News Release

Demolition of Building 69

Date: July 5, 2018
Contact: Daphne Yun, 718-815-3651

The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to demolish building 69, a WWII temporary barrack building at Floyd Bennett Field. Building 69 is a historic building in the Floyd Bennett Field Historic District.

As a part of the ongoing effort to recover from Hurricane Sandy NPS assessed the condition of building 69, reviewed the park’s long term plan for the Ryan Visitor’s Center, and compared the condition and costs for both buildings. Based on this review NPS determined that the rehabilitation of the Ryan Visitor Center would better meet the long term plan for the park and a decision was made to complete the rehabilitation of the Ryan Visitor Center for park offices and thus move park offices out of building 69. With park offices relocated NPS considered the future of building 69. Alternatives including mothballing, rehabilitation for a new use, and demolition were considered.  NPS determined that for the foreseeable future, given the number of other vacant buildings at Floyd Bennett Field and as well as across the park, it has no viable use for the building. Given the limited resources available to the park, the building’s original intent as a temporary structure, that there is no foreseeable future NPS use for the building, and that vacant buildings within the park have proven to attract vandals, the park has determined that the demolition of building 69 is the best option.

The proposed demolition is subject to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their actions on historic properties. The NPS has determined that the proposed demolition of building 69 will have an adverse effect on the Floyd Bennett Field Historic District. As required by NHPA, the NPS has notified the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation of the adverse effect, is consulting with New York State Historic Preservation Office, and has drafted a Memorandum of Agreement to that effect.

The ongoing participation of the public is very important to this project. You are asked to share your comments from July 3 through July 15 (14 days) either by commenting on the website or by mail.

Comments can be submitted in the following ways:

Website:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/gate

Mail:
Office of the Superintendent
Gateway National Recreation Area, Fort Wadsworth
Attn: Floyd Bennett Field, Building 69
210 New York Avenue, Staten Island New York 10305

Please visit Gateway’s website at http://www.nps.gov.gate or http://parkplanning.nps.gov/gate for additional project information.

About Gateway National Recreation Area
Gateway is a large diverse urban park with 27,000 acres in New York City and New Jersey. Gateway combines recreational activities with natural beauty, wildlife preservation, military history and more. Visitors can learn about forts, hike, or camp overnight in the New York metropolitan area. For more information about Gateway visit our web site at http://www.nps.gov/gate.