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Fort Greene Park Renovation Plan Revealed
On the heels of the exciting news that $2.55 million had been officially approved for the renovation of Fort Greene Park, we’ve got a copy of the site plan for the project along with some more details. The renovation is focused on the Willoughby entrance to the park. As the plan shows, the stairs will be rebuilt and a new ADA ramp will be installed, making stroller and disabled access easier. A variety of water control features – engineered (bioswales, cisterns and other) and organic (understory plantings)- will be installed in the circle adjacent to the Willoughby entrance within the park; this will mitigate the flow of water from the height of the park around the monument to the sidewalk outside and eliminate the pooling there. A curb bumpout will be built to improve pedestrian safety and the aesthetics of the entrance by giving pedestrians crossing from the park to Willoughby improved visibility and by eliminating parking directly in front of the entrance. The pavers along Washington Park will be leveled and reset. There will also be 9 new benches around the circle, which will add more seating capacity and help to harmonize the furniture in the park.
All good! Congrats to the Fort Greene Park Conservancy for their relentless (and effective!) advocacy. There’s a community listening session scheduled for February 29th from 6 to 8 pm at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 85 South Oxford Street. To get a bigger look at the plan, click here.
Fort Greene Park Renovation a Go! [Brownstoner]
02/10/2012 9:30 AM
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Inside the New(ish) Brooklyn Bridge Park Offices
After a couple of years of camping out in a construction trailer, the folks in charge of building and operating Brooklyn Bridge Park finally moved into new offices in the old Building 50 at the corner of Furman and Joralemon Streets last November. Our poor photography skills probably don’t do it justice, but the million-dollar renovation of the 7,500-square-foot ground floor (which the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation shares with the Conservancy) created a really beautiful workspace–high ceilings, clean lines, modern but inviting at the same time. The two upper floors remain for the time being in their original state. We’ve provided lots o’ photos on the jump because the offices are not open to the public.
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02/08/2012 10:32 AM
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Cyclone Renovation Underway in Coney Island
We haven’t seen the Cyclone renovation documented anywhere else so even though this video’s almost a month old we thought it was worth sharing. Flickr user theoccasionalfag has a set of photos up from just a couple of weeks ago if you want to delve further. According to this post from Amusement Today, Zamperla has hired Great Coasters International, Inc. to do the rehab. Everyone’s shooting for the famous coaster to be back in business by April 1, 2012.
02/07/2012 11:04 AM
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Fort Greene Park Renovation a Go!
As The Local reported yesterday, a $2.55 million renovation of Fort Greene Park has been green lighted and is set to begin in the next three months or so. The news was delivered by Marty Maher, the Parks Department’s Brooklyn chief of staff, at last week’s Fort Greene Park Conservancy board meeting. The plan calls for work to begin on the public bathroom later this spring with extensive landscaping and drainage work to follow in the fall. It’s expected that the work will address much, but not all, of the flooding issues that have plagued the park in recent years. There will be a chance for community input regarding future park improvements at a meeting at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church on February 29th at 6 p.m.
Park Rehab Means Good-Bye To ‘Fort Greene Falls [NYT/Local]
Photo by Ed Brydon
02/07/2012 9:00 AM
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New Renderings for Bush Terminal Pier Park
Remember the Bush Terminal Pier Park? Public space project was first announced in 2005, when the city, state and federal government teamed up on a $36 million rehab of the polluted former port between 43rd and 51st Streets in Sunset Park. Here’s a description from the EDC’s Sunset Park Vision Plan, which was announced in July 2009:
The conceptual design for the open space improvements includes the construction of two multi-use baseball and soccer fields, viewing areas for restored and remediated tidal pools, a naturalized preserve area, and future space for a mini-golf and batting cage concession. The design also includes administrative and operational space designed in collaboration with the Department of Parks & Recreation. In keeping with the City’s policy to encourage sustainable practices, several environmentally-conscious design elements are being considered, including on-site stormwater retention, wind turbines, solar power, the reuse of existing on- and off-site materials such as granite blocks from the existing street, and the use of shipping containers as building materials.
