Downtown Brooklyn Setting Pace for Innovative Urban Development, Report Finds

The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, NYU Wagner's Rudin Center, and Appleseed Inc. unveiled a new report on Feb 23 at the Wagner school, explaining how Downtown Brooklyn became a major destination for innovative urban development, and offering ways to keep it that way.

The report, titled "Downtown Rising: How Brooklyn Became a Model for Urban Development," states that Downtown Brookyn is setting an ambitious pace for the rest of the city and providing a model for other burgeoning central business districts across the region and nationwide.

"You have the Brooklyn Bridge Park on one end, Barclays Center on the other, and in that is a massive amount of energy and activity which is spreading all the way down to Sunset Park and Industry City to all the way north in Greenpoint,” said Mitchell C. Moss, Henry Hart Rice Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at NYU Wagner, and Director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management. Professor Moss,who moderated the breakfast forum centered on the report, added, “We believe Downtown Brooklyn's success is reflected in the number of new start-ups, households and cultural activities that have reinforced the superb quality of life in the borough."

Among the attendees was Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who spoke about not leaving behind the local residents as money continues to foster economic opportunities in Downtown Brooklyn.

At the same time, Senator Charles Schumer commented on the report, saying in a written statement: "Downtown Brooklyn has transformed into a 24 hour live, work, play neighborhood. Driven from creating a central business district as charted in the Group of 35 Report, to the tech boom in Brooklyn, businesses and people simply want to be here. Continuing these smart development policies are key to keeping Brooklyn on top."