Hope on Hudson? Durst has Idea for Beleaguered Pier 40
With Hudson River Park languishing, Douglas Durst is weighing in on dilemmas at Pier 40 (at left). (Stoelker/AN)
As AN recently reported, Hudson River Park is still in the weeds, both literally and figuratively. Now Douglas Durst is pointing to a possible solution to the beleaguered Pier 40. The pier was once one of the few money making sources for the self-sustaining park, but it is now deteriorating and costing $2 million a year to maintain. Durst, chair of the park’s friends group, told The New York Post that the park should consider stacking up the existing parking to free up valuable space and in turn rent the pier as lofts to the area’s expanding tech sector. The notion could avoid a lengthy State Legislature battle and an uphill ULURP processes for the proposed hotel/residential complex.
A new study looks at a variety of revenue-generating makeovers for Manhattan’s Pier 40, part of the Hudson River Park and home to multiple sports fields. Commissioned by several organizations who are active users of the pier–the Pier, Park and Playground Association (P3), Greenwich Village Little League and Downtown United Soccer Club–the study concludes that a hotel/residential combo would leave the most open space while going a long way to defray what currently is a debt-filled future for the underfunded Park. But such a plan would face several hurdles, including petitioning the state legislature to change restrictions on in-park housing now part of the Hudson River Park Act. Read the all details in The Villager.
Reflecting the Stars on the Hudson
"Reflecting the Stars" installation on the Hudson.
With the High Line getting the lion’s share of attention lately, Hudson River Park feels more neighborhoody then ever. Last night’s opening of public art installation by artist/performer Jon Morris of Windmill Factory felt pretty down home with everyone sprawling out on the grass around Morris, who explained the inspiration for his light show which sits out in the water.
Growing up in Beria, Kentucky, Morris could see the stars, but in New York light pollution made the experience impossible. His idea was to sprinkle a little stardust onto the Hudson in the form of solar powered LEDs attached to the tops of pilings from a long departed pier.
Charting Chelsea Cove
Hudson River Park's newest neighborhood amenity. (Photo: Courtesy HRPT)
On Monday, the latest portion of Hudson River Park opened to the public, bringing with it a novel pair of attractions along New York’s expanding West Side greenway. Located just north of Chelsea Piers, the project rises atop Piers 62 and 63, which together with Pier 64 form the roughly 8-acre, U-shaped landscape that Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) named Chelsea Cove when starting the project in 2001. “Our main vision was to create not only a park for people moving along the bikeway, but primarily for the community,” said Peter Arato, senior associate at MVVA. Read More
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