This weekend an excited Sunset Park resident sent in a photo from the top of 47th Street of the public space starting to take shape. It’s a little hard for us to distinguish what’s going on, but luckily the tipster also steered to a set of renderings from Adrian Smith Landscape Architecture that helps flesh out where this whole thing is headed.
Big-Money Clean-Up for Bush Terminal Piers [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan Announced [Brownstoner]
ETAs on Some of Brooklyn’s Waterfront Projects [Brownstoner]
02/06/2012 10:30 AM
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Envisioning a New Park by the Navy Yard
Architect’s Newspaper has an update on the plans to turn a former cemetery at the Navy Yard into a 1.7-acre park. The project, which has been dubbed the Navy Yard Hospital Memorial Landscape, is being built out by the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative at Williamsburg Street West and Kent Avenue. Here’s the description of how it’s supposed to turn out: “the site will be accessible to the public through a series of raised wooden walkways that will lead visitors around cement mooring blocks, stones, and native plantings that tie into the historical and material language of the waterfront, according to Vince Lee, project manager at [Rogers Marvel Architects]. Stone gabion ‘mattresses’ serve as footings for the walkway, which circumvents the location of former graves located in the center of the site. In honor of those formerly buried beside the hospital, steel frames proportionate to the size of burial plots will be constructed and elevated a few feet off the existing grade.” The space, which is being designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and Rogers Marvel Architects, might be finished by summer 2013. On the jump, another rendering and a plot diagram for the project.
Brooklyn Navy Yard Design Honors Former Cemetery [Architect's Newspaper]
All images courtesy of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (more…)
01/31/2012 11:00 AM
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Slope Park Looking Spiffy
The amount of work that’s been completed at Park Slope’s J.J. Byrne Playground is starting to impress. Work began over last spring on the playground’s renovation, which involves setting up distinct play areas for kids of different ages and new, adult-themed spaces like a seating area with a cafe table. Since then a ton of new play equipment has been installed. Work is scheduled to finish this summer. Click through for a couple more shots.
Slope Park Overhaul in Progress [Brownstoner]
J.J. Byrne Playground Revamp Starts This Week [Brownstoner]
J.J. Byrne Reno To Start Next Month [Brownstoner]
Plans for J.J. Byrne Park Revealed [Brownstoner] GMAP (more…)
01/26/2012 12:00 PM
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The Hot Seat: Regina Myer
Welcome to the Hot Seat, where we interview folks involved in Brooklyn real estate, architecture, development and the like. Introducing Regina Myer, president of Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation.
Brownstoner: What neighborhood do you live in and how did you end up there?
Regina Myer: I have lived in Park Slope since 1991–my family loves it and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. We ended up there after visiting friends — on the way back to Manhattan, we wondered out loud, “Why aren’t we moving to Brooklyn?”
BS: Can you quickly give us an update on all things Brooklyn Bridge Park? Where does the park stand right now?
RM: 2011 was a wonderful year for the park—we opened the park in Dumbo as well as Jane’s Carousel, which has already become a fantastic and beloved amenity. Summer programming was also great—in partnership with the Conservancy and others, there was a thorough range of activities from field tours, music, movies, science and chess. And we just installed our first temporary art in the park with Mark Di Suvero’s “Yoga” at Pier 1, a sublime sculpture which provides a terrific counterpoint to the beauty of the Bridge.
2012 is also going to be great. We have just begun construction of Pier 5 and the Squibb Park Bridge, two projects which will provide active playing fields, picnic areas and a direct connection to the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and its subway stations. We also plan to select a developer for the Pier 1 Hotel and residential project, which will be a major milestone in solidifying the park’s financial plan.
After the jump, Regina talks about the balance between public and private, transforming underutilized open space and all her favorite spots in the borough.
