheltered in part by a large curved wall and decorative steel-framed porte-cochère, which will help frame the main entrance and lobby. Initial renderings promise an interesting mix of manmade and natural elements, with ferns and high grasses paired with vertical ribbons of light emitting from the tower's exterior.
Located nearby, a related seven-storey mixed-use office, retail, and medical centre development is already under construction, set for completion by summer 2017. While excavation work has begun for Neptune/Sixth proper, construction will not begin until sometime next year.
Once complete, likely by 2018 or '19, Neptune/Sixth has the potential to be a welcome addition to the neighbourhood, with the long-term benefits of gaining a new shopping centre hopefully going a long way towards assuaging the concerns of local residents who will have gone without easy access to goods and services for at least three years by the time construction wraps up. While it is currently undetermined what type of retail tenants the new Shopping Center can expect, only time will tell whether or not the new tenants will be in line with the needs of local residents, or if the new development will bring with it the type of gentrification that many within the majority low-income Trump Village and the surrounding area would more than likely oppose.
Whatever the final outcome, the Neptune/Sixth redevelopment will more likely than not spell the beginnings of change for the neighbourhood. South Brooklyn has already begun to feel the effects of NYC's ever-increasing rents and property values, and the traditional neighbourhood boundaries of the outer Boroughs are redrawn each year as real estate prices continue to soar.
SkyriseCities will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
