Jamaica gets a jump start.The non-profit Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has recently released a report by Fox & Fowle Architects that describes strategies to help the neighborhood capture economic benefits from the AirTrain. Already under construction, the AirTrain will whisk passengers from downtown Jamaica to Kennedy Airport in just eight minutes. In addition, more than 1,000 buses, 620 subway trains, and 430 commuter trains stop at or near the Jamaica Station area. "The AirTrain gives weight to the long-held belief that Jamaica has the potential to be an important regional center, like Stamford or Newark," said Mark Strauss See also: Mark Strauss (Marek Mann), Jewish artist and author Mark Strauss is a U.S. journalist. He has recently become editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. , the partner at Fox & Fowle, who directed development of the report. "Yet, unless important steps are taken, Jamaica will never realize this possibility." The report proposes new development of a level not seen in Jamaica in decades, to be implemented in three stages over the next 20 years. There are plans for a hotel, a retail complex, office space, and parking garages. The plan also calls for the creation of five major parks and civic spaces, as well as improvements to roads, traffic management, and infrastructure. The existing Jamaica train station will receive a major facelift and become the springboard for the $1.5 billion system. Both the AirTrain terminal and the hotel will be built on top of the existing station. In total, the five-story station complex ad 10-story hotel, which will be topped by a spire, will rise to 15 stories. The hotel is one of a planned cluster of new towers that will serve to create a presence for Jamaica in the city's skyline. These towers will be visible from the Van Wyck Van Wyck can refer to:
Nonbearing wall of glass, metal, or masonry attached to a building's exterior structural frame. After World War II, low energy costs gave impetus to the concept of the tall building as a glass prism, an idea originally put forth by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies facades on all the towers to create and architectural linkage of past and future. On the ground, a new oval open space will serve as a focal point focal point n. See focus. and help give a new sense of place to the neighborhood. It will feature a bosque of trees and a large, sculpture with a flight-related theme. The lower floors of the office buildings will be dedicated to retail uses for the tenants and for local residents. One of the proposed new parks will be located along the entrance to Jamaica from the Van Wyck. Another piece of art, a tiered light sculpture, will be offset by trees on one end of the park. Market studies for "Vision for Jamaica Center" were performed by Price WaterhouseCoopers and PFK PFK phosphofructokinase. Consulting. 80% of the funding for the planning project was granted by the Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," The Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway through the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State Department of Transportation and matching funds were provided by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion