Brooklyn Bridge Park may be lush and spacious, but for years it has lacked the "revenue-producing sites" necessary for it to become a world-class public recreation facility. No longer: a judge has ruled that the Pierhouse condos and luxury hotel lawfully block views of the bridge and the city from the Promenade, and so construction of the units "priced from the two millions" can resume.

In April, a group called Save the View Now gathered 6,000 signatures and filed a lawsuit claiming that the condos' rooftop bulkheads and the hotel's bar violated a promise from the developers to include the accoutrements in the 150 foot height limit. Toll Brothers and Starwood Capital, the developers, countered that they made no such promise.

The Brooklyn Paper reports that Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Lawrence Knipel found no evidence of an agreement, and said that the time had expired for activists to file a suit.

Steven Guterman, the president of Save the View Now, says the group is mulling an appeal.

Regina Myer, the president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, told the Times she was pleased with the decision: “Revenue from development sites within the project’s footprint supports the park’s long-term maintenance and operations. Without those sites, there would be no Brooklyn Bridge Park. The court agrees.”

Still, it seems that Judge Knipel doesn't quite grasp the absolute necessity of allowing private interests to exploit public land: “The casual passerby walking along Brooklyn’s majestic Promenade is struck with the indelible impression that these buildings, now nearing completion, are simply too large."

