Part of Pier 26. Image Credit: Hudson River Park Trust/YouTube

Pier 26 was a $37.7 million project and is the first pier to be opened in over a decade. On September 30, 2020, the Hudson River Park Trust opened Pier 26, an ecological-themed pier located in Tribeca between Hubert Street and North Moore Street and west of the West Side Highway. The Pier is an open outdoor space for New Yorkers as the city recovers from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In 2013, the pier’s infrastructure was completed along with the City Vineyard restaurant and wine bar and the Downtown Boathouse, which has provided free kayaking for half a million New Yorkers.

Pier 26 features a Tide Deck, a woodland walkway, lounging decks and pavilions, a sports court, and more. The Tide Deck, the most unique feature of the pier, is an educational and ecological resource featuring native shrubs, trees, and grasses that mimic what the Hudson Rivershore line used to look like. Indigenous paintings are also displayed in the Tide Deck to represent various coastal communities. The deck is intended to raise awareness of the wildlife and habitat found within Hudson River Park and the Estuarine Sanctuary. Above the Tide Deck is an elevated cantilevered walkway that provides stunning views of the Hudson River and New York City. Pier 26’s Tide Deck will help support the Hudson River Park Trust’s environmental education and scientific programming mission, the River Project, by providing educational programming to over 30,000 kids and adults each year.

Additionally, the Pier features a habitat walk that guides visitors through five different ecological zones: woodland forest, coastal grassland, maritime scrub, rocky tidal zone, and the Hudson River. Nearby, the sunning lawn and sports play area with boardwalks and seating areas provide New Yorkers with plenty of seating and recreation space.

In the future, the Hudson River Park Trust will add a specialized science-themed playground in the upland area east of Pier 26. The 4,000 square foot playground will be designed by OLIN and will feature equipment designed by the Danish playground design firm Monstrum. This would be the second New York City playground Monstrum has been involved in. Previously this firm helped design the pipefish playground in Chelsea Waterside Park. The Pier 26 playground will include larger-than-life play features of native and endangered Sturgeon species of fish found in the Hudson River. Eventually, the playground will connect to the Hudson River Trust’s planned estuarian, a research and education center focusing on live Hudson River fish in the adjacent upland to complete the Tribeca section of Hudson River Park. Currently, the estuarian is still in the fundraising stage.

Pier 26 was developed and is operated by the Hudson River Park Trust, a New York State benefit corporation tasked with designing, constructing, and maintaining Hudson River Park. The $37.7 million project was funded by Citi, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), and the City of New York. Funds to design the Tide Deck were provided by New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund. The Park runs on the west side running just north of Chambers Street to 59^th Street and is open daily from 6 AM to 1 AM.

Madelyn Wils, President and CEO of Hudson River Park Trust said: “seven years in the making, we are proud to open this entirely unique pier at a time when Hudson River Park has taken on new importance for so many in the face of the current health crisis – providing a much-needed oasis in a city with limited green space … and while Pier 26, like the rest of Hudson River Park, was originally conceived as a way to help New York City recover from 9/11, we hope this new pier will play a vital role as we once again look ahead to recovery.”

By: Lynsey Smith (Lynsey is the CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2022.)