Image credit: New York City Council.

On December 21, 2022, the City Council voted to approve three bills that would improve transparency with the Parks Department’s capital projects process and utilize small or micro spaces that can be used for beneficial green space. All three bills were sponsored by Council Member Shekar Krishnan, Chair of the Council Committee on Parks and Recreation. (more…)

Kinko houses in the Melrose Parkside Historic District. Image Credit: LPC.

Some of the houses within the district represent a unique layout that was developed in Brooklyn. On December 13, 2022, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Melrose Parkside Historic District in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The new historic district consists of 38 single- and two-family row houses on Parkside Avenue between Flatbush and Bedford Avenues, including the properties from 357 to 413 Parkside Avenue on the north and 290 to 386 Parkside Avenue on the south side of the street. (more…)

Agency and elected officials and community representatives joined to celebrate the ribbon cutting of the new recreation deck at Pier 42 on the Lower East Side. Image Credit: NYC Parks/DDC.

On November 29, 2022, officials from the Departments of Parks and Recreation, Design and Construction and NYC Economic Development Corporation joined elected officials and community representatives to celebrate the opening of the new recreational deck at Pier 42 in the Lower East Side. Pier 42 is located off the East River Greenway and is located near the intersection of South Street and Jackson Street. The deck sits on a former industrial maritime site and parking lot. (more…)

Rendering of the future Mary Cali Dalton Recreation Center. Image Credit: Parks Dept.

The project will be the first “design-build” project for the Parks Department. On November 23, 2022, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Design and Construction announced the design for the Mary Cali Dalton Recreation Center in Tompkinsville, Staten Island. The recreation center will be located adjacent to the Lyons Pools and across from the site of the former Cromwell Center, the area’s previous recreation center which closed after a structural collapse in 2010. The former center was demolished in 2013. (more…)

Kinko houses in the proposed Melrose Parkside Historic District. Image Credit: LPC.

The “Kinko” duplex houses are a unique product of Brooklyn featuring vertically stacked two-story apartments. On October 18, 2022, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing for the proposed Melrose Parkside Historic District in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood in Brooklyn. The proposed historic district would consist of 38 houses along both sides of Parkside Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and Bedford Avenue. It includes the properties from 357 to 413 Parkside Avenue on the north side of the street and 290 to 386 Parkside Avenue on the south side of the street.  The houses were developed by William A.A. Brown and Eli H. Bishop & Son and designed by architects Benjamin Driesler and Axel S. Hedman. (more…)