The City of New York has completed an $8 million streetscape renovation of Fulton Mall, a commercial corridor in Downtown Brooklyn. Led by the Department of Parks and Recreation in partnership with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the project involved upgrades to the stretch of Fulton Street between Boerum Place and Flatbush Avenue to improve pedestrian access and street conditions.
Photograph of new space at Fulton Mall, via the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
Key upgrades include nearly doubling the planting bed area with 7,895 new perennial plants and expanded tree pits for 79 existing trees, alongside five newly planted trees. Permeable paving was installed around planting beds to improve stormwater drainage, totaling more than 24,000 square feet. In addition, the project added 39 new radial benches featuring wood slats and galvanized steel armrests, placed strategically to enhance walkability and comfort.
Photograph of new space at Fulton Mall, via the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
The Fulton Mall streetscape redesign is part of a broader $40 million city investment in Downtown Brooklyn’s public space. The plan includes further streetscape improvements, upgraded bus service, safety enhancements, and new public art installations, aligning with citywide efforts to reclaim street space for pedestrian use.
Photograph of new space at Fulton Mall, via the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
“The completion of the Fulton Mall streetscape improvements is a major step forward in transforming our neighborhood into a people-first downtown,” said Regina Myer, president, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. “In just one year, we were able to overhaul the borough’s busiest shopping corridor with a series of smart upgrades to make it greener and more beautiful and accessible to pedestrians. The Fulton Mall work advances key goals of our Downtown Brooklyn Public Realm Action Plan and we’re grateful to our partners at NYC Parks for bringing this project to fruition.”
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
The success of street malls depends on who is going to be sitting on the benches. If it is people who scare away shoppers, etc., the mall will fail. I recall Trenton, NJ, built a mall to revitalize the downtown. It soon became a hangout for gangs and became a public nuisance. It was finally removed, but Trenton remains a depressed downtown area.
I thought the same exact thing: the zipper benches outside of the South Ferry terminal became a magnet for bums, drug addicts, miscreants, and oddballs. When WXY designed and deployed these, I sat on them for a short time. They quickly became flush with the types I muted above. I wouldn’t sit on them now even if they were unoccupied given that they bacteria traps from god-knows-whom.
Oddballs?..You mean anyone who doesn’t fit into your frightening definition of not being worthy of sitting on a public bench ?
“Anyone who fits”..I meant to say
Red the Bum and only Red the Bum is allowed.
And not a single public restroom in the corridor. The benches will not last with the time. Cheap looks
Thank god no public toilets…the smells emanating from these miscreants attractors is awful. The benches won’t last because they’ll be full of homeless bums.
Talking about yourself, aren’t ya?
They added five entire trees? Wow.
The intent is good, but who will maintain the planting beds and thousands of new plants? More so, who will daily remove the garbage and litter that so many New Yorkers insist on slyly dumping as they walk. I’ve been to a lot of cities around the world, and New Yorkers are truly unique when it comes to littering as a sport.
The local business improvement district has staff who maintain the planting beds and deal with litter. This is one of the busiest shopping districts in NYC, so it is a challenge.
It’s very hard to have genuinely nice genuinely public spaces in the US, even in NYC. Any genuinely appealing place you think is truly public, isn’t. It’s privately owned or leased and ‘controlled’ in some way by non governmental entities. It’s evidence of the real dysfunction of America.
The benches and plantings will be greatly appreciated by seniors. Thank you!!! 🌸