Brooklyn Flea Moves to DUMBO From Williamsburg Superfund Site

Photo by mararie

By SIMONE WILSON and JOHN V. SANTORE

DUMBO, BROOKLYN — The Sunday edition of Brooklyn Flea's outdoor summer market officially makes its move from a Superfund site in Williamsburg to a petite pedestrian plaza in DUMBO this Sunday, April 3.

The market was forced from its home of five years — an asphalt lot at 50 Kent St. — for the Summer 2016 season because city officials decided they should finally get around to excavating the 25 feet of toxic coal-tar in the soil beneath it, according to DNAinfo.

In its new lot, the triangular Pearl Street Plaza beneath the Manhattan Bridge, the market will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, regardless of the weather, according to organizers.

The new plaza has room for around 75 vendors, down from more than 100 at the Williamsburg location. (Vendor applications can be filled out here.)

The flea's relocation couldn't come soon enough for North Brooklyn environmental activists — in particular, the Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park — who for years have been pressuring city and state officials to clean up 50 Kent and incorporate it into Bushwick Inlet Park.

Only then, they say, will former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg have made good his 2005 promise to build a 28-acre park along the Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront. (The Bill de Blasio administration reportedly still supports the initiative, but has been slow to take action.)

In March, the city completed the $53-million purchased of an 8.8 acre property on North 12th, as reported by Law360.

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the coal-tar currently festering beneath 50 Kent was left behind by the Williamsburg Works Manufactured Gas Plant, which operated on the site from 1850 until 1930, and an NYC Department of Sanitation Garage, which operated there until 2000.

A spokeswoman with the city's Department of Parks and Recreation said the remediation work is expected to be completed by the summer of 2017. Additionally, National Grid posts updates on its work at this website.

Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park co-chair Steve Chesler said Thursday that means NYC now owns all the parcels needed for the expanded park, with the exception of an 11-acre plot owned by CitiStorage.

A 15-year Williamsburg resident, Chesler said the park fight is about "having more open space for physical, mental [and] spiritual health" in a dense urban area, "particularly for children growing up here."

It's also about making sure the city keeps its promises, he said.

Meanwhile: Let's all give Brooklyn Flea a warm welcome back to DUMBO. Or, if you can't wait until Sunday, the Fort Greene Flea opens one day earlier, on Saturday, April 2.