Flushing Avenue

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Northeast end of Flushing Avenue

Flushing Avenue is an approximately five mile thoroughfare running through northern Brooklyn and western Queens beginning at the termination of Nassau Street, on the northern fringe of Fort Greene, and ending where it merges with Grand Avenue, in Maspeth. It serves as the dividing line for the neighborhoods of Southside Williamsburg and Clinton Hill and the neighborhoods of East Williamsburg and Bushwick. After crossing the Queens border, the avenue divides Ridgewood from West Maspeth. It finally terminates in Maspeth.

[edit] Overview

The B57 bus runs the entire length of the Avenue. The G line has a Flushing Avenue station, as has the J/Z lines, and the L line stops nearby Jefferson Street.

The avenue is primarily an industrial thoroughfare, especially on its extreme western end, where, on its northside, it serves the Brooklyn Navy Yard Industrial Park. The industrial park rents to over 200 tenants, primarily distributorships and light manufacturing concerns, though they also rent to a few artists. Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a redevelopment of the yard that would put retail space in the yard's west side and television and film studios the yard's east side. In this district, the south side of Flushing Avenue contains many abandoned business that were supported by sailors and ship workers before the government closed the yard.

Continuing eastward, Flushing Avenue crosses the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). Here, many motorists hoping to avoid congestion exit the BQE and continue westward to the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. This section of Flushing Avenue, between the BQE and Brooklyn's Broadway, has seen considerable redevelopment over recent years by Williamsburg's Hasidic population, as young urban professionals displace them in the northern end of Williamsburg. The north side of Flushing Avenue in this section is primarily newly constructed residential, whereas the south side is primarily industrial, the most notable exception being the Marcy Houses project. Here, at Marcy Avenue and Flushing Avenue the G line stops.

The commercial heart of Flushing Avenue is the intersection with Broadway and Graham Avenue, in the extreme southern end of East Williamsburg. This business improvement district is serviced by the JMZ line. Here, one can find cheap retail shopping and excellent authentic Boricua food. This primarily Puerto Rican and Hasidic area is becoming increasingly populated with students and young professionals looking for cheap rent, cheap shopping, and proximity to lower Manhattan and Northside Williamsburg's nightlife.

After crossing Bushwick Avenue, Flushing avenue becomes gritty again. To the south is residential Bushwick, and on the north are the massive Bushwick Houses. Where the L Train approaches Flushing Avenue, at Morgan and at Wyckoff Streets, a blossoming artist community has moved into the low rise lofts that were once abandoned. In fact, this artist community is growing so large, that it is able to support the two new bars that have sprung up on this section of Flushing Avenue.

Continuing past Wyckoff Street, the avenue turns active industrial on both sides again as it crosses into Queens. Upon entering Maspeth, it is a residential street.

Flushing Avenue has seen considerable decline since its heyday. But it seems as if the Brooklyn renaissance may finally reach this decrepit turnpike. In 2004, the city began a project to upgrade the water and sewer infrastructure on the road, and to repave it. The project is estimated to be complete in 2007. Until then Flushing Avenue will be mostly a trench, but perhaps this rebuilding will be the catalyst for industries, artists, and residents to return to these abandoned buildings.