Restoration At The Small Banks Section of The Brooklyn Banks Has Begun

📷 Photo via @stever_nyc

As of this week, contractors started work towards a skateable restoration of the Small Banks.

The first step [visible above] is digging out the mulch patches that were added in when the city made the Small Banks unskateable in November of 2004. The goal is to resurface the gaps with bricks, creating a clean pathway to the bank.

The Brooklyn Banks in November 2004. Photos courtesy of Steve Rodriguez.

However, this will not be an exact 1:1 return to the spot as it stood prior to late-2004.

According to Steve Rodriguez, who has overseen all stages of the Brooklyn Banks restoration alongside the people at Gotham Park, the spot will be as close as they can get it for this particular phase. The most noticeable difference will be larger planter areas for the trees in the middle of the space due to new planting regulations.

If you look at the picture below, the grey portions would be covered in new brick, whereas the circular dug-out portions would be rounded tree planters, so not the granite box planters that you see at the nine stair and further east towards the Big Banks.

There is no firm date available on when construction on this phase will be completed; it could be weeks, or it could be months.

Those who have paid attention to the multi-phase, multi-year restoration of the spot may have heard rumors about the fence over the famed Small Banks Wall™ potentially being removed to bring back the iconic 90s spot, particularly since that specific off-ramp has been decommissioned for 20+ years. We know nothing about that …but maybe we should hit up Mamdani to get it in motion ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

All in all, for skaters of a certain age, it is absolutely surreal to see this spot come back to life — especially in the same week that we caught glimpses of the new version of the Philadelphia Municipal Services Building, which has a sanctioned skate section complete with original City Hall benches, and replicas of the Muni dominoes made from Love Park granite.

There’s no other way to say it: skateboarding won.

Thank you to Steve and Gotham Park for never giving up on a complete restoration of the spot.