The MTA will approve plans to finally install benches, bike racks and planters at the Newkirk Plaza shopping mall, putting to use the $220,000 allocated for the project more than 10 years ago.
The state agency recently agreed to put to use the money and oversee the fix-up of the plaza that runs between Newkirk and Foster avenues, over the Newkirk Avenue station on the Q and B lines — unsticking money, most of which had been promised by then-Borough President Howard Golden in the late 1990s. The work will be done after structural work on the deck over the station is completed this spring.
The news was music to the ears of merchants tired of waiting around for the money to be spent.
“When I first came to the shop [20 years ago], there were rumors they were going to do something to improve the plaza,” said Leon Kogut, the owner of Leon’s Barber Shop and the president of the Newkirk Plaza Merchants Association. “Finally, it’s almost done.”
The improvements had been in limbo for years first because of the reconstruction of the deck over the station, and then because neither the MTA nor the city acknowledged ownership of the plaza — so no one would lay claim to the cash, according to Robin Redmond, the executive director of the Flatbush Development Corporation, which has been lobbying to get the money unstuck.
That said, shopkeepers are hoping the new-look to the pedestrian mall will bring shoppers by the, well, trainload.
“I think it will become a destination spot,” said Paul Goldman, the owner of Almac Hardware on the plaza, citing recent changes on nearby Cortelyou Road that had catapulted the strip from a sleepy shopping thoroughfare to the pulsing heart of Ditmas Park. “It’ll be gorgeous here. People will be able to sit outside, walk around, and shop.”
The impending improvements may help businesses that are now floundering to stay afloat, added Kogut.
“Everyone is very upset, but I have been encouraging people to wait for better times,” Kogut said. “Hopefully, this will help business.”
Redmond said she updating the old plans to reflect the recent work on the plaza deck, then will send them to the MTA for approval.
“We are trying to rush to get this done,” Redmond said.
It’s still not certain, however, who will install the amenities. Redmond said that she was hopeful that Granite Construction, the contractor working at the station for the MTA, will be able to do it, since they will be on site for another year or so.
That, however, does not appear to be MTA’s plan.
“MTA has recommended to the Flatbush Development Corporation that they should hire [its] own contractor after substantial completion of our work is achieved,” said Deirdre Parker, an agency spokeswoman.
