adjaye associates to lead restoration's brooklyn campus expansion

committing to black wealth creation in the heart of brooklyn

Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (‘Restoration’), the first community development corporation in the US, unveiled plans to reimagine its longtime Fulton Street plaza as the Restoration Innovation Campus, a global hub dedicated to closing Brooklyn’s racial wealth gap. Designed by Adjaye Associates, following a visioning process with the community in 2019, the new campus will serve as a multi-purpose site in the heart of Central Brooklyn where mission-aligned partners work together to accelerate wealth creation for longtime residents.

The 840,000 sqft (±78,039 sqm) vision includes a significant expansion of Restoration’s cultural center and the Billie Holiday Theatre, a new public open space, and two commercial buildings providing world-class offices for both current tenants and private, nonprofit, and government partners committed to promoting black wealth creation.

all images courtesy of Adjaye Associates

Since it first opened in 1972, Restoration Plaza has served as a beloved town square for one of the country’s largest African American communities. Today, the site of a former milk bottling plant attracts more than 1.5 million visits per year as a hub of arts, education, community engagement, nonprofit services, and commerce. Restoration Plaza was built to serve as a catalytic engine for economic and cultural change in a neighborhood plagued by divestment. But the needs it originally addressed — including delivering basic infrastructure — have changed dramatically as Central Brooklyn has become a national epicenter of gentrification.

‘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,‘ comments Blondel Pinnock, President & CEO of Restoration. ‘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.’

adjaye associates to lead the restoration campus design

To reach that final program, Adjaye conducted a 2019 community visioning process, where four top priorities emerged: (1) increasing the visibility of the arts programs; (2) expanding job and educational opportunities; (3) improving the open space; and (4) bringing in mission-aligned retail.

‘The design of Innovation Campus taps into Bed-Stuy’s vibrant culture to create a place-based model to disrupt the racial wealth gap,’ writes the architect. ‘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.’

78,000+ sqm of mixed-use space

More specifically, the proposal envisioned by Sir David Adjaye would expand Restoration’s direct services model, comprising a set of economic mobility and arts education programs that today provide critical resources to more than 60,000 Central Brooklyn residents. The new space would be used to scale programs such as the Restoration Software Engineering Fellowship in partnership with The Marcy Lab School and to foster similar programs with other companies invested in advancing skills training and job placement for residents in high-growth sectors.

Beyond housing new offices for Restoration’s flagship financial inclusion and asset-building programs (i.e., the Restoration Software Engineering Fellowship, Restoration Business Center, Center for Personal Financial Health—significantly expanding the organization’s capabilities and the number of clients that can receive assistance), the design will host over 55,740 sqm of Class A office space for mission-aligned impact partners in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors. An additional 17,652 sqm of retail space will also help create new jobs offering competitive wages.

Adjaye also made room for a major expansion and reimagining of the Billie Holiday Theatre, designed to host a wide-ranging mix of performances. The Theatre will be joined by a fully upgraded Restoration Cultural Center, creating a state-of-the-art hub for artistic expression and the next generation of Central Brooklyn’s cultural leaders; the center will feature a publicly-accessible rooftop with space for cultural programming and events. Lastly, a redefined public plaza will serve as a walkable, flexible outdoor forum that seamlessly connects campus offerings.