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01/23/2012 11:00 AM
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Plans Surface for Carroll Gardens Dog Run Upgrades
Last night the Parks Department made a presentation to the CB6 parks committee on improvements planned for the DiMattina Playground dog run on Hicks and Hamilton streets. Upgrades to the run have been in the works for a long time. The plan calls for resurfacing the run. In addition, there’s supposed to be new lighting, fencing around all trees, flowering shrubs, new benches, drainage in the park, two doggie and two human drinking fountains, two spigots and a small storage box for tools like rakes. More than a year ago Councilman Brad Lander and Borough President Marty Markowitz allocated $450,000 for renovations, but no additional funding has come through since then. Some of the upgrades to the park are still dependent on how much more money the Parks Department can secure from elected officials. Last night the committee didn’t make a final decision on the type of gravel to be used for resurfacing the run, but the Parks Department rep urged a decision as soon as possible, saying the project is waiting to go into contract and “we don’t want the funds to get cut.” There was no word on an actual time line for the run’s construction since funding isn’t completely secured. Ultimately CB6 approved the improvements with plans to decide on the gravel type ASAP.
01/19/2012 12:00 PM
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Closing Bell: Waterfront Park Planned for Columbia Street
Tomorrow night the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and Regional Plan Association are having a meeting about the public park planned for Columbia Street between Degraw and Kane streets. Preliminary renderings are going to be released, and judging from the one above, a dog run might be in the mix. Work can begin on the park once the Van Brunt Street reconstruction and the Gowanus Flushing Tunnel construction are complete, which is probably still a couple of years away. The meeting is taking place tomorrow night at the Union Street Star Theater, 101 Union Street, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. More info and how to RSVP here.
Columbia Waterfront Park Report-Back Meeting [BGI]
Columbia Waterfront Park Meeting 1/18 [Cobble Hill Association via McBrooklyn]
01/17/2012 4:00 PM
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Parks Department Spiffing Up the Dean Street Playground
Last night the Community Board 8 Parks Committee shared plans for renovating the Dean Street Playground, between 6th Avenue and Carlton. There is $233,000 left over from a previous renovation of the space that will go toward fixing up the playground’s plaza. The work will include upgrading the pavement, adding benches by the basketball courts and putting in more picnic tables, standard tables and greenery throughout. The project begins this fall, and during the renovations, which should only take 9 months, the plaza section will be closed off. The CB8 Parks rep also said the comfort station upgrades that are in progress should be finished by September or October. GMAP
01/13/2012 12:00 PM
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Some Green Space Planned for Slope Lot This Spring
Last week we ran a post wondering whether the community garden that’s long been planned for the lot on Sackett Street and 4th Avenue is poised to become a reality soon, and Community Board 6′s Craig Hammerman has filled us in on the short- and long-term plans for the site. Hammerman says it will take around five more years for the Department of Environmental Protection to finish work on the site, which covers an underground water shaft tunnel. In the meantime, the lot will be split in half and used as an “interim” community garden. Green Space, the organization pushing for a garden for years, should be able to plant on half the site by this spring. The idea is to expand the garden once the DEP is out of the picture. Because of the nature of the underground construction, the land will never be able to sustain a building.
Community Garden Finally Coming to Vacant 4th Ave Lot? [Brownstoner] GMAP
01/11/2012 11:00 AM
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The Hot Seat: Laura Treciokas
Welcome to The Hot Seat, where we interview folks involved in Brooklyn real estate, architecture, development and the like. Introducing Laura Treciokas, Co-Chair of Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park. FBIP is a community group championing the creation of the 28-acre waterfront park along the East River that was promised to residents after the Williamsburg rezoning in 2005.
Brownstoner: What neighborhood do you live in and how did you end up there?
Laura Treciokas: I live in Greenpoint about four blocks from the Bushwick Inlet. My first exposure to the neighborhood was about a decade ago when I did the Five Boro Bike Tour. Biking through here I thought what a great waterfront community it was. When my husband and I started looking for a home in 2007 to start our family this is one of the first places we started to look. We bought an old house – it dates back to 1872 – and have been renovating it ever since. It’s really a labor of love and I’m not sure if we’ll ever finish!
BS: Can you talk about the beginnings of FBIP and your involvement with it?
