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Walking tour of Bridge ‘park’

Walking tour of Bridge ‘park’
The Brooklyn Papers / Aaron Pexa

Hop a fence with permission from the state.

Three months before construction on the Brooklyn Bridge Park waterfront development is scheduled to start, the state agency overseeing it has begun offering free walking tours of the long-fenced-in area between Atlantic Avenue and the Manhattan Bridge.

At the first walking tour last Sunday, close to two dozen tourists stepped over stray patches of tar and piles of steel beams as they traversed the narrow upland strip that runs across the now-industrial waterfront.

The walking tour began at 334 Furman St. near what will become the waterfront development’s Atlantic Avenue entrance. The tour ends in DUMBO, at the development’s northern tip below the Manhattan Bridge.

Representatives of the project’s designer, Michael Van Valkenburgh, led the tour, pointing out where recreational offerings like basketball courts and a greenway might go, as well as where the project’s controversial condo developments will be sited.

Some visitors were skeptical that the condos will provide enough revenue to maintain the green space.

“They might need more housing to support this thing,” said real-estate investor Anthony Riccio, who lives in nearby Brooklyn Heights and took the tour.

For details on the next walking tour check: http://www.thisisyourpark.org/tours.html.