Bush Terminal Piers Park Opens on the Sunset Park Waterfront
Sunset Park has gotten people’s attention in recent months–ours included–thanks to an influx of creative and commercial opportunities, as well as the major Industry City development. Located in the former Bush Terminal, the 16-building, 6.5 million-square-foot complex is being remodeled with the intent of creating “a dynamic 21st century innovation and manufacturing community that balances existing manufacturing tenants with those centered on creative and innovation economy fields.” And adjacent to the site is Liberty View Industrial Plaza, an eight-story, 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse that will offer work space.
These waterfront developments are touting Sunset Park as a walk-to-work neighborhood, and now residents will have a new park to stroll through on their way in to the office. Bush Terminal Piers Park opened this week after being in the works since the ’90s. Extending from 45th to 50th Streets along the waterfront, Brooklyn’s newest park sits atop a former toxic waste site, but was cleaned up over the past decade and now offers an esplanade overlooking tide ponds and restored wetlands.
Bush Terminal was constructed in 1895 as an industrial complex with port facilities and a 21-mile rail system. It was the first facility of its kind in New York and the largest multi-tenant industrial property in the United States. For the past decade, the city, state, and federal government have funded an environmental cleanup of the site to accommodate the new, 23-acre park as part of the city’s Sunset Park Vision Plan.
Bush Terminal Piers Park is a welcome addition to Sunset Park’s open space plan. It will be a stop along the planned 14-mile Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which will run through Industry City, as well as on the Sunset Park Greenway-Blueway. Moreover, Sunset Park has less than one-third of the city’s average parkland per capita, so the new addition brings much-needed green space to the up-and-coming neighborhood. The park will include ballfields, a wetland wildlife area, and an environmental education center.
The park officially opened to the public on Wednesday, and will be open from 8:00am to 4:00pm through March 1st, when the hours are extended.
[Related: Sunset Park: How Creativity and Commerce are Transforming This Waterfront Neighborhood]
[Via DNAinfo]
