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COVER STORY, APRIL 2005
THE SHOPS AT ATLAS PARK
A lifestyle center takes root in Queens, rising from the ashes of an industrial site.
Nicole Thompson
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The Pocket Park component of The Shops at Atlas Park will feature a bistro in addition to open space.
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As manufacturing and other industrial uses decrease in New York City and the boroughs, many developers in the highly dense area are eyeing former industrial sites for redevelopment into other uses. Many of these sites face the typical challenges of brownfields, especially if they have been vacant for some time.
New York-based Atco Properties & Management, a full-service and family-owned real estate organization since 1922, has taken initiative and begun redevelopment before the tenants of its 1 million-square-foot industrial site decide to move out of the city. A&Co. LLC, an affiliate of Atco, is the development manager and design architect of the new mixed-use project, which will be called The Shops at Atlas Park and is expected to be complete in March 2006, with some aspects of the project coming online sooner. Development of the project, which will comprise 400,000 square feet of retail and office space on 12 acres of land, is underway; groundbreaking was in September 2004. According to the developer, central Queens is perfect for a new retail project. Market research the developer has done has shown that the underserved market of Queens has less than half the national average of retail square footage per capita, and that there are 128,500 households earning in excess of $75,000 within 3.5 miles of the project.
The Atlas Terminals Site
Located in the Glendale section of Queens at the intersection of 80th Street and Cooper Avenue, The Shops at Atlas Park is being developed on the Atlas Terminals site, which has been owned by the Hemmerdinger family for more than 85 years. During that time, the more than 20-acre site has been used for a range of industrial uses, from a railroad spur to a knitting factory to a countertop manufacturing facility to a medical supply distribution center. The Shops at Atlas Park will take up about half the site, and the second half of the site will remain in use as an industrial space while the development of the project is ongoing, according to Damon Hemmerdinger, the development director for The Shops at Atlas Park. Once the development is well established, plans will be made for the remaining industrial half, and at some point it will have a new life as well. The owners of Atlas Terminals began relocating industrial tenants from The Shops at Atlas Park portion of the site about 2.5 years ago, and the last tenant moved out of the development site relatively recently.
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One problem that lifestyle retail centers face is the possibility of inclement weather driving shoppers away. Developers have combated this problem at The Shops at Atlas Park with garage parking that offers direct building access and arcades on some of the buildings to facilitate window shopping on dreary days.
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A&Co. faced two categories of challenges in redeveloping this industrial brownfield site into retail. The first is the widespread historic ground fill put in place in the 19th century to even out the site. “When they built the railroads throughout the United States, including in that area, they used certain materials to make the land more flat so trains can travel more easily,” says Hemmerdinger. “That fill often had less-than-ideal medium in it, mostly ashes among other things.”
The second category of environmental challenges that the developer ran into were what Hemmerdinger calls hot spots, which encompass certain specific areas of different individual problems. These problems include areas with old underground storage tanks and fuel spills. Like many brownfields, some of these hot spots were not discovered until well into development. “Some of them we knew about from our investigation, then some others were a surprise,” says Hemmerdinger.
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The developer of The Shops at Atlas Park hope to build a center of community life in the Ellipse Park, which will feature amphitheater seating, shade areas for relaxing, lawns for sunbathing and play, extensive landscaping, and an interactive fountain. The park’s edge is defined with lamp posts and other elements instead of a hedge that closes off the park.
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One of the more unusual challenges of the site, according to Hemmerdinger, is completing an earthwork project of this size, well more than 100,000 tons of soil, in New York City. “If you can just imagine trying to get trucks to move all of that in the city, and where it all ends up,” says Hemmerdinger. “It’s not unique to the history of development, but it’s drastic for this area.”
Industrial to Retail
Developers nationwide have embraced the lifestyle retail center concept, but they remain rare in New York City and other heavily dense urban areas.
Of the 400,000 square feet of total space in the project, 300,000 square feet will house 60 stores and restaurants, with the remainder devoted to office use. Both national and local retailers and restaurants will occupy the eight buildings in the project, which will also include two parks and an outdoor marketplace. The outdoor areas, in addition to the entertainment venues and large restaurants arranged around the perimeter, will serve to pull local residents into the project. A variety of retailers and smaller cafés and bistros will fill in interior spaces.
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The Market Plaza will feature specialty food merchants, most of them local, located in and around the area. The idea is to encourage regular visits, with options like baked goods, produce, fish, wine and flower markets. The space can also be used for outdoor dining and programmed activities, such as cooking demonstrations.
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Thanhauser Esterson Kapell Architects PC is the project architect. The buildings will be a mix of reuses and new builds, ranging from one to four stories in height, and will have a variety of different looks. “There is some continuity to the buildings in that we’re building them all at once,” says Hemmerdinger. “But we want it to feel like an authentic place that grew up over time — the buildings will look related to each other, but not all the same.”
At the heart of the project is the 2.5-acre park, called the Ellipse Park, that will anchor the lifestyle retail center and provide the community with a recreational area. The park will have an interactive fountain at its center and will feature shade gardens, lawns, ornamental trees and a rotating mix of seasonal plants and flowers as well as a greenhouse. The nautilus-shaped fountain will have a range of display options, from playful jets for children’s summer play to inactive to allow for musical events. The buildings that surround the park will make a unified, whitewashed architectural statement. “The goal of the Ellipse Park is to offer the residents of central Queens an uncommonly beautiful and useful place that can be used as one of the centers of civic life in their community,” says Hemmerdinger.
The other two outdoor areas are the Market Plaza and the Pocket Park. The Pocket Park, with crushed stone and pruned trees, is smaller than the Ellipse Park. It sits at the intersection of three buildings and will feature a bistro-type restaurant. The Market Plaza is a paved area adjacent to the space intended for food merchants. Local specialty food merchants, from fishmongers to bakers, will be located in and around the Market Plaza, which will also be available for outdoor dining and programmed activities. The three outdoor areas are the project’s focal areas and complement the three entry portals from the surrounding streets.
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The Shops at Atlas Park will have a mix of local merchants and national brands that do not yet have a presence in the immediate area. The buildings, with clean lines and simple, elegant detailing, will intentionally focus visitors on the retail and restaurant brands, while the parks and outdoor spaces will provide a varied look, depending on the season.
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The lighting has been a special focus for the developers. In addition to specialty lighting throughout, two large tensile structures that will serve to pull shoppers into the buildings from the Ellipse Park will be specially lit with a variety of colors and shapes.
Visitors to The Shops at Atlas Park will find both curbside parking on grade and about 1,500 parking spaces in garages.
From landscaping to lighting, The Shops at Atlas Park will change the look of central Queens. The developers hope that it will also keep shoppers, their shopping dollars and tax receipts in the city, while providing convenient shopping and employment opportunities to residents. To that end, the developers have talked extensively with local groups and community leaders throughout the development process via town hall meetings, regular conversations, open houses and presentations.
“We’ve gone from a look with lots of different storefronts, and through discussions and development, and we’ve put together a concept that we’re very pleased with,” says Hemmerdinger. “We think it will be a great example of turning a former industrial property inside out and giving back to the community.”
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