LT: A while back a neighbor of mine who is a founding member of Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning asked if I’d be willing to help get a Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park group up and running. The goal was to educate folks – especially new residents – about the promise made during the 2005 rezoning to build a 28-acre waterfront park around the Bushwick Inlet for our community. That mission has taken on new urgency as the clock ticks down on the Bloomberg Administration who made that promise to us in the first place. So this past fall, a coalition of groups joined with Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park, including Neighbors Allied for Good Growth and tenant leaders from the Edge, Northside Piers and 184 Kent to launch the Where’s Our Park campaign.
BS: The massive rezoning of Williamsburg has changed the neighborhood aesthetically and culturally. What was your opinion of the rezoning at the time, and how do you view it in retrospect?
LT: The rezoning in 2005 took place before I moved to the neighborhood. But once I did arrive I realized – as do many of the folks who were involved in the rezoning fight – that the bulk of work to transform our community is going to be an ongoing fight. With tens of thousands of new residents moving in, but very little new infrastructure to support them, we are faced with a cart before the horse situation and now we have to figure out how to fix it. We must insure the city adds all the services needed to meet the demands of these new residents – especially open space. This community was already underserved by parks and open space and that is only getting worse as new residents join us.
After the jump, why North Brooklyn suffers from underfunded parks, what’s next for the campaign, and what’s great about Greenpoint…
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01/06/2012 11:28 AM
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Community Garden Finally Coming to Vacant 4th Ave Lot?
The lot on the corner of 4th Avenue and Sackett Street has sat unused for a very long time, but now there’s an indication that the city is finally going to make good on a promise to hand it over to the community. The Department of Environmental Protection has commandeered the space for more than a decade because of ongoing work on an underground water shaft tunnel but promised to give it to the community once work wraps. Back in 2007 the Park Slope Civil Council wondered, “Will We Ever See Green Atop Shaft 22B?” At that time, there was still years of construction to go. But according to the minutes of last month’s Community Board 6 meeting, the DEP announced that a landscape art/community garden will be constructed on the property. It’s unclear what the actual timetable is for the garden’s construction since there hasn’t been a feasibility study for the project, and community input still needs to be solicited. We’re also not certain whether the water shaft project has actually been completed: While construction of the garden was supposed to start back in the fall of 2009, in 2010 the city announced that the water shaft work wouldn’t be finished until 2013. The community board asked that the DEP return to the board to help clarify concerns and questions about the construction. Here’s hoping this project actually becomes a reality sometime in our lifetimes. GMAP
01/05/2012 12:00 PM
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City’s Fuzzy Math on Bushwick Inlet Park
The latest story about the city’s abrogation of duty when it comes to the construction of Bushwick Inlet Park—the public waterfront park in Williamsburg and Greenpoint that was supposed to be built following the rezoning of the area to allow for residential development—is reported by the New York World, which looks into whether the city underestimated how much it would cost to buy the necessary land. As it turns out, it seems like the city really missed the mark when it was calculating how much the properties would cost. The city engaged in a three-year legal battle with the owners of 50 and 86 Kent Avenue that was predicated on the notion that the properties should be valued as industrial, and thus worth $6.4 million and $13.6 million, respectively. The owners of the properties argued that the parcels should be valued much higher since, in a rezoned Williamsburg, they were worth a lot more as residential development sites. The city ended up paying $28.7 million for 50 Kent Avenue and $93.4 million for 86 Kent and is now saying it doesn’t have anymore money to buy the 12 remaining acres of the planned 28-acre park. (Around $200 million has been spent or earmarked so far for acquiring land for the park.) Ryan Kuonen, a member of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth, is quoted as saying the following about the way the city’s handled the situation: “Why didn’t the city acquire this land before rezoning? They really rushed this through without thinking it out.”
Did City Miscalculation Sideline North Brooklyn’s New Waterfront Park? [NYW]
Outrage Over City’s Lack of Action on Bushwick Inlet Park [Brownstoner]
Photo by ryanlachica
12/20/2011 9:00 AM
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Closing Bell: Video of the New Pier 1 Sculpture
Brooklyn Heights Blog’s Karl Junkersfeld has a video up showing the sculpture that was installed last week at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. Junkersfeld is not a fan and calls the piece “intrusive.”
