Demolition & Construction; Brooklyn Bridge Park - Feb. 2010

This is the conceptualization for this stretch of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Project.

The transformation of Brooklyn's obsolete waterfront piers continues in earnest.

Brooklyn Bridge Park and the greater Empire State Park project is moving along.

 

It is suffering delays like any other project in this city.  But the day will come when we'll be enjoying it's full benefits and finally bid farewell to the notoriously organized crime controlled piers whose days on this waterfront are long past.  This is a completed section on the street side access.

For the first time along this long developed waterfront's history, the Furman Street strip will be accessible and become enjoyable public space for Brooklynites and tourists alike.  This is a long departure from the more maritime, shipping and dock-worker/long-shore men paradise it was in the 19th and early 20th century.  The construction site is busy.  In this park plan however there are
some of Brooklyn's older buildings that have to be sacrificed. 
Yea, they're old and date from the Civil War and before.
  Historically though these buildings weren't terribly significant, I don't believe.

Take at good look at this building. 

 In about 2 minutes it will no longer be standing. Watch it fall. 

Also, take notice there is not one steel beam in the whole structure.

I can't say the project is death for anything in it's path.  That would not be true.  In the portion of park completed between the bridges, they've done very well to preserve the old coffee warehouses of more robust times 100+ years ago.  They're still getting a good work over.  My point is the project was not neglectful to incorporate the existing surroundings,

such as these buildings, which will get some TLC very soon.

This picture of the Fulton Landing in 1750 

harkens back to a day when the waterfront was still "eco-friendly" by today's definition.

The house in the lower right and today's Ice Cream Factory

are aligned for your viewing and sense of perspective.

The oasis that was the River Cafe, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and Fulton Landing replete with commemorations to Gen. George Washington and the Continental Army will finally be given a condition and  environment to thrive in.  The established businesses and sprouting ones off Fulton Street will all come together in a waterfront splendor.  The view from this waterfront in Brooklyn has to be without a doubt, one of the more spectacular in all the world.  I don't just say that because I live here.

Just north on the other side of Old Fulton Street into the DUMBO district, portions of Brooklyn Bridge Park are complete and being enjoyed by many.

These are areas in the 70s and 80s that were abandoned, run-down, desolate, dingy, dilapidated, dark, dangerous districts dedicated to creatures of the night.  Re-zoning changed all that.  Old historical buildings have been reclaimed and renovated.  This area was once the product, again, of an obsolete maritime shipping waterfront. The area is now thriving with multi-million dollar units with

 buyers lined up across the Brooklyn Bridge.

 I myself could not believe it took so long.  I can only reference my own life span.  It really all goes back to 1974 when then President Ford told the city to drop dead.  The city almost did, literally.  I digress.  So before I lose focus, this post ends here.  I'll be back to let ya know how it's going down on Old Fulton Street.

Here are some parting images..

The River Cafe is neatly tucked in there right on the water's edge.

Think about the view at night and having dinner with the city's downtown lights glittering off the river underneath the beautiful Gothic Arches of the Brooklyn Bridge.

It's one of the finest dining experiences "ya'ever gonna have..Fugheddaboudit!"

the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

view from Front Street.

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