Soccer Field of Dreams

In spite of the recent $57 billion cut to north Brooklyn parks from this year’s budget, Greenpoint is nonetheless about to get a little bit Greener, and not a moment too soon.
Construction has officially begun on the much-anticipated soon-to-be soccer field on Kent Avenue between North 10th and North 11th Streets on the site formerly occupied by Enterpise Car Rental, marking the first mark of progress in what will eventually become Bushwick Inlet Park. Ground was broken just a few weeks ago, and if all goes according to plan giddy Greenpointers can expect to be able to enjoy the new field—the fruit of Phase 1 construction—sometime within the next year.
“The projects that are already in the pipeline will remain fully in tact,” said New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe of the promise to follow through with construction once ground has been broken on a site slated for a park. “Even with 30 per cent budget cuts, we still have $2 billion slated for parks in the next ten years. Honestly, we are in the largest period of park expansion since the 1930s, and there are great things ahead for Greenpoint/Williamsburg.”
Once Phase I has been completed, Phase II can begin—the field house. The structure will boast a sloping roof, from which onlookers may watch the soccer games unfold. In addition, the structure will house plenty of facilities and community space including kitchen facilities for catering. The field house will also be a sustainable structure, boasting photovoltaic roof shingles. Surrounding playgrounds are also in the works.
“I do believe there is an even greater focus on the Greenpoint/Williamsbrug neighborhood than there ever has been,” said Open Space Alliance Executive Director Stephanie Thayer. “We have been having lots of meetings and hearing directly from our neighborhood the eagerness of this to come to fruition.”
In addition to Bushwick Inlet Park, several other projects in the neighborhood are expected to be underway in the very near future. For example, over on Greenpoint and Kent Avenues Transmitter Park, a small park meant for passive recreation such as bird watching, is expected to celebrate its grand opening sometime in early July, while the McCarren Park Pool has been under construction for several months already and is in no danger of losing its any of its funding.
According to sources within the Parks Department, the $57 million cut will not effect the majority of the sites already slated for development, and is primarily being drawn from a pool set aside for the acquisition of the Bayside Fuel site, the large lot on Kent Avenue between North 10th-North 14th Streets, a project proving to be costly and complex due to a lengthy litigation process.