In 2018, the United Nations officially designated June 3 as World Bicycle Day, a 24-hour period earmarked for celebrating the beloved two-wheeled conveyance all over the planet. It’s on this day that earth’s inhabitants are encouraged to applaud the bicycle’s uniqueness and versatility, as well as its sustainability as a means of transportation.
In New York City as in many other large North American cities, cycling is enjoying an enormous surge in popularity among everyone from casual riders to those who depend on pedal power to get to and from workplaces. That upswing is likely to only increase with the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge bike lane. Increasingly, both residential and office buildings in Gotham are bending over backwards to show just how much they care for the needs and preferences of bicyclists. More and more of them are setting aside bicycle rooms, as well as other creature comforts expressly designed for cyclists.
Commercial buildings
When it developed 122 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Union Square, The Bromley Companies included in the design a dedicated bike room sufficient in size to store 100 bicycles. Outside that room, cyclists can avail themselves of showers and a café.
JEMB Realty Corporation, the developer of downtown Brooklyn’s tallest commercial office tower, 1 Willoughby Square, decided early on to make life easier for bicyclists. In the tower’s basement, the developer tucked a private, 250-parking-spot bicycle room. Pedalers gain unfettered access from the park into the bike room via a freight elevator, can stash possessions in storage lockers outside the room, shower up in one of several adjacent washrooms and then proceed directly via elevator to their office floors.
A 12-story commercial building in Brooklyn’s DUMBO, 45 Main Street boats a 2,000-square-foot bicycle room that cyclists can enter from entrances on Main Street or Washington Street. Once inside the Two Trees Management structure, they can tie up their bikes at one of 150 black aluminum racks. Inside the heated and air-conditioned bike room equipped with security cameras, they can use pumps to refill flat tires.
Residential buildings
The Brodsky Organization’s new 27-story multifamily rental, Plank Road, inspires residents to head outdoors and explore the Prospect Heights neighborhood in which the building is set. Renters can reserve up to five bikes at no charge and pedal away.
The heart of Fort Green, Brooklyn, is the setting of The Ashland, a full-service, amenity-rich luxury building from Gotham Organization. The building’s neatly organized bike and stroller room offers a convenient place to stash their bicycles until it’s time for the next morning commute or casual ride around Brooklyn’s nearby Cultural District.
A location on Williamsburg’s highly-acclaimed Domino Park may be enough to spur residents of One South First to get out into nature on their self-powered velocipedes.
The design of the Two Trees Management building makes it easy for residents to do so. A bicycle lobby with a ramp alongside the stairs enables residents to conveniently place their bicycles in the storage room.
Gotham Point, the Long Island City waterfront’s newest development, is yet another Big Apple residential building with amenities for bicyclists. Developed by Gotham Organization, Gotham Point features a top shelf bike storage room for residents of the building’s market-rate and affordable rate apartments. They can prime for a season of bike riding by working out year-round in the building’s state-of-the-art gym.