On-Street Bike Parking Coming to Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope

Eight on-street bike parking spots will soon be installed outside Gorilla Coffee at Fifth Avenue and Park Place

DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

PARK SLOPE — Perpetually packed Gorilla Coffee is about to get even more popular — with cyclists.

Bicycles will soon have their own mini parking area on the street outside the java joint at 97 Fifth Ave. and Park Place.

The new eight-bike parking area could be installed as soon as May 17, weather permitting, said Gorilla Coffee co-owner Darleen Scherer.

Scherer said she jumped at the chance when the Department of Transportation approached her about installing the bike parking. Right now cyclists make do with two small U-shaped bike racks on the sidewalk. The racks quickly fill up, forcing bike riders to chain bikes to a nearby fence, Scherer said.

"It will be really nice to have proper parking," Scherer said, adding that Gorilla Coffee has sponsored the Brooklyn Velo Force bike team in the past. "The neighborhood definitely has a lot of bikers — it's definitely something that goes hand in hand with our store."

The new bicycle parking will replace one on-street vehicle parking spot, but drivers won't be losing any ground to cyclists, officials said. The city is converting a no-parking zone across the street into a new car parking spot.

"On that block there will be no net loss of parking," said Community Board 6 transportation committee member Doug Gordon.

The on-street bike parking area will be similar to one recently installed outside MUD coffee in the East Village, and it's believed to be the first on-street bike parking in Park Slope, Gordon said.

Aside from making life easier for cyclists, the bike parking should also beautify Fifth Avenue. Two planters will flank the bike parking area, and Gorilla Coffee has agreed to keep them stocked with greenery, Scherer said.

The store will also work to keep the bicycle parking spots spic and span, because street cleaners won't be able to reach the area, Scherer noted.

A bike parking area similar to this one outside MUD coffee in the East Village will be installed outside Gorilla Coffee ...

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Department of Transportation