At Avenue B and Eighth Street, new planters sit on curb extensions along the park side. Granite blocks guard the corners, and cars between Seventh and 10th Streets can only go north. DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn stood at that intersection on Tuesday, Oct. 13, to mark the redesign of Avenue B as complete.
So the east edge of Tompkins Square Park is built. Most of what happens next around the park now goes through public meetings. Community Board 3 takes up the park's recreation area tonight, Nov. 12, and a new Avenue B storefront on Nov. 16. The full board meets Nov. 24. Anyone who uses the pull-up bars, the courts or the mini-pool, or wants a sandwich on the 10th Street end of Avenue B, has a stake in one of those rooms.
What Finished on Avenue B
EV Grieve reported that the project runs from Fourth Street to 14th Street. The three blocks beside the park, Seventh to 10th, changed the most. The work turns the existing Open Street into a bike boulevard.
Here is what is different now:
- Traffic direction. Cars travel one-way northbound between Seventh and 10th Streets. Cyclists can ride in both directions.
- Intersections. Pedestrian curb extensions are protected by planters, bike corrals, granite blocks and other barriers. DOT says they shorten crossings and improve visibility.
- Deliveries. New loading zones sit at the beginning and end of each block, meant to cut down on truck traffic.
- Through traffic. According to DOT, the new pattern is meant to discourage cut-through driving. Local vehicles, deliveries and emergency services can still get in.
The Avenue B Open Street still runs 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. It began during the pandemic and has since become a regular part of the park's eastern edge. The planters along the park side have a short season, too. Parks employees told EV Grieve the flowers can't survive the cold and would come out within a few weeks, with mini Christmas trees going in instead.
Those loading zones matter for the storefronts discussed below. A delivery to a shop on these three blocks now arrives on a one-way street, at a curb set aside for it.
The Recreation Area Is Where the Debate Moved
The street work came first. The bigger proposal is just inside the fence. NYC Parks has a $9.93 million plan for the Tompkins Square recreation area. It would replace the mini-pool with an in-ground pool, renovate the basketball courts, replace the fitness equipment and resurface the whole area. The budget combines $6.1 million from Gov. Kathy Hochul's NY SWIMS grant program with $3.83 million in city funding.
Parks presented three versions:
- Option 1 is the full overhaul: new pool, renovated courts, replacement fitness equipment and resurfacing. Construction would take about 18 months.
- Option 2 is phased work on a two-year timeline.
- Option 3 leaves the current fitness area as it is.
On Oct. 15, CB3's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee voted for Option 1. It also asked that the existing half basketball court near the fitness area along Avenue B be kept.
Most of the disagreement is about the fitness area. Longtime users of the park's calisthenics area have pushed to keep the decades-old pull-up bars, parallel bars and other equipment. They question whether new pieces would work as well or last as long. Parks has adjusted the design in response. It plans to use a 3D scan of the existing area to recreate its layout, and the revised plan adds more pull-up and parallel bars than first proposed, plus equipment meant to meet accessibility standards.
The proposal reached the full board on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at P.S. 20 on Essex Street, and EV Grieve covered the meeting. Supporters of the existing pull-up bars and basketball courts marched there from the park, and the board did not vote. CB3 Chair Arnette Scott halted the vote, and the board asked Parks to come back to committee with new presentations. Speakers included Jahmal Kirwan, one of the organizers of the Save Tompkins Square Park gatherings. He and others described their personal ties to the outdoor fitness area and the community that has grown around it. Users are also concerned about losing access to the area during the roughly 18 months of construction.
At the same meeting, according to EV Grieve's report, City Council Member Harvey Epstein called for keeping the existing equipment while adding ADA-accessible pieces. He said his office had heard from hundreds of Lower East Side residents about the current equipment and the need for better access. He asked Parks to develop a modified Option 3 that keeps today's equipment and expands the fitness area to make room for accessible features.
That leaves the committee with three positions on the table. One is its own October vote for Option 1, with the half court kept. Another is Epstein's modified Option 3. The third is the Save Tompkins Square Park group's preference for repair over demolition.
