May 14, 2008
South Brooklyn's new waterfront park, courtesy of Ikea
 South Brooklyn in June will get a 6.5-acre waterfront park and free NY Water Taxi service to Manahattan -- all courtesy of IKEA, which will open its Brooklyn mega-store on June 18.
 The Water Taxi will run seven days a week, every 40 minutes during store hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The boat has a capacity of 74 passengers, but only 25 will be allowed on the outdoor top deck at any time, a Water Taxi spokeswoman told NewYorkology. In Manhattan, it will dock at Pier 11 near the base of Wall Street (not the South Street Seaport, where its touristy hop-on hop-off boats operate.)
In addition, the free Water Taxi service is only promised through summer, Mike Baker, the manager of the Brooklyn IKEA, told NewYorkology. "Come fall, depending on our research, it goes to weekends, also free!!" he wrote in an e-mail.
When asked if ferry passengers would have to provide a store receipt to get the free trip (like nearby Fairway market did for its shoppers when the NY Water Taxi started service there,) Baker replied: "The New York water taxi will run 7 days a week through the summer only and is for IKEA visitors both to and from Manhattan to the water taxi terminal we have built here on the esplanade."
The giant home furnishings maker occupies 22 acres on the Erie Basin in Red Hook, map, a little spit of a neighborhood cut off by the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and dependent on two mediocre buses that connect to the subway more than a mile away. The MTA has pledged to extend the routes of both buses -- the B77 and the B61 -- so they go to the Ikea Terminal. IKEA has said it will also provide free shuttle buses every 15 minutes between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. to and from three subway stations: the 4th Avenue/9th Street (F and R trains,) the stair-intensive Smith and 9th Street (F/G,) and Borough Hall/CourtStreet (2/3, 4/5, N/R and M trains.)
The store itself is 346,000-square-feet and will include a 450-seat Swedish and American restaurant with a great view of the harbor and Statue of Liberty. See Curbed/Racked for sneak previews from inside.
Earlier: Red Hook, Brooklyn - the 2007 rundown
May 14, 2008 1:52 PM in Cheap Stuff, Foodology, Out of Manhattan, Shopology, Transportology
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