The biggest changes in Brooklyn Heights this fall have been filed, permitted and scheduled, but none of them has opened. The city has a $4 billion plan for the highway under the Promenade, and construction is still years away. A Hamptons Caribbean counter has filed plans for the old Plymouth Cafe corner. Alison Roman's grocery has permits for a space on Montague Street. The one place this month where those plans become something a neighbor can see and ask about in person is Montague Street on Sunday, October 25. That day is the last car-free Sunday of the season, and the city's BQE team will be standing on the same two blocks as the dog costume contest.
What the city has actually decided about the triple cantilever
In August, the Brooklyn Eagle reported that Mayor Zohran Mamdani and DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn had announced the outlines of a 10-year, $4 billion plan to rehabilitate BQE Central. That is the city-owned stretch between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street, and it includes the triple cantilever under the Promenade. Flynn's framing, as the Eagle quoted it:
"Time is up. We are fixing the triple cantilever."
The plan is a repair that keeps the highway at two lanes. According to the NYC DOT BQE Central project page, crews will fix the deck, walls and joints, improve drainage, upgrade railings and lighting, and leave the interchanges alone. To keep traffic off local streets, DOT expects to build temporary bypasses. Repairing the triple cantilever would need a two-level bypass over Furman Street, built no higher than the existing Queens-bound level. North of Columbia Heights, the current design puts a Queens-bound bypass over the existing BQE and the Brooklyn Bridge approach. DOT says it is still reviewing alternate designs and that the bypasses would come down after construction.
For the Promenade, the Eagle reported that the landmarked walkway would be repaired in phases so part of it stays open at all times. The structure carries more than 130,000 vehicles a day, including 13,000 trucks. DOT told the Eagle that is more than double what it was designed for, and that the highway is already 20 years past its design life.
None of this starts this fall. The project is at the start of the City Environmental Quality Review process, which is how the city studies environmental effects and takes public input. DOT's page describes it in one place as preparing to enter that review and in another as having begun it. DOT's current forecast puts construction between 2029 and 2040. No closures are tied to this project this season. What is happening this season is the public conversation.
Why that conversation is happening on the neighborhood's own calendar
DOT built its fall outreach around events the neighborhood was already holding. The first pop-up was at the Atlantic Antic on October 4, near Atlantic Avenue and Clinton Street. Another was set for Montague Street Open Streets on October 11. Rain pushed that one to October 25, from noon to 3 p.m., on Montague between Clinton and Hicks. DOT says its pop-ups have no presentation, so people can come by anytime and talk with the project team.
Because of the rain delay, the city's BQE session now lands on the last day of the season. The Montague Street BID lists the fall Open Streets run as September 13 through October 25, and its calendar shows nothing after that date. After the 25th, the BQE talks move indoors and online.
October 25 on two blocks of Montague
Here is how the final Sunday lines up, using the BID's posted schedule and DOT's event listing.
| Time | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 12–1 p.m. | Rogue Connections | Montague Open Streets |
| 12–2 p.m. | Montague Diner Dog Costume Contest | Near Montague Diner, 148 Montague St. |
| 12–2 p.m. | Face painting with Ciara Halligan Art | Montague Open Streets |
| 12–3 p.m. | NYC DOT BQE Central pop-up | Montague St., Clinton to Hicks |
| 12–4 p.m. | Street square dancing | Montague Open Streets |
| 12–5 p.m. | Gotham FC; wood carving with Dennis J. Taylor | Montague Open Streets |
| 12–5 p.m. | Free children's art with Miss Piera + Le Meraviglie | Outside Le Meraviglie Art Studio, 108 Montague St. |
| 1–4 p.m. | Soccer Stars activities | Montague Open Streets |
The street is closed to cars starting at 10 a.m. The Brooklyn Heights Association's fall newsletter asks anyone parked on Montague between Clinton and Hicks to move their car on Sundays. From noon to 3, a neighbor can ask how a Furman Street bypass would work and then walk half a block to watch costumed dogs outside the diner.
