CLINTON HILL — See Myrtle Avenue change right before your eyes.
The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership will be hosting a guided tour on the evolution of the thoroughfare, starting from the mid-1800s to the present day construction that will bring nine new buildings and a large pedestrian plaza to Clinton Hill and Fort Greene.
The tour will begin at Brewklyn Grind, at 557 Myrtle Ave., at 11 a.m. on Saturday and run for about 90 minutes.
Participants will go back in time on Myrtle Avenue, starting from its initial development with modest wood-frame homes the mid-1800s, to its shift into a 20th century shopping district, to a model of post-war urban development with strip commercial buildings and residential towers.
► READ MORE: MAP: 1,125 Apartments and 26 Storefronts Coming to Myrtle Avenue
The tour will end with the roadway’s current transformation into a high-density residential and commercial district, focusing on five projects between Classon Avenue and Hall Street — four new mixed-use buildings at 491 Myrtle Ave., 501 Myrtle Ave., 525 Myrtle Ave. and 531 Myrtle Ave., as well as the new Myrtle Avenue Plaza.
Participants will learn more about those four new buildings, which will bring 206 new apartments and 31,000 square feet of commercial space to the neighborhood, and the 25,000 square-foot pedestrian plaza, which will stretch across two blocks between Grand Avenue and Emerson Place.
Attendees will get to compare renderings of the new projects to historic photos that show different stages of urban development in the area, including photos of landmarks that were lost when the area was razed in the 1950s as part of the city’s urban renewal efforts.
The tour will also make stops at Myrtle Avenue landmarks including former P.S. 69 on Ryerson Street, the Renken Dairy Complex on Classon Avenue, and the former Emmanuel House on Steuben Street, a community youth club run by Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Notable Clinton Hill residents discussed on the tour will include oil magnate Charles Pratt, city planner Robert Moses, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and poet Walt Whitman.
Tour-goers won’t be entering construction sites, so they won’t need actual safety gear, but MABP will be handing out branded Myrtle Avenue hard hats to participants.
Registration is required and space is limited. To reserve your spot, click here.
