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White Sands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located between Coney Island and Bath Beach. It is located in the area of the modern Brooklyn Community Board 13; however, most of the former neighborhood no longer exists due to a Home Depot location fully occupying the site of the former neighborhood.
White Sands is located on the north shore of Coney Island Creek between the neighborhoods of Coney Island and Bath Beach. It is separated from Bath Beach by the Belt Parkway. Calvert Vaux Park, formerly Dreier-Offerman Park, is located to the west of the neighborhood. Originally, White Sands consisted of several short, dead-end streets with no through-routes within the neighborhood. Currently, the neighborhood has been reduced to only two blocks of residential properties.
History
White Sands' name is derived from the white sand which formerly covered the shore and the mouth of Coney Island Creek. The first houses to be built in the neighborhood were bungalows that were raised on stilts above the sand. As development slowly progressed, much of the sand was removed, and replaced with landfill.
In 1993, the home-improvement retailer Home Depot became interested in White Sands as the location for a new store, due to its preferable location near Cropsey Avenue and the Belt Parkway. Residents were approached, and by 2000, the Home Depot had acquired about two-third of the properties in White Sands. By 2002, the acquired properties had been razed and replaced by a new Home Depot location.