David Adjaye to help design Bed Stuy’s Restoration Plaza revamp
Image courtesy of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.
Restoration Plaza, the commercial complex on Fulton Street in Bed-Stuy that has served as a neighborhood hub since it opened in 1972, is getting a major revamp, with British starchitect David Adjaye at the helm for its design. Curbed reports that the nonprofit Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, which owns and operates the plaza, has announced the creation of a five-year plan for re-imagining the site, including improved services for the surrounding neighborhood and the addition of 400,000 square feet of office space to the complex that currently houses the Billie Holiday Theatre, office space, restaurants, grocery stores and the Brooklyn Business Center.
Restoration, as the community development corporation is known, was established in 1967 with the help of senator Robert F. Kennedy and mayor John Lindsay to shore up the neighborhood’s economic and cultural development. Restoration Plaza opened in 1972 and has since been a neighborhood hub containing medical, economic, and educational services, a huge grocery store, restaurants and the offices of several local politicians.
As the neighborhood gentrifies, there is concern about the future for longtime residents. The corporation is focused on helping those residents to succeed, and hopes to provide more opportunity with the revamped complex in the form of new organizations focused on entrepreneurship and community asset building among others
Adjaye will work with Restoration on implementing a five-year strategic plan; residents are encouraged to provide input and share their vision for the plaza. If any zoning changes are required, neighborhood residents will have a chance to become involved.
David Adjaye’s recent work includes an 800-foot, 66-story residential tower at 130 William Street in lower Manhattan (a collaboration with Hill West Architects) which recently launched sales. Adjaye also designed a public plaza park for the same building.
[Via Curbed]
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