The Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects makeover of Pier 42 has been given the green light by a Community Board 3 subcommittee and the Public Design Commission of the City of New York [EDIT: the Public Design Commission has yet to give its full approval], and now just needs full board authorization from Community Board 3 [and the PDC] in order to get underway.
The $94 million project, which will encompass eight acres of land between Montgomery and Jackson streets on the Lower East Side, will be the final link in the ring of parks encircling Lower Manhattan. The plan includes removing a large shed that currently dominates the waterfront, and adding a bike path, lawns, a playground, waterfront marshes, an educational estuarine park, a green space for riverfront lounging, and a potential docking station for kayaks and small boats.
The plan also features a flood-resistant design similar to the one in place for the East River Blueway. From the press release:
The design goal is to provide protection from future floods to institutions, critical utilities, and housing along one of the city's densest and most vulnerable corridors. A continuous berm will be constructed along the FDR Drive to mitigate its noise and to protect the inland from flooding. The entire bulkhead will be dismantled to form marshes and wetlands, and the pier will be selectively cut away to create protected oyster habitat. All site stormwater will be captured in bioswales and cleansed before its discharge into the East River, eventually restoring the ecosystem between the Brooklyn Bridge and East 38th Street, ensuring the return of native waterfowl and marine life. Phase 1 of the project, which will cost $12 million, is expected to be completed by 2016.
· Pier 42 [Mathews Nielsen]
· Pier 42 coverage [Curbed]
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