A long-promised waterfront park in Greenpoint is finally taking shape
Images courtesy of the NYC Mayor’s Office
A former parking lot in Greenpoint will become a public green space, fulfilling a promise made by the city 20 years ago to transform the underutilized waterfront site. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday announced the start of work on Box Street Park, delivering on a commitment made as part of the 2005 Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront upzoning to address a shortage of public green space in the neighborhood. Slated for completion by the end of summer 2028, the $40 million project will transform the former MTA facility into a 2.5-acre public park with new plantings, recreational amenities, and open space.
Today, the area poised to become Box Street Park is a desolate lot cordoned off by fencing and filled with overgrown weeds and cracked asphalt, despite a decades-old pledge by the city to turn it into a community space.
While the neighborhood has been an epicenter of new development in recent years, the rapid influx of residents has outpaced the available green space.
The 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning helped spur this development, and while it included plans for 50 acres of waterfront park space, the city has largely delivered on its housing commitments while leaving much of the promised park space unrealized.
Bushwick Inlet Park, a 27-acre greenspace outlined in the rezoning, remains only about one-third complete. The city did open the “Motiva” portion in June, a roughly 1.7-acre waterfront greenspace with restored wetlands, native plantings, and a sliver of beach with a kayak launch.
“Year after year, City Hall has continued to let this site languish in disrepair,” Mamdani said during Thursday’s press conference. “Our administration believes what residents of Greenpoint have long known to be true: that access to our shoreline should not be a luxury, but a right that is afforded to every New Yorker.”
Once complete, the park will feature an elevated esplanade, ADA-accessible pathways, terraced granite seating, lush gardens, and a green lawn. Amenities will also include a basketball court, a picnic area, separate dog runs for small and large dogs, and a public bathroom.
Native plants will help cool and clean the air while strengthening the site’s resilience to extreme weather and creating habitats for local wildlife. Featured species include blackgum and Eastern redbud trees, vibrant purple love grass, little bluestem, Virginia rose, and seaside goldenrod shrubs and perennials.
The park’s creation will fill a major gap along Greenpoint’s northern waterfront, connecting with waterfront esplanades to the east and west. It will eventually expand by an additional 0.5 acres after the MTA’s Emergency Response Unit is relocated from the site’s southeastern corner.
Box Street Park is fully funded by $34.5 million from the Mayor’s Office, including a $2 million investment from the Mamdani administration’s September Capital Commitment Plan, which was released this week. The City Council has also provided $500,000, while local developers are contributing $5 million through air rights sales and private funds.
Demolition and excavation work is set to begin in November.
“Our waterfront is one of our city’s great natural resources, and this new park will give New Yorkers an accessible and welcoming place to connect with their natural environment and with their neighbors,” Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura said. This community never gave up on this park—and neither did we.”
“This project is an important step toward delivering the greenspace and waterfront access that all New Yorkers deserve, and it builds on the work we’re doing up and down the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront.”
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