GOWANUS — Plans to resurrect the local landmark Kentile Floors sign in a new neighborhood green space are moving forward.
The Gowanus Alliance and Loci Architecture revealed drawings Monday for a park beneath the elevated F/G tracks on 10th Street and Third Avenue where large letters from the sign would be displayed.
The Alliance, a group of local business owners, will launch a restoration campaign this year to make the vision a reality, the group announced in an Instagram post.
The Kentile Floors sign was a cherry red marker atop the neighborhood's skyline for more than half a century before its removal in 2014. Since then the famed letters — which advertised asbestos-containing tiles — have been in the Alliance's care.
Credit: Loci Architecture and Gowanus By Design
In a deal with the sign's owner, the Alliance agreed to keep the letters in Gowanus and only display them in the correct order, and also vowed that the letters won't be displayed on private property to enrich developers, according to the Brooklyn Paper which first reported on the new rendering.
The Alliance has long advocated for moving the sign to the abandoned Fran Brady Under The Tracks playground beneath the elevated F/G tracks.
The space was off limits while the MTA repaired the subway overpass, but now it's ready to be brought back to public use, the Alliance's director, Paul Basile, told the Brooklyn Paper.
The Alliance wants to mount the Kentile letters atop 10-foot high planters and add seating areas and basketball courts to the dormant park, according to the Brooklyn Paper.
Basile, who wasn't available immediately for comment Tuesday, told the Brooklyn Paper he's hoping to present plans for the new park and sign display at Community Board 6's Jan. 26 land use committee meeting.
The Kentile Floors sign in its former glory. Photo: DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht
The Kentile Floors sign is one of several symbols of the neighborhood's more industrial past that have vanished in recent years. Signs for Eagle Clothes, Citroen cars and Brooklyn Tile Supply Co. have all left the local landscape.
Those who miss the Kentile sign can make their own mini version to display at home with a kit from the Gowanus Souvenir Shop.
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