WXY Architecture + Urban Design has been chosen to head up a team of architecture, construction, engineering and policy firms that are designing a “master plan” to make a swath of Brooklyn friendlier to technology businesses, the Brooklyn Tech Triangle Coalition said today.
The technology businesses in the so-called Brooklyn Tech Triangle, which stretches from Downtown Brooklyn to DUMBO to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, employ about 9,600 people and generate $3.1 billion in economic output, according to a study conducted by the coalition earlier this year. The sector is expected to nearly double in the next three years, the survey found. The plan will recommend real estate, transportation, infrastructure and design changes aimed at improving the area for existing technology companies and attracting additional technology-based tenants.
“The aim is to meet the city’s growing demand while also attracting firms and talent from around the world, and the entire area will benefit as a result,” Claire Weisz, principal of WXY Architecture + Urban Design, said in a statement.
WXY has worked in the area before: it designed the sleek security booths at MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn, and the firm has also submitted a proposal to improve the area surrounding Grand Central Terminal with an elevated pedestrian walkway.
The Brooklyn Tech Triangle Coalition is made up of three business improvement groups – the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the DUMBO Improvement District and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation – hoping to capitalize on the area’s nascent technology boom.
“After a thorough review process, we selected a team that we are confident addresses our needs regarding placemaking, land use, transportation, real estate and workforce development,” said Tucker Reed, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
The team that will develop the plan consists of HR&A Advisors, Sam Schwartz Engineering and the Control Group, as well as specialists that will play a less central role, including the Center for an Urban Future and the management and construction consulting firm Gleeds.
The coalition sought proposals in July to assemble the team and received responses from 17 teams representing 60 firms. –Leigh Kamping-Carder