Pier 54 in Manhattan. Image Credit: Pier54.com
Hudson River Park Trust agreed with Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg to reconstruct Pier 54 with a larger footprint and with performance spaces that could charge market fees. Pier 54 is a part of the Hudson River Park and is located on West Street and West 13th Street, Manhattan. The pier was built in 1906 for the Cunard Steamship Company, became deteriorated, and was partially dismantled by the Hudson River Park in 2013. The Park proposed to construct a new pier with funds provided by Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg. The new pier would be square rather than rectangular, have elevations that ranged from eight feet to approximately 62 feet, be larger in area than the old Pier 54, and have three enclosed performance areas. It would also have landscaped areas, paved walking paths, and seating for both active and passive uses. Under the agreement with Diller and von Furstenberg, the Park would have 51 percent of the performances at the performance areas be free, but 49 per cent could have fees at market rates. The reconstructed pier would be designated Pier 55, constructed north but slightly overlapping a portion of the historic footprint of Pier 54. Petitioners describe the planned location of Pier 55 as a “never-before disturbed stretch of the Hudson River.” (read more…)
Architect’s rendering of the Pier 17 proposal. Image credit: SHoP Architects
The demolitions would make new Pier building a free-standing structure, with four visible facades, and a new canopy that would allow for all-weather use of roof space. On August 4, 2015, representatives of the Howard Hughes Corporation appeared at the Landmarks Preservation Commission to propose revisions to their planned redevelopment of Piers 16 and 17 in the South Street Seaport Historic District. Landmarks in 2012 approved an application by SHoP Architects, after multiple hearings, to replace the 1985 mall that previously stood on the site. The pier, at 89 South Street, lies in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport Historic District.
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Long View Rendering of 126th Street and Citi Field. Image Credit: NYC EDC.
Appellate panel found the authorization for private construction on parkland did not extend to a shopping mall. On October 9, 2013, the City Council approved Queens Development Group’s planned 10-story, 200-room hotel and 30,000-square foot mall complex on the Willets Point West site, formerly the location of Shea Stadium. The site was once the north end of Flushing Meadows Park until the state legislature authorized the stadium’s construction in 1961. The development would anchor further construction of infrastructure improvements, mixed-income housing, and a school. Since the stadium’s demolition in 2009, the site has served as a parking lot for Citi Field, but remains classified as parkland.
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John West
(Re: Council Subcommittee Hears Testimony on One Vanderbilt, Apr. 20, 2015)
Dear CityLand:
At the public hearing before the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises of the Land Use Committee of the City Council last Monday, 13 April, the applicants and supporters of the proposed Vanderbilt Corridor and One Vanderbilt outnumbered those with reservations about the proposals. They spoke for most of the four hours – the opposition, at two minutes apiece, used 15 or 20 minutes – and in spite of the insightful questions by the councilpersons, particularly Dan Garodnick, one might have gotten the impression that all was fine.
As a counterbalance let me offer the four-minute version of the testimony I gave at the hearing. I am a member of Community Board Six and the MultiBoard Task Force. I am also a member of the City Club. I believe that what I offered is consistent with their main concerns.
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Long View Rendering of 126th Street and Citi Field. Image Credit: NYC EDC.
Public trust doctrine did not apply to Willets Point West development project. On August 15, 2014, the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan denied petitions for declarative and injunctive relief against the Willets Point Development Project in Queens. The petitions were brought by a coalition led by New York State Senator Tony Avella, The City Club of New York, and New York City Park Advocates. The petitioners argued that constructing a shopping mall and hotel was an improper use of the Willets Point West parkland, and that it should remain open for public events including circus performances and concerts.
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Michael Gruen, President of the City Club of New York
Juan Rivero, City Club Governing Committee
A disarmingly simple plan for rezoning Manhattan’s office district running from Grand Central Terminal north to about 58th Street has been approved by the Planning Commission and will come to a Council vote around the time of the November election.
It has three key components: 1) The City almost doubles the allowable floor area for new buildings on large sites along the major thoroughfares; 2) it sells to the landowner the right to build the increased space at the estimated market value of development rights (a base price of $250 per square foot); and 3) it applies the proceeds to unspecified transportation and pedestrian circulation improvement projects likely, when selected, to be located at Grand Central. (read more…)
