Big Bucks for Jazzing Up 'Outdated' Fulton Mall
As part of a $40 million investment in the Downtown Brooklyn streetscape, the city’s Economic Development Corp. will pony up $15 million to spruce up the Fulton Street Mall. “You’ll have a great new open space a la Herald Square at 34th Street in Manhattan, and an overhaul of the Fulton Mall’s physical environment,” said…
As part of a $40 million investment in the Downtown Brooklyn streetscape, the city’s Economic Development Corp. will pony up $15 million to spruce up the Fulton Street Mall. “You’ll have a great new open space a la Herald Square at 34th Street in Manhattan, and an overhaul of the Fulton Mall’s physical environment,” said Joseph Chan, president of the city’s Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. The effort will include new bus shelters, benches and street furniture as well as the addition of new lights and trees. Another $3 million to $4 million will be out towards creating a 10,000-square-foot green space at the former Albee Square mall that could double as a place for public performances. Work is expected to begin a year from now. Even sooner, the greening of Downtown Brooklyn will also extend to two “gateway to Brooklyn” planting projects on Flatbush Avenue and Boerum Place.
$15 Mil for ‘Herald Square in Bklyn’ [NY Post]
“Chinatown…YUCK!”
Hey, it’s only one stop away on the Q!
Hey
Its where I buy my fake Louis Vuitton bags and wigs….don’t take that away from me. where else am i suppose to go…Chinatown…YUCK!
I was at Cookie’s this weekend and I STILL don’t get the bus shelter thing. And I know the city is spending millions on them so I don’t see how they’re free. I think they pull a % of the ad revenue, like in the subways
The Fulton Mall area is dumpy in many ways. The layout is screwy especially if you attempt to drive through it.
But it does appear that Fulton Mall is an un-exploited site for residential real estate. That’s changing, but not fast enough.
Meanwhile, better stores will arrive when the area obtains more eye-appeal. Till then it’s La Moda and Jimmy Jazz and lousy fast-food joints.
When the area is once again a place where a modern Gage & Tollner’s can succeed, it will have regained what it lost in the last decade.
i’m just curious why they are including new bus shelters in this announcement, as the city is already in process of replacing all of the bus shelters in new york as we speak. i don’t know why they’d be using any of this money for something that’s already going to be changed out, or maybe i’m just reading too much into it.
in any event, this is terrific news. i think the fulton mall functions well as a commercial area (even though i don’t shope there myself) but would welcome a little more streetscaping, etc.
people on this site are so freakin selfish. just because YOU don’t like to shop at the stores at fulton mall, does not make it useless.
When I go to Cookie’s to get rock-bottom prices on kids’ wear, I always think to myself, “Gosh, I hope they never improve this crappy, cheap-ass streetscape with some public money, ’cause I’d sure miss the urban “vibe” and “flava” of roll-down gates at night, sleazy facades, nothing but fried chicken and hot-dog stands, and a sorry-assed Macy’s that doesn’t even put in window displays! And although I may be white trash, I’ll bet all my black bruthas and sistaz who come in from the ‘hood to shop would also be keenly averse to new benches, lights, and trees, ‘cuz we’re all about KEEPIN’ IT REAL! Yes, that’s what we poor folks want–SQUALOR with our bargains! Thanks, you progressive folks, for looking out for us and seeking to preserve the “authenticity” and “character” of our bargain-hunting experience–crap and decay are not just what we deserve, they are what we CRAVE, all 100,000 of us a day!
Mayberry and Dave get it. Everybody that translates this story about the design of the public space into something about the retail mix is either missing the point or pushing an agenda.
Is there really anybody that is all nostalgic about the 70s street furniture? I would think that the readers of this blog would endorse the removal of the bus canopies, which will allow people to actually see the buildings.
10:13, the gateway structures will be going away. DOT has been an impediment to more trees.
The demise of Fulton Mall is linked to the demise of A&S. A&S was THE anchor store that brought foot traffic to Fulton Mall. When Federated dumped the A&S name and rebranded the store Macy’s, things went downhill. The once mighty A&S Flagship store is now a s hit box. Is it any wonder that the rest of the area stinks?
The fate of Fulton Mall really lies in Federated hands. Fulton Mall will not improve until Federated either sells off the property or decides to re-invest heavily.
The history of Fulton Mall is the story of loss. Loss of great department stores, of specialty shops, of good restaurants. Now its all sneakers, cell phones, fried chicken and wigs.
Major tacks. That’s the reality.
When I walk down Fulton Street I don’t think: “Gee some new bus shelters and designer benches would make all the difference”. But it can’t hurt, maybe its hit bottom, I hope so.