Skip to main content

In Downtown Brooklyn, the Once and Future Fulton Street Mall

The recent modernization of the Fulton Street Mall is just one part of the changing landscape of downtown Brooklyn, but when considered as a part of a larger landscape, this busy thoroughfare is attracting more interest of businesses and developers. When Danny Meyer of Shake Shack sets his eyes upon a particular location, as he has here, the first Brooklyn location for the popular burger joint, then surely there's not a better measure in contemporary New York for impending neighborhood change.

Fulton Street Mall, near Adams St.
Gateway to Fulton Street Mall at Adams St. The building to the left, the former home of Tony's Famous Pizzeria, will be the location for Brooklyn's first Shake Shack.

The Fulton Street Mall, stretching from Adams Street near Columbus Park and Brooklyn Borough Hall on the west to Flatbush Avenue on the east, has long been one of the top commercial destinations in New York, but several new residential developments have sprung up nearby, spurred in many cases by tax credits and other incentives. The mall functions not just in its own right as an unusual pedestrian and transit thoroughfare lined with stores, but considered geographically, the mall links Brooklyn Heights on the west with the BAM Cultural District area to the southeast. Watch what is happening in and around Fulton Street, and you'll see the changing face of old Brooklyn. Better yet, walk it.




View Fulton Street Mall in a larger map

Fulton Street, named after the engineer who gave us steam ferries, and co-named Harriet Ross Tubman Avenue in honor of the famous abolitionist, follows an older road that once began at the Brooklyn Bridge, part of which survives as Old Fulton Street, and traveled eastward. Once "the Fifth Avenue of Brooklyn," as some called it, by the 1960s some small business owners and large merchants on the street sensed a need to woo back the middle class.

Fulton Street Mall
Fulton Street Mall was somewhat novel in its development as a pedestrian thoroughfare

As conceived by planners during Mayor John Lindsay's administration (1966-1973), a mall-like street that encouraged pedestrians and banned private vehicles, though still allowing for bus traffic and emergency vehicles, might be novel enough to spur interest again in Fulton Street. In fact, other cities in the 1960s and early 1970s tried similar plans to thwart declining property values in downtown areas. The mall bears more than a coincidental resemblance and echoes a similar story to the Fulton Mall of Fresno, California. As noted in the recent book, Street Value: Shopping, Planning, and Politics at Fulton Mall, by Rosten Woo and Meredith TenHoor with Damon Rich (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010) the street has often been subject to mischaracterizations as "blighted," based on perceptions about race, class and real estate.

Fulton Street Mall
Fulton Street Mall, with modern street furniture

The Fulton Street Mall's current renovations include new silver mesh benches, improved landscaping, modernization of infrastructure, and improved public spaces. The most important renovation overall will come as a result of the area's mixed-use development. Along the side streets, recently constructed residential buildings include The Brooklyner, a rental apartment building that is the tallest tower in the borough. Many more residential buildings have transformed Flatbush Avenue in recent years. Current large stores along the mall include Brooklyn USA, Jimmy Jazz, Macy's, and Modell's. Future tenants lured to the mall include H&M, Sephora, and Aeropostale. The Business Improvement District (BID), the Fulton Street Mall Improvement Association, stretches 17 blocks to encompass the streets just off the mall. City Point, a four-story retail building under construction on Albee Square near the historic Dime Savings Bank, represents the street's wave of the future. Tony’s Famous Pizzeria, the business Shake Shack displaced, has moved to 2 DeKalb across the street.

City Point, Fulton Street, under construction
City Point development, on Fulton Street

The renovations on Fulton Street, new enough that a walk via Google Street View images, allow us to reach back into the virtual past and compare the changes with the present. Snap current images along the walk, too, for the street will look different in the near future. The extent and pace of the changes will depend on the overall economic recovery and on the desire of the locals to go for a "'Shroom burger" and a frozen custard.


View Larger Map

Fulton Street Mall (after renovations)
Image of Fulton Mall from Saturday, April 30, 2011, near completion of mall renovations.

In the news:

The Fulton Street Mall: Retail Success on NYC's Original Transitway (Streetsblog)
Shake-Ups on Fulton Mall (Brownstoner)
Fulton Mall Improvement Association (Downtown Brooklyn Partnership)

Images, except for Google Street View, by Walking Off the Big Apple, April 30, 2011. For more on Street View images, read the post, Recalling New York's Recent Past in Google Street View Images.

Comments

  1. I love walking through the area over there. It has access to main thoroughfares around Brooklyn.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

Please see this post for current announcements of reopenings . Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. UPDATED September 23, 2020 Advance tickets required for many museum reopenings. Please check museum websites for details. • The  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)  reopened to the public on  August 27 , with new hours for the first month, through September 27: from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday to the public; and from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.  on Mondays for MoMA members on ly. Admission will be free to all visitors Tuesday through Sunday, through September 27, made possible by UNIQLO. See this  new post on WOTBA for a sense of the experience attending the museum . •  New-York Historical Society  reopened on  August 14  with an outdoor exhibition, "Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine,” in the rear courtyard. The exhibit by activist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman will highlight how New Yorkers weathered the quarantine

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

Visiting New York on a Monday

Mondays are OK. Let's have a look at some of the museums open Mondays - • American Museum of Natural History • Jewish Museum • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) • National Museum of the American Indian • Neue Galerie • Guggenheim Museum • South Street Seaport Museum Any of these museums could be paired with a nearby restaurant or bar, making a complete full afternoon or day in New York. Monday is especially good for a museum visit, because the crowds tend to be thinner, and restaurants, too, tend to be less busy than on a weekend. A fun museum and bistro walk on the Upper West Side would be a combination of the American Museum of Natural History and the nearby Cafe Lalo on W. 83rd St. I also would suggest a pairing of the Neue Galerie with a nearby cafe, but the two cafes inside the musuem are so good, why go anywhere else? Image above: The Guggenheim on left and Beaux-Arts townhouse on right. View from E. 88th St. by Walking Off the Big Apple.

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

10 Short Walks from Grand Central Terminal

(updated March 2017) Famously crowded Grand Central Terminal functions as a major crossroads for the city, hosting busy commuters as they come and go from the suburbs via the Metro-North Railroad or within the city via a few subway lines, but the terminal also happens to be a good place to launch short walks. With its south side fronting E. 42nd Street and its massive structure interrupting Park Avenue, Grand Central provides quick access to many of the city's most well-known attractions. The New York Public Library and Bryant Park are only a couple of blocks away from the terminal, a quick jaunt on 42nd Street. And from there, Times Square is just another block or two farther west of the library, its neon shimmering in the distance. One wonders, standing near the intersection of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, how many souls have been lured away from their well-meaning library studies by the beckoning lights of the Theater District. Grand Central Terminal : Before setting

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99  New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

From Penn Station to New York Landmarks: Measuring Walking Distance and Time in Manhattan

(revised 2017) How long does it take to walk from Penn Station/Madison Square Garden to well-known destinations in Manhattan? What are the best walking routes ? What if I don't want to see anything in particular but just want to walk around? In addition to the thousands of working commuters from the surrounding area, especially from New Jersey and Long Island who arrive at Penn Station via New Jersey Transit or the Long Island Rail Road, many people arrive at the station just to spend time in The City. Some have questions. Furthermore, a sporting event may have brought you to Madison Square Garden (above Penn Station), and you want to check out what the city offers near the event. This post if for you.  The map below should help you measure walking distances and times from the station to well-known destinations in Manhattan - Bryant Park , the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Empire State Building , Times Square , Rockefeller Center , Washington Square Park , the High Line