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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Times hypes 550 Vanderbilt green space, ignores adjacent "raw industrial site"

Ah, the (spoon-fed real-estate) press just can't get enough of the garden at 550 Vanderbilt. See Hippie Amenities With a High-End Twist, from tomorrow's New York Times Real Estate section, posted yesterday:
Just as Birkenstocks and bee pollen have come back in style, so have crunchy lifestyle concepts, from yoga and meditation to composting and home fermentation. And with veganism, Waldorf schools, doulas and healing crystals shifting from far out to very much in fashion, a growing number of New York luxury buildings have embraced the hallmarks of 1970s hippiedom with a high-end twist. Look for amenities like rooftop gardens, kitchen composters, art and meditation studios, bike shares, infrared saunas, even an adult treehouse.
“Especially in Brooklyn, the concrete jungle is not the atmosphere people are aiming for,” said Ashley Cotton, an executive vice president of Forest City New York, whose recently opened condo in Prospect Heights, 550 Vanderbilt, developed in partnership with Greenland USA, has window planters for units on lower floors and a communal garden terrace with individual plots on the eighth floor. Two of the terrace’s six large planters will be tended by a nearby farm-to-table restaurant, Olmsted, which will also offer gardening lessons to residents.
Unmentioned...

Cotton bought a condo there and has both a personal and professional interest in burnishing the building's rep.

Those green amenities have not made it easy to sell units in the building, given that slow sales required replacing the broker.

Those green amenities have not kept rents in this high-end condo from dropping to levels more commonly associated with buildings constructed as rentals: one-bedrooms have dipped to $2,950, while studios have reached $2,215, according to StreetEasy.

Most importantly, as noted by commenter WashieWash regarding the Real Deal's recent coverage of Pacific Park,  a "concrete jungle" actually remains:
Meanwhile, I was walking around 550 Vanderbilt recently. The building sits right on the edge of open rail yards. While I, personally, might find that interesting, I don't know if I'd pay top dollar to get a unit that overlooks a raw industrial site. The announcement that the condition might remain unchanged for the foreseeable future will complicate sale prices, right? 
The Times ignores that, but suggests that green roofs, once part of the city's history, are back:
“It definitely used to be an either/or mentality,” said Rick Cook, a founder of the architecture firm CookFox and a designer of 550 Vanderbilt, who moved to New York from a small town upstate in 1983. But after studying abroad in Florence, Italy, he said, “I understand you could have both. That, in fact, the highest quality of life is to have both.”
Plus construction adjacent for years.

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