DOT: Nine New Public Plazas in the Works

Before and after: Fulton St. and Marcy Ave. Image via DOT.

DOT has announced its selections for round one of the NYC Plaza Program, which invites non-profits throughout the boroughs to propose the development of new public spaces. According to DOT, applicants were chosen based on organizational and site-specific criteria, with special consideration given to areas with low- to moderate-income populations. A total of nine projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx were selected. The complete list is posted on the DOT website. Here’s a taste:

• Brooklyn: Fulton Street & Marcy Avenue; Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, applicant. Just off the bustling commercial corridor of
  Fulton Street, the Marcy Avenue plaza will narrow the width of Marcy
  Avenue between Fulton and MacDonough Streets to create 8,000 square
  feet of new pedestrian space in the heart of Bedford Stuyvesant. This
  project dovetails with the Bedford Stuyvesant Gateway Streetscape
  project by the Mayor’s Office of Comprehensive Neighborhood Economic
  Development and the NYC Economic Development Corporation, which is
  redesigning Fulton Street from Bedford Avenue to Troy Avenue.
• The Bronx: Boston Road & E. 169th Street; South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, applicant. By removing a slip lane this project will
  expand McKinley Square by 8,000 square feet.  This will allow the
  community to enhance a farmers market and create a town center for the
  neighborhoods of Morrisania and Clermont. The removal of the slip lane
  will allow children arriving by bus to walk to nearby PS 63 without
  having to cross a street, reducing conflicts between pedestrians and
  vehicles.
• Manhattan: Forsyth Street (between Canal Street and Division Street); Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, applicant. The Forsyth Street plaza will provide
  additional sidewalk space along the western portion of Forsyth Street
  to enhance the street environment currently alongside and underneath
  the Manhattan Bridge. In addition, the project will create an upper
  plaza on a vacant portion of property adjacent the bridge’s off-ramp so
  that residents and cyclists traveling off the bridge can enjoy public
  open space that looks down upon Forsyth Street and the surrounding
  neighborhood. In total, the project provides up to 10,000 square feet
  of new public space.

DOT, along with the Department of Design and Construction, will work with the applicants to develop site plans. Construction is expected to begin in 2011, as funding allows.