Demolition work is underway at 275 Atlantic Avenue, the site of a 15-story jail complex in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Designed by HOK and developed by the NYC Department of Design and Construction, the 339-foot-tall structure will span 712,150 square feet with a capacity of 1,040 inmates, as well as 30,000 square feet of community facility space, two cellar levels, two loading berths, 100 enclosed parking spaces, and an underground tunnel connecting to the adjacent courthouse. Northstar Contracting Group Inc. is the general contractor for the project, which will replace the defunct Brooklyn Detention Complex bound by Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Place, and Smith and State Streets.
Recent photographs show the entire building covered in scaffolding and black netting. Excavators are at work behind the sidewalk shed and wooden fencing, knocking down the lower parts of the superstructure.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
The below Google Street View image shows the look of the existing building before work began.
275 Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn via Google Maps
Renderings of the new building depict two volumes that cantilever and set back sympathetically around a central cutout dubbed “the central reveal.” The façade consists of floor-to-ceiling glass framed by geometrically sculpted terracotta panels, and the cutout is adorned with bronze-hued ornamental screens. New tree-lined sidewalks, garden beds, and bollards will line the edges of the property and the main entrance along Boerum Place.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
275 Atlantic Avenue. Designed by HOK.
The Brooklyn Detention Complex was originally built in 1957 with a maximum capacity of 815 male inmates, but closed in 2020 as part of a grander scheme to replace Rikers Island with modernized jail facilities in each borough except Staten Island. Each facility is expected to house up to 1,510 people.
The nearest subway station is the Hoyt Schermerhorn stop to the east, servicing the A, C and G lines.
275 Atlantic Avenue is expected to cost $3 billion with demolition slated for completion in July 2024, as noted on site.
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I was surprised by the largeness of the windows.
Same! Hopefully no large towers get built next door and they can peep inside someone’s home
Make it 109 stories
For real.
make it 500 stories
Some of the details are nice, but they’re kind of lipstick on a very bulky and unwieldy pig. This is probably the best they could do with all the requirements and restrictions in place.
This is amazing! Nobody would believe this is a prison. Rikers is a medieval abomination. Will this new building change that, or will the NY culture of unwillingness to change just be transplanted?
Jail is more handsome than most low income/affordable projects which generally look like 1950s SUNY dormitories.
The old Brooklyn House of Detention is being demolished after the City of New York spent $20 million renovating it about 6 years ago, so they can put a new prison on the site. Now, that is very efficient use of city taxes at work!!! Glenn in Brooklyn, NY.
Thank you NYC for wasting 20 MILLION OF our taxpayer dollars
and what happens to the politicians that approved that spending?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
OK, but $3 billion? Billion with a B? This is why we can’t have nice things.
You mean to tell me you can’t get this built for less than 3 BILLION DOLLARS OF TAXPAYER MONEY?