A New Skate Park Proposes to Take Over the Middle of Mount Prospect

"It was one of four skate parks being created or revamped as part of a city initiative, and the only one that proposed building an entirely new space rather than replacing an existing skate park or asphalt rink. Intended as the city's flagship, it was also by far the largest, in the city and regionally, tied with the Lynch Family Skatepark in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is the largest skate park on the East Coast."

"Mount Prospect Park, tucked up on one of the highest points in Brooklyn, is just 7.8 acres wedged between the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Its hilly terrain and a playground already limit what open green space there is, primarily a central lawn used by off-leash dogs, picnickers, and soccer players that makes up just under a third of the park's acreage."

"Parks Department officials insisted the skate park, which they called a "skate garden," with trees and landscaping built into the design, wouldn't take up more than 10 percent of the park or interfere with those other uses. But that claim seemed irreconcilable with the project's scale within a park that already had such limited open space."

Mayor Eric Adams announced a partnership with Tony Hawk's Skatepark Project to build a flagship 40,000-square-foot skate park in Brooklyn's Mount Prospect Park, the largest on the East Coast. While the skateboarding community welcomed the project, nearby residents opposed it due to concerns about scale and loss of green space. Mount Prospect Park, located on Brooklyn's highest point between the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Public Library, spans only 7.8 acres with limited open space. Parks Department officials claimed the "skate garden" would occupy less than 10 percent of the park and include trees and landscaping, but residents questioned whether this was feasible given the park's constraints. Community Board 8 meetings began presenting project renderings to address these concerns.

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