Fulton Mall: Death By Compromise?
The Pratt Center for Community Development has released its full report–analysis and recommendations–on the Fulton Mall. Here are the five “strategies” the report recommends following. Clearly, they are trying to walk a very fine line balancing all the class and racial sensitivities that are all rolled up in the issue now. 1. Address the physical…
The Pratt Center for Community Development has released its full report–analysis and recommendations–on the Fulton Mall. Here are the five “strategies” the report recommends following. Clearly, they are trying to walk a very fine line balancing all the class and racial sensitivities that are all rolled up in the issue now.
1. Address the physical appearance of the Mall with innovative and culturally sensitive facade improvement (huh? sounds like politically-correct jibberish to us), building conservation and new building design techniques that embrace the aesthetic theme of “old meets new.” (We have no idea what this means but it sounds like a recipe for confusion and mediocrity.)
2. Better utilize buildings by activating vacant upper stories and carefully planning a mix of uses that supports the dynamism and diversity of the Mall and makes it more of a 24-hour place. (No quibbles with this one.)
3. Promote and enhance the current retail themes found on the Mall: urban wear, Hip Hop fashion and music, uniquely Brooklyn. (What, no Banana Republic? What about that diversity?)
4. Improve the public realm and enliven the side streets to enhance the experience of shoppers and visitors on Fulton Street, as well as workers and residents to the north and south. (Ah, so this is where they throw the gentrifiers a bone. The only problem is it sounds like they’ll have to wade through the penis-engraved tooth caps to get to their precious cafes. Not gonna work in our opinion.)
5. Engage a broad and diverse group of stakeholders in the planning process from this point forward. (We’re all just one big happy multi-cultural family!)Fulton Mall 2006 Report [Pratt Center]
Photo by f. trainer
I like the idea of a theatre. Maybe an off-broadway or dinner theatre or comedy club.
They should also improve the lighting after dark in the Fulton Mall. The area seems bleak, deserted and dangerous after dark. Maybe add lights to some of the trees.
Humbly submitted: In five years, none of us will recognize Fulton Street.
AT&T Building, Board of Ed. building, Williamsburgh Bank Building, all converting to residential. Together with new towers on Flatbush Ave, and new condo residents on Boerum Place and State Street, nearly 1000 units of “luxury” housing will be online in a couple years. New office buildings going up will dump hundreds of office workers in downtown brooklyn during the day.
All this development surrounds Fulton Street. It will evolve as the demographics change.
There used to be a fun movie theatre in the fulton mall area. the kind of place you went to hear what the audience had to say in response to the show. But I think because it was the only place open at night then it felt (and perhaps was?) kind of dangerous. The neighbors stopped Ratner from putting in a movie theatre years ago when he was building the Atlantic Center. So I’m guessing this isn’t much of an option anymore. Also there’s a church in the old Fulton Theatre.
As an uptight white woman I find penis-engraved gold teeth culturally insensitive.
FYI – Starbucks does VERY well in Parkchester (Bronx) with a demographic very similar to the Fulton Mall demographic shopper outlined in the Pratt survey
i grew up around 86th street on the upper east side. about 15 years ago, it was all german stores — bakeries, pharmacies, etc. then it became all p.c. richards, there was an hmv (now circuit city), barnes and noble, etc. it’s a gross outlet of all the big box stores. but it’s here to stay, that’s for sure. there are people who DO love that stuff, and truthfully it was a great convenience. a few years ago when i still lived there, i tried to get together a group of people to protest the new starbucks that opened on york ave. no takers, not even the people who worked at the independent coffee store, orens. they actually felt that the starbucks would raise their popularity as people felt a sort of moral obligation to buy their coffee.
this is to say that these kinds of places exist because people want them. no coffee shop selling lattes, except a starbucks, could survive fulton mall because of the PRICE OF RENT, which people seem to be forgetting. the dude who sells the penis engraved stuff is paying some serious rent for that privilege. the cute stores that open in “gentrifying” neighborhoods open and thrive because the rent is low. expect more coffee shops on vanderbilt or washington than on hoyt and fulton.
Also, what about the idea of creating shopping emporiums (e.g., a jewelry emporium, a sneaker emporium, cell-phone emporium, etc). That way shoppers go to one destination to get their desired product.
I like the nightlife idea…
I agree with Brenda from Flatbush and many of the other posters. I suspect that the people who shop at the Fulton Mall are more focused on the perceived bargains than the aesthetic details of the actual mall-experience. But I believe that, if polled, the majority would welcome an improved shopping experience. And if they had a chance to weigh in I suspect that they would agree with many of the ‘beautification’ proposals put forward here.
Let’s improve the signage, improve trash collection, add more security guards, add park benches, flowers, trees, etc.
I think this would also be a great place to establish a ‘night-life’ hotspot – restaurants, bars, night-clubs, lounges, galleries (on the side streets), live bands/musicians, etc.