Park Slope's Fifth Avenue To Open The Street For Outdoor Dining

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A stretch of Fifth Avenue will soon turn into an al fresco dining oasis on Saturdays.

Fifth Avenue in Park Slope is one of 22 city streets that will soon close to cars certain hours on the weekends so that restaurants rebounding from the coronavirus crisis can set up in the roadways, the mayor announced Thursday.

The announcement comes one week after the city began accepting applications from local groups to set up seating on roadways that have been closed to traffic under the city's Open Streets program.

The 22 streets that will open to outdoor dining include those already open and those, like Fifth Avenue, that will close to cars for the first time for the outdoor dining hours.

"It's going to be amazing because it's going to key into some of the places in the city where we have extraordinary restaurants concentrated in one place," de Blasio said Thursday. "People love to go there anytime, but now imagine being able to enjoy it all al fresco."

On Fifth Avenue, the street will close between Dean Street and Park Place on Saturday afternoons, according to the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, which is managing the closure.

The street will close around 11 a.m. so that dining can be set up and start by noon, BID Executive Director Mark Caserta told Patch. Diners can enjoy the al fresco restaurants until around 9 p.m., when tear down will start so that the street can reopen by 10 p.m., he said.

Caserta said the section of Fifth Avenue was chosen because business owners there had been asking for the street to open since May. He hopes to ask for more parts of the avenue to open up in the future.

Other streets in Brooklyn that will open for outdoor dining include Reed Street in Red Hook and Dock Street, Main Street, Washington Street and Anchorage Place in Dumbo, according to the mayor.

Popular restaurant spots in other boroughs will also open, including Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and several open streets in the Meatpacking District.

The "Open Restaurants on Open Streets" plan comes almost two weeks after restaurants were first allowed to welcome customers back for outdoor dining as the city reopens its economy from the coronavirus crisis.

The initial phase of the Open Restaurants program lets eateries set up tables on sidewalks or parking lanes. More than 5,600 restaurants have signed up so far citywide, including more than 200 in Park Slope.

The extra space for restaurants also comes as New York City postpones the return of indoor dining, originally meant to start next week, due to coronavirus spikes in other areas of the country.