Greenpoint is Now Home to The Tiniest Beach in Brooklyn

Bushwick Inlet Park’s inlet component is fully functional and open to the public, providing a small coastal area on the Greenpoint/Williamsburg border. The Motiva parcel, about 1.8 acres, is named after a former gas company and sits between a residential building to the north, Franklin Street to the east, and the undeveloped portion of Bushwick Inlet to the south. Visitors can walk along a winding path with benches and view the East River skyline across to Alphabet City. The opening offers a modest beach-like experience, though the water quality is described as questionable. The opening is part of a broader effort to restore the entire 27-acre park, a city promise made after acquiring the land in 2014, following a 2005 rezoning.

"Residents of North Brooklyn no longer need to bear the trek down to Coney Island or Manhattan Beach or The Rockaways to put their toes to some sand and have a cold one on a sweltering day. The "inlet" component of Bushwick Inlet Park is now fully functional and open to the public, offering locals a small sliver of coastal life on the Greenpoint/ Williamsburg border, looking out on the Alphabet City skyline across the East River and whichever strain of migratory bird that might be passing through its narrow, maybe 10-foot-wide, opening to water of questionable, at best, quality."

"The slip we're referencing here is the Motiva parcel, a 1.8-ish acre stretch of the park named after a gas company that used to own the land, with a glossy residential building to the north, Franklin Street to the east, and the still-undeveloped section of Bushwick Inlet to its immediate south. On an overcast day in mid-May, it wasn't much of a sight to behold-a few remote workers were extending their lunch break with a saunter on some rocks along the water or taking calls and checking emails on one of the half-dozen or so benches hugging a winding path leading back out to Franklin."

"Motiva's opening was a long time coming, but it represents the first measurable movements in a broader mission to restore the entirety of the 27 acres of Bushwick Inlet Park, a promise the city made when it acquired the land two administrations ago (Motiva was purchased by the city for $5 million in 2014.) It's been over 20 years since that project was announced as part of the 2005 neighborhood rezoning, and there's barely been any progress."

Read at BKMAG