Pavilion to rise at entrance of Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1

July 26, 2023 Raanan Geberer

The planned new pavilion at the reconfigured Pier 1 entrance of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Image courtesy of Brooklyn Bridge Park

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BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK — Work is soon to begin later this summer on a reconfigured entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1, featuring a new pavilion building that will include much-needed public restrooms as well as a concession.

A statement from park management describes the planned building as providing “a shaded space where visitors can meet, regroup, relax and share a meal.”

In addition, the pavilion is slated to be certified LEED gold, the U.S. Green Building Council’s second-highest rating for buildings incorporating energy efficiency, air quality, low carbon emissions and related design features. (Buildings certified as LEED platinum, the highest level, are fairly rare.)

Visitors to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 on Wednesday strolled past a 1.5-acre plot that has been fenced off in preparation for the start of construction of a concession and restroom pavilion. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle

The pavilion will support a system of photovoltaic, or solar, shingles, which look like conventional building shingles but also produce electricity. In addition, according to the RFP for the project, it will be “elevated above the flood plain” — an important feature in these days of increasingly frequent coastal floods and storms.

The Pier 1 entrance to the park is the largest of the park’s entrances and is close to the Brooklyn Bridge itself, an NYC Ferry pier, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, the old Fireboat House and more. Visitors from Brooklyn Heights, and from other areas who walk there from nearby subway station, approach the entrance by walking down Old Fulton Street,

The Pier 1 entrance now contains a small concession building, pedestrian and bike paths, a grove of trees and a drop-off area for vehicles. The new entrance, according to a statement from Brooklyn Bridge Park, “will better circulate pedestrian and bike traffic.”

Brooklyn Bridge Park plans to build a new pavilion building housing a concession stand and bathrooms in the 1.5-acre area where bicycle parking, a grove of trees and a bicycle path now stand. Above: The former bicycle parking lot. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle

The new reconfigured entry area, the RFP states, is “approximately 1.5 acres and bounded by the East River and Fulton Ferry Landing to the north, Furman street and Old Fulton Street to the east, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge to the south, and Bridge View Lawn to the West.” It will be in the same basic area as the current entrance, which is at Furman and Old Fulton streets. The RFP signifies that pedestrian entry at Furman-Old Fulton will continue.

Construction is scheduled to take place through fall 2024, according to the statement from Brooklyn Bridge Park. Pier 1 and the rest of Brooklyn Bridge Park will continue to be open to the public.