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Read the press release here.

Plan Would Create Food, Market and Retail Stalls Under Brooklyn Bridge

By Janet Upadhye | March 23, 2015 3:49pm
 The "Brooklyn Strand" plan includes market space under the bridge between DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Strand
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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The city wants to create marketplace under the Brooklyn Bridge, complete with food and retail stalls.

Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced the proposal to transform Downtown Brooklyn — in a plan called "Brooklyn Strand" — last summer as a way to connect the area's various public parks, plazas and walkways and to create more public space and "a more contiguous way to walk through the neighborhood." 

After nearly a year of planning a first look at the project was revealed to Community Board 2 members at a meeting last week.

Renderings of the project, presented by WXY Architecture, reveal a Brooklyn Bridge marketplace that would be located in a gap under the bridge between DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn where there is currently a city-owned "maintenance area" that is closed off to the public.

It is unclear if the area is in active use.

Shops would also be located on the sidewalks near the pedestrian stairway that leads up to the walking path on the bridge.

The renderings show neon-lit shops, cafés and markets with outdoor seating and to-go windows to order snacks and drinks.

The design, that is spearheaded by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, also calls for improved bike lanes, an underground parking lot, improvements to Cadman Plaza's War Memorial and better lighting under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Stakeholders in the plan include the Brooklyn Borough President, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Department of Parks and Recreation, Department of Transportation and various community groups.

The suggestions are preliminary and will require review and approval by city agencies. The price of the plan is not yet clear and funding for it has not been secured.

To see a full slideshow of the proposal click here.