BY YANNIC RACK
More than a dozen projects in Lower Manhattan, ranging from parks improvements to after-school programs, will be funded with $50 million from a settlement reached last year over the 2007 fire at the former Deutsche Bank Building in the Financial District.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the joint state-city agency created to help rebuild the area after 9/11, voted last Friday to approve a slate of 14 projects that will receive part of the money paid by construction company Lend Lease for the accident that killed two firefighters.
The largest awards went to sections of the East River Esplanade and Hudson River Park, but substantial funds will also go to cultural institutions such as the South Street Seaport Museum and towards a planned playground in The Battery, according to a list published by the governor’s office.
“This action will help strengthen these neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan and create a better environment for people to live, work and visit,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement.
As part of the allocation, Hudson River Park will receive the $10 million it needs to complete the unfinished areas around Pier 26 in Tribeca, including the planned estuarium, as well as platforms, decks and landscaping.
On the East Side, $15 million will go towards improving access to the waterfront and enhancing pedestrian connections on the portion of the East River Esplanade running from Robert Wagner Senior Pl. to Catherine Slip in the Two Bridges area, as well as new sidewalks and curbs for the entire section stretching down to Peck Slip.
The project also includes a provision to install new railings and site furnishing in order to create limited beach access near the Brooklyn Bridge, a popular plan that the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which owns the land, has previously discouraged but is now moving ahead with (see related article).
The Battery Conservancy will receive $6 million to build its “Playscape,” a new, 60,000-squarefoot playground that will be located near the eastern side of the park, between State and South Sts.
The cash-strapped South Street Seaport Museum will get an infusion of $4.8 million to build a new 11,000- square-foot Educational Community Center.
Other Downtown cultural institutions will receive support as well: The Flea Theater in Tribeca gets $2.5 million to help build its new three-theater complex on Thomas St., which is scheduled to be completed later this year, and $1 million will go to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which is planning to construct a new museum to the late baseball legend on Varick St.
The awards also include $700,000 for the Tribute in Light installation at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum to cover the costs for the event for another two years, $500,000 to fund after-school and senior programs through Manhattan Youth, and $300,000 to offset start-up expenses at the Downtown Alliance’s new Lower Manhattan Headquarters.
In addition, the Pier 26-based Downtown Boathouse was awarded $15,000 to buy 25 new boats for its free kayaking programs.
The Downtown Boathouse at Pier 26 received $15,000 from the settlement funds to buy 25 new boats for its free kayaking programs.
The $50 million settlement, which was reached in the spring of 2015, marked the resolution of a lawsuit between LMDC and Lend Lease concerning the faulty demolition of the Deutsche Bank Building at 130 Liberty St. Lend Lease agreed to pay LMDC $40 million and to forgive more than $10 million in outstanding payments still due from the city.
To review the proposals and collect public input, LMDC had formed a special working group of state and city officials, as well as Community Board 1 chairwoman Catherine McVay Hughes.
“These funds will go a long way to maximizing public benefits and supporting Downtown’s most cherished resources — from our waterfront to parks and playgrounds, to cultural institutions and social services,” said Hughes, who is also a member of LMDC’s board of directors.
Since its inception, the agency has allocated more than $2 billion in federal funds toward redeveloping Lower Manhattan, but some had called for it to wind down its operations before the settlement was announced last year, as it was meant to be a temporary agency and had distributed all of its funds.
