NEW YORK REAL ESTATE

NY REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL JUNE 17, 2011

Winter Garden Upgrade Set

By DANA RUBINSTEIN
 

Brookfield Office Properties

Rendering of a $250 million upgrade planned for the World Financial Center's public and retail spaces, with West Street in foreground.

The World Financial Center will receive a $250 million renovation of its retail and public spaces that will include a new pavilion entrance, a dining terrace overlooking the Hudson River and a gourmet market.

Brookfield Office Properties, owner of the giant office complex across the street from the World Trade Center site, said the reconfigured retail and public spaces will do a better job of tapping into the traffic expected to flock to the planned Sept. 11 Memorial, office buildings and transportation center under construction at the Ground Zero site.

"On a daily basis, more than 300,000 people live, work, shop and eat in this neighborhood," Dennis Friedrich, Brookfield president, said Thursday. Retail space will be expanded to more than 200,000 square feet from 177,000 square feet.

Brookfield has been working for months on plans to upgrade the space, which already have run into some controversy. Late last year, Brookfield indicated it would demolish the grand staircase in the Winter Garden, a gathering place for the community that provides amphitheater seating for cultural events.

But following pressure from government officials and community members, Brookfield decided to keep the staircase. "It's really kind of a central gathering place for the community," said Gayle Horwitz, president of the Battery Park City Authority.

The World Financial Center complex, which includes eight million square feet of office space, has long had difficulty making big profits off its retail complex because traffic typically drops sharply after work hours and during weekends. As part of the overhaul, Brookfield will replace many existing tenants.

In place of the Grill Room, now on the second floor overlooking the Hudson River, Brookfield will build a dining terrace, with seating for 600, to be populated by 15 gourmet food stalls.

Downstairs, the landlord plans a gourmet grocery store, or "marketplace," similar to the one at Grand Central Terminal.

An area now home to tenants like Starbucks and Cosi will be converted into a two-story high-end mall, similar to the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. At the complex's eastern end, facing West Street, Brookfield will build a Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed pavilion entrance.