Brooklyn Navy Yard's Transformation in High Gear

A Curbed feature details the ongoing transformation of a formerly inaccessible and inhospitable corner of New York City.

1 minute read

September 28, 2019, 7:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Brooklyn Redevelopment

Gerald Trudell / Shutterstock

Nathan Kensinger reports on a wave of changes at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which for decades has been mostly fenced off from public:

But over the past three years, the public has been able to access more of the spaces inside the yard’s historic footprint. Today, visitors can stroll through fields of wildflowers at the Naval Cemetery Landscape, buy a bagel at Russ & Daughters inside the renovated lobby of Building 77, and take a ride in a self-driving vehicle out to a new ferry stop on the East River. This is the first time in generations that neighbors are being allowed to wander through the heart of the yard, and to observe the waters of Wallabout Bay.

The wave of publically accessible redevelopment started in 2011, with other major milestones in 2016. In 2019, there are a number of new developments about to come online that will allow the public new access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and even bigger developments a little further along in the pipeline. Kensinger provides a detailed chronology, past and future, of development both in and around the Navy Yard.

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