Brooklyn Bridge Park Facts

FACT:  Brooklyn Bridge Park will replace abandoned piers, parking lots, and storage sheds- that had once been slated by government for private development- with lawns, restored habitats, recreational fields and ball courts, water access, playgrounds and esplanades. 

FACT:  The plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park won all final government approvals in 2006 after 20 years of debate, planning and advocacy.  The plan has been fully vetted for economic and physical feasibility.

FACT:  The plan is an 85-acre project with 76 acres of protected parkland supported by 8.2 acres of revenue-generating parcels.

FACT:  Brooklyn Bridge Park has always been planned to be financially self-sustaining, with limited development to pay maintenance and operations costs.  The Park won’t be forced to compete annually with schools, libraries, police and fire protection for government’s scarce resources, nor will the quality of its care be subject to ever-changing government budgets. 

FACT:  Housing is the most efficient and most park-compatible option to support the Park, producing reliably high revenue and taking up minimal land, as opposed to alternatives such as office buildings, parking lots, and large format retail (big box development). 

FACT:  Major city parks throughout the country, Hudson River Park and Riverside South in New York City, and Millennium Park in Chicago, for example, are only being built where mechanisms are found to fund operation and maintenance costs without government support.

FACT:  Taxes received from residential and commercial parcels within the project area will fund the Park.  Under the plan, real estate taxes from buildings within the project area will not be paid in to the City’s general fund but rather treated as PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) and earmarked for the Park’s maintenance and operations.

FACT:  The size of the buildings on the development parcels may shrink if developers believe that the residential units will be more valuable than what has been estimated.  The height proposed for the residential buildings in the project plan is the maximum allowable and may be reduced depending on the market.

FACT:  The estimated maintenance and operating costs for the Park are completely reasonable -- directly comparable to the per acre costs of Hudson River Park and Battery Park City, which as waterfront parks are the only reasonable comparisons.

FACT:  The Park will increase New York City’s public waterfront parkland by 76 acres.  Access by subway, bus, water taxi and by foot from the Promenade is currently being studied to ensure that the Park will be easily accessible to all and not disrupt adjacent residential neighborhoods.

FACT:  The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, the independent citizens’ organization that has advocated for a great waterfront park along the downtown Brooklyn waterfront for 20 years, will continue to work to facilitate a participatory park planning process and bring free public programming to the beginnings of Brooklyn Bridge Park.