A former milk-bottling plant in Brooklyn turned office campus for the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration) in 1967 will be transformed by Adjaye Associates. The organization opened its operations in an old milk bottling plant.
With a current footprint of 300,000 square feet, the former industrial site has grown into a small neighborhood that houses a theater, local businesses, a post office, bank branches, a grocery store, and office space for nonprofits and government agencies.
In this upcoming expansion, the commercial site will become Restoration Innovation Campus, a global hub where nonprofit and government entities can work together to tackle the racial wealth gap through professional opportunities and job training.
“Central Brooklyn is a microcosm of racial inequities reflected nationwide across our cities. With its focus on Black wealth creation, the Innovation Campus offers a new, ...
...replicable model for closing the wealth gap in communities across the United States,” said Blondel Pinnock, president and CEO of Restoration, in a press release.
“For 55 years, Restoration has helped lift thousands of local residents out of poverty and created countless opportunities right here in our community. Now, the nation’s staggering racial wealth gap requires a bold, new approach—to harness Brooklyn’s economic ...
...growth to support wealth creation for our neighbors, particularly longtime residents and people of color. We look forward to working with local elected leaders and the residents we’ve proudly served for generations to realize this critical vision.”
Joining those workspaces are new offices for Restoration’s existing programs such as the Restoration Software Engineering Fellowship, Restoration Business Center, and the Center for Personal Financial Health, in addition to nearly 200,000 square feet of retail.
These office spaces will be located across two new buildings, currently designed to be 16 and 13 stories in height respectively.
“The design of Innovation Campus taps into Bed-Stuy’s vibrant culture to create a place-based model to disrupt the racial wealth gap,” added architect David Adjaye, founder and principal of Adjaye Associates.
“Based on extensive community engagement sessions, the design scheme prioritizes the public realm and ensures dedicated space for collaboration between mission aligned partners. We look forward to seeing the campus become a reality and model for others as Restoration moves the transformative plan forward.”
Other plans for the site include an expansion to the Billie Holiday Theatre, the 218-seat performance venue which comprises part of The College of New Rochelle’s Brooklyn Campus.
Project renderings reveal a public plaza surrounding a transformed theater building featuring a scalloped facade. Adjacent to the four-story theater are the two towers which will replace existing brick and glass buildings from the 1970s.