NEW YORK | Brooklyn Bridge Park

[NYguy]

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/37533

Spandex and Cash to Flood Brooklyn Bridge Park








April 20, 2012
randen Klayko

An avid cyclist plans to bring his passion for bike racing to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Joshua Rechnitz announced Thursday that his nonprofit, the New York City Fieldhouse, will build a $40 million multi-purpose recreation center on the inland edge of the park bordering the BQE. Now occupied by a deteriorating industrial building used for storage by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, the new facility designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners will include a modern velodrome along with space for a variety of other recreational activities.

Architects have not begun designing the 115,000 square foot Fieldhouse, but the facility is expected to blend well with Michael Van Valkenburgh’s surrounding landscape. The roof, which will be visible from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade above, is expected to become a signature design element and the structure will aim for LEED certification.

Inside, the velodrome’s 200-meter inclined track will dominate the space, but basketball, tennis, volleyball, and gymnastics will also be accommodated. Seating for nearly 2,500 people will be provided around the bike track. Maintenance areas and public restrooms for park visitors will also be provided. Besides competitive racing, the Fieldhouse will also offer the community cycling lessons, classes, and amateur races. Operations are expected to be self-funding.

A series of public meetings with the community will be scheduled to help guide the project forward and, pending review, construction could begin within a year and a half.

Hopkins Architects' Olympic Velodrome in London.












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http://www.observer.com/2012/04/broo...s-get-a-boost/

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/b...tqi2s2td83dElO

Brooklyn Heights ‘water affront’

By RICH CALDER
May 4, 2012

They want a beautiful waterfront park — they just don’t want outsiders traipsing through their neighborhood to get there. Community leaders in Brooklyn Heights are prepared to look a $40 million gift horse in the mouth, fearing some quiet cobblestone streets will be overrun by hordes of pedestrians and vehicles heading to a new year-round sports facility planned for Brooklyn Bridge Park. The 115,000-square-foot ”Fieldhouse” — which Manhattan philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz last month announced he plans to pay for — would include an inclined bike track, playing areas for others sports and seating for 2,500 people attending competitive events. It would also include on-site parking.

While Brooklyn Heights civic leaders say they’re grateful for the gift, many attending a park planning meeting Tuesday night questioned whether building the facility at the edge of Joralemon Street near Pier 5 would put too much burden on the neighborhood — particularly its cobblestone-lined southwest section known as “Willowtown.” “This would be devastating to the southern Heights,” said Mary Goodman, who lives a few blocks away and is on Community Board 2's parks committee. “[Joralemon Street] would become the secret way to get there faster, and in a street full of babies, dogs and people, it would be disastrous.”

But Judi Francis, who’s led the fight to keep more high-rise condos out of the park, said the fieldhouse plan should be hailed — not criticized — because it “finally fills the park’s biggest void,” a lack of year-round recreation. “The focus should be how fantastic this will be for all New Yorkers,” she said. Collingnan said that some large cycling competitions would be necessary to generate revenue to keep the fieldhouse “self sustaining” but that the site would be open to the general public most of the time.

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/ny...1&ref=nyregion

A $40 Million Gift, a Proposed Bike Arena, and Now Skepticism in Brooklyn


The proposed site of Brooklyn Bridge Park’s velodrome.



Such track-cycling facilities drew huge crowds to sites around New York a century ago; only one remains, in Queens.


By LISA W. FODERARO
July 30, 2012

Leaders of the major community groups in the neighborhoods abutting the park, including Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, have questions about the track. They say they worry about the building’s size (with a footprint of up to 70,000 square feet, it is larger than a football field) and the traffic it might draw to the cobbled streets of Brooklyn Heights, while pointing out the relatively obscure nature of track cycling, in which riders on fixed-gear bicycles without brakes travel at terrific speeds around curves banked at 45-degree angles.

Some also doubt Mr. Rechnitz’s motives: a 47-year-old resident of the Upper West Side, he is an avid amateur track cyclist who has tried — and failed — to bring a velodrome to the city. Now, they say, he is buying the track he wants, on public land. “You can paint stripes on a horse, but that doesn’t make it a zebra,” said Peter Flemming, co-chairman of the independent Brooklyn Bridge Park Community Council and a resident of Brooklyn Heights. “Nor can calling this a ‘field house’ make it anything other than an Olympic-class track-cyling velodrome.”

Not everyone is against the proposed track. Joan L. Millman, a state assemblywoman who represents the area containing the park, said she supported it, in part because it would replace a rundown storage building near Pier 5 that she called an “eyesore.” But she confessed that, at first, she was not even sure what a velodrome was. “I had to go look it up,” she said. Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, which governs land use in the park, emphasized that “it’s not taking away any green space; the plan always called for that location to be a maintenance building.”

[NYguy]

kimmyman








Late, but coming together...

[NYguy]

Dondre Green

[NYguy]

glittaz

[eleven=11]

is that the new pool??
I thought it was going to be a floating pool....

[dabcom]

When are they going to finish constructing the remaining piers.

[NYC4Life]

I could imagine this park being a host to beach volleyball if NYC were to ever host the olympics.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by eleven=11

is that the new pool??
I thought it was going to be a floating pool....

That's a different pool.

