Gigantic mural on development site 80 Flatbush is a ‘living monument’ to Brooklyn

It’ll be a while before Alloy Development’s latest Brooklyn project, an enormous mixed-use development rising at the confluence of Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn, will begin its rise over the borough.

But that project, known as 80 Flatbush, will make its presence known on a smaller scale in the years leading up to construction and completion—most visibly with a large-scale mural that’s in the process of being painted on the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Schermerhorn Street.

Alloy announced today that it’s selected Brooklyn artist Katie Merz to create a piece of art that will cover the entire Flatbush-facing sides of two buildings, with the piece staying in place for as long as two years. Merz was selected from a pool of 60 contenders, and her mural is intended to incorporate dialogue and ideas from neighborhood residents, all in a very graphic, graffiti-esque piece of art.

“The street life here is like no other—it’s a huge conversation that keeps moving and changing,” Merz said in a statement. “This mural is a living monument to the voices and stories that Brooklyn endlessly tells.”

Alloy’s the latest developer to bring an artist in to spruce up its construction sites: In Tribeca, French street artist JR has worked with developer DDG to add huge murals to a building facing its forthcoming condo on Franklin Street; and back in 2010, artists adorned the construction fencing at what was then Atlantic Yards with colorful murals that were intended to beautify what was then a giant hole in the ground.

In Alloy’s case, it’s also a signal of 80 Flatbush’s larger mission; a nearby building will hold studio space for artists for the forseeable future, and the completed project will include a 15,000-square-foot cultural facility, though what shape that will take is not yet clear. (It may also be a salve to community residents who are less than thrilled with the development, which is due to begin the ULURP process later this year.)

Merz is also documenting the installation process on Instagram, or you can check it out for yourself in Brooklyn:

• Downtown Brooklyn megaproject will include studio space for artists through BRIC partnership [Curbed]