Housing Over the BQE? Could Be
Part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan for squeezing more housing units out of an already-crowded city includes building decks over rail lines and highways. Of particular relevance to Brownstone Brooklyn is a nine-block stretch of the BQE that currently cuts a deep channel through Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. “A platform could be constructed over the…
Part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan for squeezing more housing units out of an already-crowded city includes building decks over rail lines and highways. Of particular relevance to Brownstone Brooklyn is a nine-block stretch of the BQE that currently cuts a deep channel through Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. “A platform could be constructed over the below-grade section of the BQE to create nine new blocks of housing reconnecting two neighborhoods,” said a mayoral panel. We haven’t had time to fully digest what such a move would mean for the character and connectedness of the two sides of the highway. What do you think? What would it mean for the properties that currently overlook the expressway?
‘Rail’ Big Housing Plan [NY Post]
Anon 1:32 and to the rest of the misinformed, the area west of the BQE is considered Redhook by the people who grew up in Brooklyn, including myself, and others who lived here before it was fasionable. I understand that it is now called the Columbia Waterfront District, likely because 5-10 years ago when that “renaming” occurred, it was unimaginable that people with money would want to live in red hook. Perhaps we should rename Bed-Stuy to “Clinton Hill North” or better yet in the Brooklyn Heights vicinity.
The area west of the BQE and between Atlantic and Hamilton Ave. is NOT considered Red Hook anymore. We all know it was part of Red Hook before the BQE and Batery Tunnel were built, but no one (except for fact-checking compulsives with too much time on their hands) thinks of it as Red Hook anymore. It has it’s own neighborhood character now and should be treated as such.
The writer screwed up the neighborhoods. The BQE splits Red Hook and Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens. Anyway, this plan is okay if the scale and design of the project is in line with the neighborhood. It certainly has the potential to be horrible.
Let’s have Ratner develop over the 36th st rail yards in Sunset Park.
It’s hard to imagine what south brooklyn was like before the BQE.
It was much quieter I’m sure.
Hicks street was a major shopping street before its west side was vaporized for the highway.
But putting residential buildings on top of expressways is a 1960’d idea that should be thouroughly discretied by now. It is just a bad idea. Expensive and stupid, which sums up many things from the 1960’s to me.
Brooklyn Heights seemed to be the most successful in negotiating the placement of the BQE, but it chopped up Red Hook from Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill (old time residents still think of Cobble Hill as Red Hook) and Sunset Park didn’t fare much better. I think it is a very interesting idea and an engineering and architectural challenge. It would be wonderful if something could be made to reconnect this part of Brooklyn broken by the BQE.
I just love Carroll Gardens i think it might not be such a bad Idea, But they must include a park.
I’m no engineer, but it would seem to me that building a block of housing over the BQE would be quite a feat. But i’ve always thought it would be brilliant to cover that stretch of the BQE with a park. hopefully whatever plan they come up with, if this goes forward, will include some additional green space.
say, is that space big enough for a sports arena?