Brooklyn Bridge Park velodrome plans scrapped

The proposed site of the field house
The proposed site of the field house

The plan to develop a field house featuring a velodrome near Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park has fallen through, the New York Times reported. Joshua Rechnitz, the philanthropist who made a multimillion-dollar donation to fund the project, said that he and his team would scout other locations for the development. It was the cost, more than local opposition, that thwarted the project. Planners could not come up with a design concept that fit inside Rechnitz’s $50 million allotment for construction and maintenance of the velodrome at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

As previously reported, traffic was a concern among residents. And even after modifications were made to the field house — namely to make room for other sports — no parking proposals were included.

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“The New York metropolitan area deserves a world-class cycling and recreation center,” Rechnitz said in a statement to the Times. “I greatly regret that this cannot happen in Brooklyn Bridge Park, but I am confident that we will find a new home for the field house in the very near future.” [NYT]Zachary Kussin