GreenbergFarrow designs 346,000 s/f IKEA store in Brooklyn

GreenbergFarrow, the nationally prominent architecture, planning, engineering and development services firm, designed and delivered comprehensive development services for the first IKEA store in New York City. The 346,000 s/f IKEA Brooklyn home furnishings store - situated at a waterfront site in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood - is the Swedish-based retailer's tenth location designed by GreenbergFarrow, which is the primary consultant supporting the North American expansion of IKEA. GreenbergFarrow was required to overcome a number of significant and complex siting and engineering challenges associated with the 22-acre venue along the Erie Basin on the Upper New York Bay. "IKEA is one of the world's most highly regarded retail brands and we are proud to have helped them launch their first New York City location," said John Clifford, principal, planning for GreenbergFarrow.  "Knowing that this site posed many daunting, development-related challenges, IKEA placed its confidence in GreenbergFarrow to deliver a world-class finished product.  Today, the successful IKEA Brooklyn is the Big Apple's newest retail landmark." As a brownfield site, the location required extensive soil remediation and, because of its shoreline setting, the structure called for unusually deep foundations.  At the same time, the IKEA foundations needed to avoid contact with numerous existing buildings, many of which themselves had existing, deep foundations. The venue's extensive and complex waterfront scope also included a new water taxi dock that is the only one of its kind in New York City.  The development also featured a comprehensively landscaped waterfront esplanade. IKEA Brooklyn contains 46 different room settings, three model home interiors, a children's play area and a 450-seat restaurant.