Parks Dept Announces Completed Reconstruction of Bensonhurst Park Playground

The project cost $7.86 million. On January 7, 2020, the Parks Department announced the completion of the reconstruction of Bensonhurst Park Playground in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Bensonhurst Park is one of 26 parks crossed by the Belt Parkway, which divides the park into two sections. The playground portion of the park is located near the intersection of Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue.


City Planning Holds Hearing on Nine-Story Mixed-Use Building in Bensonhurst

The applicants propose to bring eleven affordable housing units under the City’s Workforce Option to Bensonhurst. On March 4, 2020, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application to rezone part of a low-density residential zoning district in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The applicant, SUW 4 LLC, proposes to rezone the northwest corner of 60th Street and Bay Parkway, which is a 10,108 square foot vacant lot. Under the current zoning, only three- to … <Read More>


City Council’s Domenic Recchia on South Brooklyn’s Past, Present, and Future

New York City Council Member Domenic M. Recchia Jr. represents District 47, covering Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Coney Island, and Brighton Beach neighborhoods. He is Chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee. He graduated from Brooklyn’s John Dewey High School, played football and received his undergraduate degree at Kent State University, and earned his juris doctor from Atlanta Law School. Recchia also has a Brooklyn private practice specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury.

Brooklyn beginnings.<Read More>


Bensonhurst developments win grandfathered status

Four developments exceeding zoning get green light to proceed over community objection. In June 2005, the City Council rezoned 120 blocks of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, removing the ability to construct large as-of-right residential towers without any height limit along Bensonhurst’s smaller residential streets. 2 CityLand 86 ( July 15, 2005) .

Four developers with projects underway timely sought BSA’s approval to grandfather their development plans and allow construction to proceed on buildings that violated the new … <Read More>


Bensonhurst down-zoned

Developer wins exception to down-zoning. Over the no-vote of Council Member Tony Avella, the full Council voted to down-zone 120 blocks of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, carving out one area to retain its existing zoning in response to a Bensonhurst developer’s request.

Due to residents’ concerns over large towers replacing Bensonhurst’s single-family homes, the Planning Department filed a map amendment, proposing to eliminate the R6 zoning, which dominated the area and permitted as-of-right residential towers without a … <Read More>


Small Business Services Awards $3.8 Million in Nonprofit Grants

Funding from the Avenue NYC and Neighborhood 360 grant programs will be awarded to 24 nonprofits working towards pandemic recovery in low to moderate income neighborhoods. On July 13, 2022, the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) announced it will award $3.8 million in multi-year grants through the Avenue NYC and Neighborhood 360 programs. This investment will be divided among 24 community-based development organizations working in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods.