City to lease portion of East River pier that had housed an OEM facility. The Department of Small Business Services proposed to lease to Basketball City, LLC a 64,000- square-foot portion of the one-story shed building located on Pier 36 along the East River, at the base of Montgomery and South Streets. In 2006, plans for the Hudson River Park forced Basketball City to vacate its former location on Pier 63 along the Hudson River at West 23rd Street. The plan caused great controversy at the time when school groups and local officials sought the Hudson River Park Trust’s agreement to stop or at least delay the loss of Basketball City’s facility.

Basketball City would convert the shed building into six indoor basketball courts, locker rooms, and 75 at-grade parking spaces. The Department of Sanitation, the NYPD, the FDNY and the Office of Emergency Management currently occupy portions of Pier 36. Under the proposal, OEM would vacate its space to make way for the indoor basketball facility; the other City uses would remain. (more…)