Twelve Days, Three Meetings
The CB3 November calendar puts the park plan and a new Avenue B business on agendas within twelve days of each other. The board notes that its schedule can change and asks the public to confirm dates on its site.
| Date | Meeting | Where | What's on it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Nov. 12, 6:30 p.m. | Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee | BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey St., between Chrystie and Forsyth | Tompkins Square Park mini-pool, basketball courts and fitness area reconstruction |
| Monday, Nov. 16, 6:30 p.m. | SLA Licensing & Outdoor Dining Committee | CB3 Office, 59 East 4th St., between Second Avenue and the Bowery | New liquor license application for Macario, 167 Ave. B |
| Tuesday, Nov. 24, 6:30 p.m. | Full board | P.S. 20, 166 Essex St. | Expected return of the Tompkins Square plan |
Tonight's committee meeting is hybrid. You can attend in person at 30 Delancey or join on Zoom. To call in, dial 646-828-7666 or 551-285-1373 and use webinar ID 161 017 7255. Tompkins Square is item four on the agenda. It follows the Parks Manager update and a reconstruction plan for Nathan Straus Playground, and the Baruch Bathhouse update comes after it.
The Nov. 16 SLA meeting is also hybrid, but in-person seating at the CB3 office is limited to the first 15 people. Residents who want to submit materials or agreements must email them by noon on the Friday before the meeting.
Macario Arrives Through the Same Board
The Nov. 16 agenda is where the park's edge and its storefronts meet. Macario is moving its Guadalajara-style sandwiches from Park Slope to 167 Avenue B, between 10th and 11th Streets. The address was most recently Hekate Café & Elixir Lounge. That puts it on the block just north of the redesigned stretch, on a corridor the Avenue B project now covers up to 14th Street.
Owner Marshall Dean grew up in Guadalajara and lived there for more than 40 years before moving to the United States. Macario specializes in lonches bañados, a Guadalajara staple dating to the 1950s. It's a sandwich topped with a warm, slightly spicy tomato-based sauce. Fillings are pulled pork, pulled chicken or panela cheese on birote, a Guadalajara-style sourdough roll baked to order for the shop. Quesadillas and guacamole round out the menu. The application on CB3's list is filed under Mexuk LLC and described as a Mexican sandwich shop.
Avenue A's New Counters
On the park's west side, two Avenue A storefronts have been taking shape this fall.
Barryville General expanded into the storefront next to its existing shop at 70 Avenue A, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, and added a market and café. Co-owner and East Village resident Sean Naughton runs it with co-founder Eric Komovoff. Coffee comes from Café Aroma, baked goods from Party Bus, and dairy-free soft serve from Lavender and Truffles. Espressos are $3, and the menu includes a sweet plantain latte made with house plantain syrup. The owners have talked about occasional late evenings with soft serve and possibly a late-night sourdough grilled cheese.
Farther north, Barnes & Noble is building out 181 Avenue A, between 11th and 12th Streets. It's the first retail tenant in the base of the Steiner East Village condo. The company's website projected a November opening, and management told EV Grieve the store will not have a café.
Just south of the park, Thone opened Oct. 2 at 501 East Sixth Street. It's a Georgian bakery café and natural-wine bar that serves coffee, pastries and Georgian breads during the day and wine and snacks in the evening.
What Gets Decided Before December
The street layout is fixed, and the Open Street hours have not changed. What happens to the recreation area is still open. If the board backs Option 1 as the committee did in October, construction is projected to take about 18 months, which is the access gap longtime users have raised. A modified Option 3 along the lines Epstein described would keep the current bars and add accessible equipment around them. The committee takes up the plan tonight at 30 Delancey Street, and the full board takes it up again on Nov. 24 at P.S. 20.
If you live near the park or are thinking about the blocks around it, it helps to know how a one-way Avenue B, a renovation that could run 18 months and a new storefront fit together. Our agents at Piere Michel follow those details closely and can walk you through what they mean for your search or sale. Learn more about the East Village and its neighboring areas, then Book an Appointment with our team.
