The Hudson River Park Trust in New York City voted unanimously on Feb. 11 to approve a plan to build a $130 million pier, with lush greenery and an outdoor performance space, on the Hudson River, according to Business Insider.
The so-called “floating park” is the brainchild of billionaire mogul Barry Diller and his wife, the fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. The 2.4-acre park, officially called Pier 55, will rise out of the river, 186 feet from its shorelines, near West 14th Street. Various news reports, including one posted on the website DNAinfo.com, state that the park is scheduled to open to the public sometime in 2019.
Diller, the chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp, will contribute $113 million for construction, and will finance the park’s maintenance for 20 years. The city is kicking in $17 million, and the state will provide $18 million toward an expanded public esplanade between Bloomfield and 14th streets.
Diller’s largesse is the single biggest private donation to a public park in New York’s history, according to Capital New York, eclipsing a $100 million gift that hedge fund manager John Paulson bestowed on the Central Park Conservatory in 2012.
More than half of the performances held at the pier’s 700-seat amphitheater will be free or low-cost, according to a 20-year lease awarded to Diller’s P55 nonprofit organization. (That lease includes an option to renew for another 10 years.)
Diller told Capital New York that the nonprofit would produce works “across all forms of performance—musical, musical comedy, concert, pop concert, spoken theatrical play, ballet, etc.” P55’s board members include the film and theater producer Scott Rudin, movie director Stephen Daldry, and theater director George Wolfe,
To deflect criticism that this is just another land grab by a rich entrepreneur, the Hudson River Park Trust said it is establishing a community advisory committee comprised of local residents and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, which would consult on the park’s programming and ticket distribution.
The next step will be for the developers to apply for permits form the Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The goal is for construction to begin next year.
Capital New York reports that Heatherwick Studios has been commissioned to design the floating park. Heatherwick is notable for having built a garden bridge over the Thames River in London. It will work with landscape architect Signe Nielsen, who designed the Tribeca section of the Hudson River Park.
The new pier would replace the existing, albeit crumbling, Pier 54, which once served as one of Hudson River Park’s main performance venues. Capitol New York and the New York Times report that the new pier would stretch 320 feet by 320 feet between Pier 54’s old pile field and the pile field that once supported Pier 56. The parallelogram-shaped pier would be built atop 300 concrete columns that range in height from 15 feet to 62 feet above the water level.
Related Stories
| Jul 29, 2014
Studio Gang Architects, MAD to design George Lucas' museum in Chicago
Star Wars director George Lucas selected Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects and Beijing firm MAD to design his proposed art museum on Chicago’s lakefront.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction market benefits from improving economy, new technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following years of fairly lackluster demand for commercial property remodeling, reconstruction revenue is improving, according to the 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, Turner, and Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, URS, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HDR, and HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 25, 2014
Philip Johnson’s 'Tent of Tomorrow' vandalized, damaged with fire
Vandals set fire to a stolen van in the park, which in turn caught the tarp covering the pavilion's 50-year old Terrazzo Map on fire.
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Construction Management Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, Barton Malow, Hill International top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest construction management and project management firms in the United States.