The dates that come before it
The rest of October also mixes BQE sessions with neighborhood events, and several land in the same few days:
- Tuesday, October 13, 4–7 p.m.: DOT office hours at the Brooklyn Heights Library, 286 Cadman Plaza West.
- Saturday, October 17, noon: World Singing Day on the Brooklyn Borough Hall steps. The BHA says this is the event's first New York City edition, with a songbook chosen to honor Brooklyn and the neighborhood.
- Sunday, October 18: The BHA Annual Pickleball Tournament on Montague, noon to 5. McNeil Tours runs free walks at 1 and 3 p.m. with no preregistration. Meet 10 minutes early outside Khaosan Thai, 128 Montague St.
- Thursday, October 22, 11 a.m.–noon: DOT's second virtual Q&A.
- Thursday, October 29, 6–8 p.m.: DOT's BQE Central info session at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St.
- Saturday, October 31, 10:30 a.m.: The BHA Halloween Parade, starting from the north end of the Promenade. Bake sale treats go to the south end between 10 and 10:30 a.m., and baker sign-ups close October 26.
The Halloween Parade starts on the Promenade that the city has promised to keep partly open through a decade of work beneath it.
The one event this month in a finished space is the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse at One Monroe Place, open through November 1, with proceeds going to the Brooklyn Heights Association. The Brooklyn Eagle called this biennial edition the most ambitious yet. Nineteen teams of designers, decorators and architects redid six levels of a house with nine bedrooms, an elevator and a roof deck. General admission is $50, and BHA members pay $40.
Henry and Pineapple, and a Montague storefront, also on paper
The commercial changes in the north Heights are at the same stage as the BQE: plans and permits, with no opening dates.
The Brooklyn Eagle reported that Plymouth Cafe served its last sandwich on June 15 after 42 years at 90 Henry Street, at Pineapple. The owner said a new food business was moving in. On September 22, the Brooklyn Heights Dispatch reported that Doubles has filed plans for the space. Doubles is a quick-service, Caribbean-inspired counter run by the Bennett brothers. They opened in Amagansett in 2022, later added Sag Harbor, and the Dispatch says this would be their first permanent location in New York City. No opening date has been reported.
Across the street, the Eagle reported in July that All in One Deli Mart, formerly Peas N' Pickles, had closed at 79 Henry Street and Pineapple Walk after more than 30 years. No successor was named. Two long-running businesses on one intersection closed within weeks of each other. One space has a filed plan, and the other has nothing announced yet.
On Montague, Pineapple Street BK reported on September 24 that permits were approved for work on Alison Roman's First Bloom store on the street. The report gave no street number or opening date. In May, Curbed noted that neighborhood chatter put it at 144 Montague, the former Bentley's Shoes, but that Roman had not confirmed the location. That address is still unconfirmed.
Atlantic Avenue already opened
The finished changes this year are on the southern edge of the Heights. Frenzie, a sourdough pizza and wine bar from the team behind Confidant, was set to open in mid-August at 129 Atlantic Avenue near Henry Street, the Brooklyn Eagle reported. The Brooklyn Heights Dispatch has since listed it as open. Confidant moved earlier this year from Industry City into the former Colonie space on Atlantic, according to the Dispatch's openings roundup. Bebo, a Georgian restaurant serving traditional dishes and wine, opened at 145 Atlantic on September 23, as Pineapple Street BK reported.
Atlantic Avenue is also where the BQE Central section ends. DOT says the Atlantic Avenue ramps will not close for this project. For now, the newest places in the neighborhood are open on Atlantic, and the larger plans for Henry Street, Montague Street and the triple cantilever have a filing date but no opening date.
If you own in the north Heights and want to talk through how a decade of phased Promenade work, the Henry and Pineapple turnover and a possible new Montague anchor could affect your block over the coming years, The Diamonde Team is available. Schedule a private consultation.
