Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park

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Brooklyn Bridge Park
01/05/10 9:56am

Empire Fulton Ferry State Park Closed for Renovation

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Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park Closed

A note from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation:

Empire Fulton Ferry State Park is closed as of January 1, 2010 as construction gets underway to implement a series of exciting park improvements. Improvements include:

  • Jane’s Carousel, a gift of Jane and David Walentas. The magnificent, restored 1922 carousel will be housed in a beautiful pavilion designed by Pritzker-Prize winning architect Jean Nouvel, making the carousel available for use in all seasons. (also see: Jane’s Carousel To Be in Brooklyn Bridge Park)
  • Extension of the park lawn to the south across the current alignment of New Dock Street
  • Stormwater retention tanks to irrigate the park’s natural features
  • Park furnishings including railings, benches, picnic tables and bike racks
  • Lighting so that the park will be open after dark for the first time since its opening in 1979
  • Regrading the park to improve drainage

Scheduled reopening of the park is Spring 2011. The adjacent city park will remain open during the renovation. Pier 1 of the Brooklyn Bridge Park will open as early in 2010 as possible and will host the popular Movies with a View this summer.

Brooklyn Bridge Park
12/18/09 2:16pm

Jane's Carousel To Be in Brooklyn Bridge Park

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Brooklyn Bridge

(Brooklyn Bridge Park – The plan is to have Jane’s Carousel be on western shore of the park’s cove in front of the Tobacco Warehouse.)

According to officials at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation and an article in the NY Post today, Jane’s Carousel will officially be part of the Brooklyn Bridge Park waterfront development. NY Post states:

“The directors of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation approved David and Jane Walentases’ gift of the so-called “Jane’s Carousel” and $3.45 million to landscape and operate it past the park’s closing time — and agreed to house it in a pavilion designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.”

Officials note that in addition to the restored 1922 carousel, the Walentases are also donating $3.45 million for improvements to the $350 million park, which include lighting and landscaping so that the carousel hours can be extended past the park’s closing time. If the park will have some food concessions, maybe the Shake Shack empire should open a location here.

The design of the carousel pavilion has not yet been revealed, but Jane’s vision is for a glass one; perhaps similar to the Greenport Village one pictured below.

[UPDATE: 12/21/2009: We emailed Jane for a statement about the carousel, and this is what she stated:

The Carousel is to be located near the “point” of the existing boardwalk. It is the exact site that was originally proposed in the early site plan by Ben Thompson Assoc. & Beyer Blinder Belle in 1984.

I know and have visited the building in Greenport. The Pavilion that Jean Nouvel is designing bears absolutely no resemblance to that building. It is an extraordinarily simple & elegant design that has received only raves from those who have seen it. I imagine the design will be released fairly soon.

Thanks Jane for the update.]

Greenport Carousel

{YouTube: Jane Walentas’ Carousel, 21July2008}
{Jane’s Carousel Open For Season, 22May2007}
{The Carousel News and Trader Talks About Jane’s Carousel, 19Jan2007}
{To the Children of Dumbo: Experience Jane’s Carousel 12/8, 8Dec2006}
{A Chat With Jane At The Carousel Opening, 16Oct2006}

Dumbo Events
06/18/09 11:41am

Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival 2009

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The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival 2009 will take place on June 18th, 19th and 20th at the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, 1 Main Street, Dumbo Brooklyn from 12p.m. – 8 p.m. Events include a retrospective photo exhibit of the first four years, a kick off party, Family Day, The Main Day, and the Official After Party. Performers include big names in the industry: Pharoahe Monch, DJ Premier, Styles P, dead prez, Smif N Wessun, Grand Puba, J Period, Torae and Marco Polo, Tiye Phoenix, Keys N Krates, Brown Bag All Stars, DJ Parler, DJ Misbehaviour, Metermaids and hosted by Ralph McDaniels. For the full event schedule, go to brooklynbodega.com.

Single Tickets for the Main Day are available for free or for a suggested donation of only $10 at www.brooklynbodega.com. [Tickets also available at Fat Beats New York, 406 Avenue of the Americas # 1, New York, NY 10011, and (212) 673-3883 and Halcyon, 57 Pearl St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, (718) 260-9299]

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival is funded, created, inspired and produced for Hip-Hop by Hip-Hop.

For more information
visit www.brooklynbodega.com, follow them on Twitter @brooklynbodega, or email info@brooklynbodega.com.

Dock Street
06/04/09 4:53pm

Land Use City Council Committee Approves Dock St – One More Vote To Go

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(Image from dockstreetdumbo.com)

[UPDATE: See Sarah Portlock’s detailed account of the voting at BHB.]