Originally Posted by dabcom

When are they going to finish constructing the remaining piers.

In the coming years. You can see active work on two of them in the photos.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by hunser

Gordon Lew

Can't wait until the full park is completed and open.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...sEnabled=false

Brooklyn Bridge Park cycling track and rec center has critics fuming despite design changes
Sprawling fieldhouse will get additional space for sports other than cycling





By Lore Croghan
September 20, 2012

The design for a controversial cycling and rec center proposed for Brooklyn Bridge Park has been tweaked - but critics say the changes don’t go far enough. The sprawling fieldhouse planned near Pier 5 will get additional space for sports other than cycling and fewer spectators’ seats for cycling events.

“There’s a demand and a need for indoor recreation space,” said Greg Brooks, executive director of New York City Fieldhouse Inc., whose 115,000-square-foot sport center plan faces opposition among Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO community leaders. "No matter how they say it, this is first and foremost a cycling arena,” said Peter Flemming, co-chairman of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Community Council. “It’s a bad thing for this park.”

The cycling track will be elevated on support beams to increase the recreation space to 25,000 square feet, which will allow more activities to go on simultaneously than was previously possible, Brooks said. There will be moveable equipment for basketball, volleyball, tennis and badminton; fencing, martial arts, kickball and gymnastics are also on the menu.

Builders initially planned 2,499 fixed seats for spectators — for up to 3,300 spectators with temporary seating and standing room, Brooks said. After checking demand for cycling events at an outdoor track in Lehigh, Pa., they cut the fixed seats to 1,200, for up to 2,000 spectators with temporary seating and standing room.

The fieldhouse won’t have parking — so even with fewer spectators expected at cycling events, Brooklyn Heights residents fear snarled traffic.

The fieldhouse is being funded with a $40 million donation from Joshua Rechnitz, an Upper West Side cycling enthusiast from a family of philanthropists. The park’s board must vote to approve the project and the state must give its okay before the fieldhouse is a go.

[NYguy]

photos11201

[NYguy]

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49537

BBP’s Pier 5 Aims For Late Fall 2012 Completion: Then There Was Turf

By Chuck Taylor
October 22, 2012

As Brooklyn Bridge Park pushes for late Fall 2012 completion of Pier 5, there couldn’t be any greener a sign of progress than the artificial turf that was put in place
over the past week. According to signage that lines the Promenade: “The 5-acre section, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, will feature three synthetic
turf playing fields, a waterfront promenade, a picnic peninsula with barbecues, a playground for younger children and fishing stations. Benches and picnic tables constructed
of salvaged wood will be placed throughout the pier. A portion of the park’s greenway will also be completed and connect to the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.”

Meanwhile, the Squibb Park Bridge spanning Furman Street—which provides a connection at Pier 1—is also slated for completion before year’s end, according to
the Brooklyn Bridge Park website.

(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

[uaarkson]

This is going to look so amazing. The entire area will feel revitalized.

[NYguy]

I remember somebody asked about this...



http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/f...qTwaRN3BHcP7hJ

Jane Walentas, wife of DUMBO master developer David Walentas, on status of Jane’s Carousel (a 1920s carousel she exquisitely restored located within Brooklyn Bridge Park by the historic bridge. The ride, which opened in 2009, is within a massive glass pavilion designed by architect Jean Nouvel and is fully lit and could even be seen during storm from river last night until power flickered out at 11 pm):

“I was looking at it all night from our windows,” Jane Walentas said. “It was amazing. We lost power (she and her husband live across the street at the pricey 1 Main Street building he owns) at 1 Main Street around 9:30 pm, but the carousel building was still lit. I really thought it would make it and then it began flickering and finally went out around 11 pm.”

“There were 8-foot waves crashing into [the carousel building] all night,” she said. “It looked like it was floating out in the middle of the river. It was wild but I am quite relieved it survived.”

She said the carousel and pavillon itself are completely intact but a basement area underneath was covered with five feet of water. The electrical system is kept there and will need to be repaired.

[Chapelo]

Well that's a relief. Good to hear it survived. My four year old daughter would have been heartbroken to hear her favorite carousel didn't survive.

[NYguy]

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52666

Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 to Have Grand Opening Thursday



By Claude Scales
December 9, 2012

Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 and its uplands, which will include sports fields and a “picnic peninsula,” will have its grand opening in a ceremony to begin at 11:00 a.m. this Thursday, December 13.

[NYguy]

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2012...-opened-today/

Closing Bell: Pier Five Playing Field Opened Today

Today the Pier Five playing fields opened at Brooklyn Bridge Park. It’s a five acre space with three multi-purpose sports fields and playgrounds, as well as bait prep stations. The fields are adaptable to different types of outdoor sports and are lined by bleachers and benches.

Twenty-six shade sails also line the northern and southern sides of the pier to provide cover from the sun. The Picnic Peninsula (now the park’s largest picnic area) has umbrellas, picnic tables and Hibachi-style grill tops. There’s also a 30-foot-wide promenade with, of course, views of downtown Manhattan. Talk about exciting news for Brooklyn Bridge Park, not to mention the impending completion of the Squibb Park Bridge. ]

nycmayorsoffice

[Empire state of mind]

Awesome project.