Kent Avenue Fence-Out

Oh the times, they are a changin' over at the Kent Avenue site of the Edge mega-development, on the East River between North 5th and North 7th.

Following a couple of sneaky 4 AM trailer drops last week, work has begun in earnest to transform the former B.E.D.T. site to a 1,000-unit waterfront highrise complex. By Friday morning, four trailers and five bulldozers were on-scene; the concrete foundation and pad at North 6th Street had been jackhammered, and crews were seen sniffing the freshly-turned and suspiciously black soil for signs of...?

On Wednesday, crews removed the metal wall along the North 7th dead-end, and began erecting a ten foot cyclone fence that will stretch from the L-Train fan plant at the foot of North 7th Street, around the corner and south along Kent Avenue to the North 5th Street entrance of the Northside Piers site. The towering fence gobbles up the entire sidewalk width, meaning no walking (or parking?) on the west side of Kent from North 4th to North 7th anytime soon.

It also portends the imminent demise of two iconic hipster icons:

1. The folk-artsy mural of hipsters sitting on benches that's adorned the metal fence at Kent and North Seventh for years.

2. The North 6th Dead End, which workers say will remain open until the developer "gets the authority to close it". The stub of road currently bisects the Edge's future campus.

The notoriously popular North 6th Dead End will be sorely missed - if its possible to mourn the passing of a trash-strewn, weed-infested, partially-flooded road to nowhere. Besides serving as the de-facto free parking lot for the imnotsayin offices for the past couple of years (no alternate side rule!), the block was the gallery for a local found-materials artist (the often photographed Wall of Bags), and a quiet spot for neighborhood dogs to perform their morning duties.

The beloved cul-de-sac was a sort of outdoor hipster green room. As the closest dependable parking to North Six and Galapagos, we witnessed dozens of young rockers, many on their first national tours, park their ubiquitous white tour vans down there and chill out before their shows. What skanky club dressing room could compete with the Dead End's sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline for T-shirt tearing, smoking some gange, and kicking back with a forty of St. Ides before a set?

North 6th Dead End (and weird wall mural), take care. We'll miss ya - but we won't forget ya.

Wall Mural, Dead End and Construction Pics [Flickr]