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Feds plan overhaul at NYC's Floyd Bennett Field after migrant shelter moves out
By
Liam Quigley
Published Jan 10, 2025
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CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
By
Liam Quigley
Published Jan 10, 2025
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The federal government is planning a new chapter for Floyd Bennett Field, a defunct Brooklyn air base that's housed a migrant tent shelter since the fall of 2023.
Mayor Eric Adams said he plans to close the shelter on Jan. 15 – along with two dozen others set up for migrants in recent years. The closures will come five days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Immigration advocates have said they feared camps like the one at Floyd Bennett could become a target for the kinds of mass deportations promised by the incoming commander-in-chief.
Sections of the federally owned airfield's runways were leased to New York City to be used as a shelter site for up to 500 migrant families in September 2023 after Adams criticized President Joe Biden for not doing enough to help manage the flow of migrants into the five boroughs.
As the migrants were moved out of the airfield, the National Park Service started seeking a new vendor to rehabilitate and run the sprawling sports facility that’s occupied portions of the site for more than 20 years. Since 2003, Aviator Sports & Events Center has managed a swimming pool, ice rink, gymnastics center, rock climbing wall and athletic fields across the 117,000 square foot facility.
The facilities are underutilized and in need of repairs, according to the National Park Service.
A set of bid requests published by the National Park Service this week called for a new operator to take over Floyd Bennett’s four massive historic hangars, which are joined together and house the recreational facilities run by Aviator. The park service also said it was seeking an operator to sign a 10-year lease to operate a pair of nearby golf courses: The Riis Golf Course, which is located just steps from the beach about two miles down Flatbush Avenue, and the Flatbush Avenue Driving Range, which is across the street from the hangars at Floyd Bennett Field.
The party taking over the lease will have to repair or replace the elevator and replace the entire roof of the structure spread across the four hangars. The parks service estimated the cost of repairs could reach $5 million.
Assemblymember Jaime Williams of Brooklyn, who’s been a vocal opponent of the shelter, said the planned changes are welcome news for the community.
“When this whole migrant issue came about, with putting the migrants there at Floyd Bennett Field, of course the community was outraged, parents were outraged because, now your kids are in a vicinity where right across the street there’s this shelter,” Williams said. “They were always thrilled to have the children go to Aviator. Whether it was for ice skating, hockey, so be it. It’s the only place in the southern part of Brooklyn that really had all those amenities.”
Aviator inked a 20-year contract with the park service in April 2003 that expired nearly two years ago. The company has continued to run the facility since the lease expired, and could still put in a bid to retain its management of the site. A representative for the company did not return a request for comment.
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Asylum Seekers
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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