The Land Use City Council Committee voted to approve the zoning changes for a 17 story tower known as Dock Street Dumbo today by a wide margin (17-4), and the Zoning and Franchises subcommittee approved the vote by 6-2 according to a Brooklyn Paper article. Per the article:

The Council’s land-use committee voted 17–4 to support Walentas’s request for a rezoning on his Dock Street site so that he could build a 300-unit tower — which includes a public middle school and scores of units set aside as below-market-rate rentals — a project that opponents claim will forever damage views of the historic and landmarked span.

“I have to vote yes … because it’s in the best interest of the community overall,” said Councilmember Robert Jackson (D–Manhattan), speaking for many on the panel.

The vote came less than a week after the opposition requested an investigation into the activities of the SCA, the Department of Education (DOE), and Two Trees Management, its principals, lobbyists and attorneys, who say that there is strong evidence that there has been ongoing collusion and improper dealings between the SCA, the DOE and a private developer – Two Trees Management – in the developer’s quest to gain zoning changes for the Dock Street site. (See Brooklyn Heights Blog for the full letter by the DNA to Barbara Ditata, Inspector General for the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA).

The Brooklyn Paper states that the decision to support the project was “a rare instance when a council committee opted not to defer to the wishes of the local member, in this case, project opponent Yassky.”

The next and final step is a full City Council vote on Wednesday, June 10. Council Speaker Christine Quinn told a Council member that she intended to support the project, according to The NY Observer article published yesterday. This looks good for Two Trees in their final hurdle for a zoning change that will allow them to build residential apartments on the site known as Dock Street Dumbo.

{Past Dock Street Dumbo articles}
Other articles on Dock St posted this week:
{On Dock Street, Victory Is Near for Walentases, 3June2009, NY Observer}
{Council committee approves Dock Street project!, 04June2009, Brooklyn Paper}
{Opponents of Dock Street Project Ask for Full Investigation, 01June2009}
{Selling The Brooklyn Bridge: Will Corruption Mar National Landmark? , 03June2009, Air America}

Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
05/14/09 3:50am

Art Installation Removed at Empire Stores

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art scaffolding

art scaffolding

It was fun while it lasted, even for less than a week. The De-Fence Project is (or rather was) a site-specific display that is integrated into the 300ft long wooden fence running atop a sidewalk bridge of the Empire Stores building in the Empire-Fulton State Park in Dumbo, Brooklyn. The mural is composed of 60 plywood panels attached above and below the fence utilizing the existing wooden framework. Evolving from left to right, the pattern features a variety of natural shapes, such as jellyfish, leaves, and birds.

John Jeffreys, president and creative director of Exhibitology Incorporated, which funded the project emailed to us “This project is a great example of how the unsightly can easily be made more beautiful and interesting.” Although it was a nice way to dress up an otherwise bland scaffold, State Park officials had it taken down yesterday because the group did not get permission to put up the artwork. According to Jeffreys, “Due to time constraints, Exhibitology was not able to secure permission in time to for the May 7th install and thus The State’s position is that anything that they can’t control is not allowed.” We’re sad to see this go down, but hope they’ll bring back more art in the area.

{State park cops reuglify DUMBO building, 13May2009, Brooklyn Paper}
{De-Fence Project Destroyed, 13May2009, Gothamist}
{Art being removed, 11May2009, McBrooklyn}
{Discussion on DumboNYC, 09May2009}

Brooklyn Bridge
04/29/09 11:30am

Brownstoner's Flea Coming to Brooklyn Bridge Plaza

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(Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Heights Blog)

The Brooklyn Flea announced yesterday that they will be launching a second outdoor market at a location in Brooklyn Bridge Park, directly under the Brooklyn Bridge in the Fulton Ferry Historic District on the waterfront (Water Street and New Dock Street). The “Brooklyn Bridge Flea” will take place on Sundays, starting June 14, and the Fort Greene Flea will continue on Saturdays. The last date of the Flea’s indoor Dumbo locations will be Sunday, May 31. Brooklyn Bridge Flea will feature between 80 and 100 vendors and will feature existing vendors as well as new additions.

Congratulations to Eric Demby and Brownstoner on this partnership with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (BBPDC). The Fort Greene Flea has attracted 10,000 visitors each Saturday, and the Brooklyn Bridge Flea will likely draw even more, with the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park next door, and other nearby businesses such as Jacques Torres, who is planning to open an ice cream parlor this summer (as early as June) next to his chocolate shop.

The new location was the site of the landmark Art Deco Purchase Building (Brownstoner link). The Brooklyn Paper reports that the building was torn down to make way for a piazza only to lose control to the Department of Transportation, “which says the tract is needed as a staging area to overdue repairs to the historic suspension bridge.”

Click here for the BBPDC Press Release (pdf)

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