12/19/2011 4:00 PM
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30-Foot Sculpture Just Installed in Brooklyn Bridge Park
The Storm King Art Center, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy announced the installation of a 30-foot steel sculpture called “Yoga” by American artist Mark di Suvero at Pier 1. It went in yesterday afternoon. This is the first piece in an an anticipated ongoing arts program at BBP. According to the press release, “[The sculpture] comprises an I-beam—bent into a U-shape—that rocks and pivots on a stainless-steel pole, itself topped by an O-shaped element. The sculpture creates changing shadows and perspectives as the I-beam variously ‘points’ to the harbor, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Governors Island, and beyond, while the ‘O’ may remind viewers of a ship’s portal or a magnifying glass.” It will remain on Pier 1′s Bridge View Lawn for one year.
Photograph by Julienne Schaer
12/15/2011 12:00 PM
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Pier 1 Proposals Put Under the Microscope
At last night’s CB2 meeting, the board’s parks committee presented their recommendations for the hotel and residential development planned at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. There were comments addressing each of the seven proposals. In general, the committee members suggested that the developments should be built with as little bulk and height as possible; that the majority of parking should go underground; and that there be an ease of movement between buildings and to the park. There were calls for well-placed public restrooms, inviting commercial space and welcoming lobbies, and no ground-floor residential units. One board member commented that the “park is not the residents’ front yard.” The committee members stressed the importance of the “5th facade,” the roof, which will be highly visible, and said it should be pleasant and non-obstructive. They also wanted widened sidewalks on Furman and vehicular drop-off that causes no backup onto Furman. Click through for CB2′s specific comments on each of the proposals, which included opinions on why you wouldn’t want to swim naked in one of the proposed hotels.
Possible Pier 1 Plans Not Without Controversy [Brownstoner]
Possible Plans for Bridge Park Development Site Released [Brownstoner]
Design by WASA/StudioA (more…)
12/15/2011 10:00 AM
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Judge Rules Tobacco Warehouse is Public Parkland
A state judge ruled that the city’s attempt to transfer Dumbo’s Tobacco Warehouse to St. Ann’s Warehouse wasn’t legal because the space is public parkland, and so the attempted land transfer violated public trust doctrine. Future plans for the property will have to be approved by the state legislature. The plaintiffs were the Brooklyn Heights Association and the Fulton Ferry Landing Association. The ruling follows a federal judge’s decision in April that the National Park Service illegally redrew the boundaries of state parkland to exclude the Tobacco Warehouse and Empire Stores, which the city and NPS said had been included in the map of Empire Fulton Ferry State Park by mistake. Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, said the following in a statement: “We knew that our fight to save the Tobacco Warehouse for the public was necessary and that the defense of the public trust in this case was the right thing for the Brooklyn Heights Association to do.” Meanwhile, as we learned earlier this week, St. Ann’s has found a new home in Dumbo.
Judge Halts Tobacco Warehouse Transfer [Brownstoner]
Legal Battle Over Tobacco Warehouse Continues [Brownstoner]
Park Service: St. Ann’s OK for Tobacco Warehouse [Brownstoner]
DOJ Weighs in on Tobacco Warehouse Feud [Brownstoner]
Two Lawsuits Over the Tobacco Warehouse [Brownstoner]
12/14/2011 9:00 AM
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Work Starting Soon on BBP’s Squibb Park Bridge, Pier 5
Yesterday at a Brooklyn Bridge Park board of directors meeting there was news about the cost and construction time frame for the park’s Squibb Park Bridge and sports fields at Pier 5. A firm called Kelco Construction Inc. was awarded a $6.2 million contract to build the bridge, the Post reports, and a $19.2 million contract to construct three turf fields and a playground on Pier 5. The 396-foot-long pedestrian bridge will connect Brooklyn Heights to Pier 1, the section of the park where a hotel and condo will be built. Construction on both the bridge and Pier 1 is supposed to start next month and be finished by next fall.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Officials Dish Out $25M in Contracts [NY Post]
Report from Brooklyn Bridge Park Board Meeting [BHB]
12/06/2011 9:30 AM
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southelliottseer
Feb 09, 2012 | 11:02 AM