Arverne by the Sea

Arverne, NY

Despite an oceanfront setting and several high-profile initiatives, Arverne, the largest waterfront urban renewal area in the U.S., resisted redevelopment for over thirty years. EE&K’s award-winning design knits together the subway and the sea, creating a unique transit-based beachfront community. EE&Ks radial plan orients each of the neighborhoods around the previously underutilized subway station. The new community’s network of public spaces and amenities include a charter school and a neighborhood supermarket and a mixed-use main street. EE&K’s developed designs for a range of housing types to address different needs, including several innovative two-family prototypes which were devised for economic resilience and flexibility. EE&K’s plan incorporated an environmentally sensitive approach toward the site’s barrier-island setting, highlighted by a six-acre beachfront preserve.