by Bailey White
Staff Writer
At a Downtown Development Authority meeting a couple of months ago, Mayor John Delaney charged the organization with coming up with a serious plan for Brooklyn — the area on Riverside Avenue between the T-U building and the Fuller Warren Bridge overpass.
In response, the DDA has put together a Request for Proposals (RFP) that seeks a consulting team to produce a comprehensive Brooklyn & Riverside Avenue District Plan.
“We’re looking for someone who can do similar work to what we got from the Downtown Master Plan and the LaVilla Subdistrict Plan,” said Al Battle, managing director of the DDA. “We need urban planners, architects and landscape designers — or a group that has a full complement of those professions to conduct the study.”
“I think with all the focus on downtown housing and revitalization, it’s natural to consider Brooklyn the next step,” said Dist. 9 Councilman Reggie Fullwood on the recent interest in the area. “We’re doing things in LaVilla and downtown and, in order for them to be successful, we have to continue with Brooklyn.”
The RFP calls for the consultants to explore future land uses for the area and to consider the area’s connection to the river, the Central Business District, Five Points and LaVilla. The consultants should also address potential development markets and possible public improvements to the area.
The project should be completed within five months.
Before the DDA can officially issue the RFP, it will have to go before the Professional Services Evaluation Committee, the group charged with approving the use of City funds.
“It will go before PSEC on Tuesday, and hopefully they’ll find that everything is in place,” Battle said. “Then we’ll advertise in periodicals and trade publications.
“We maintain a list of people we send RFPs to, and we target some folks who we’ve used or who have come to us as a result of other RFPs. We want to give everyone an opportunity to respond.”
Battle said it was the DDA’s desire to get the RFP advertised and under contract by about this time of year.
“We’re probably two to three months behind,” he said, “but if we get someone on board and into work by the end of the summer, we’ll still be doing okay.”