Cool talk alert: What will Downtown Brooklyn look like in 2099?

If this century contains as much change in the landscape, both human and built, of Downtown Brooklyn, then the neighborhood will look a lot different in 2099.
An upcoming talk at the Brooklyn Historical Society will ask the question of what this particular neighborhood’s future has in store. How can it build off the successes of the first decade and a half of the 21st century, which include a booming tech sector, revitalized universities and, approved this spring, plans for the tallest building in Brooklyn?
“The past decade has witnessed a renaissance in Downtown Brooklyn, from the explosion of the innovation economy to the establishment of the area as one of NYC’s major cultural districts,” according to the event listing.
The panel will include former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Moskovitz and former BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins, and will be moderated by former Downtown Brooklyn Partnership President Tucker Reed.
Some background: There has been a lot of change in the last 10 years in Downtown Brooklyn, much of which has come about as a result of the 2004 zoning overhaul to the neighborhood. MTA ridership is up 30 percent, the population increased by 2,500 people, and enrollment at PS 38 and PS 287 are both up about 15 percent since the rezoning.

“The 2004 Downtown Brooklyn Rezoning sought to change the way Downtown Brooklyn would grow in the next century by reinforcing the area’s role as a regional central business district, and to capture the regional employment growth and businesses that considered relocating from Manhattan and beyond,” Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams wrote in a review of the zoning changes in 2014.
One interesting thing from the report is that in 2004, the government expected growth to come from office buildings, projecting an addition of 4.6 million square feet. In fact, people built apartments. From a projection of 979,000 new square feet of residential space has come the addition of an actual 6.4 million square feet, with more on the way. In contrast, of that 4.6 million square feet of projected office space, only a measly 262,000 square feet have been built.
Here’s hoping government planners have a better grip on where the supply and demand is in the coming century!
Go to the talk on Sept. 21, at 6:30 p.m. in Downtown Brooklyn, it should be interesting. And it’s free!
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