By Albert Amateau
The Hudson River Park Trust’s request for proposals that were issued to four development teams for the redevelopment of Pier 57 are due next week.
The Trust has asked the four teams to include specific information about public open space, proposed changes in the structure of the finger pier and head house between 14th and 16th Sts. and details about the marinas and other water uses in their proposals.
The development teams were also asked to provide financial and operation details in the proposals, which are due by July 16, according to Noreen Doyle, vice president of the Trust.
“We’ll touch base with the Trust Advisory Council and the Pier 57 Task Force and determine whether the responses answer our questions,” Doyle said. The Trust hopes to designate a developer in the autumn, she said.
The Trust’s goals for the 300,000-sq.-ft pier are for a combination of “quality park-enhancing” cultural, educational and maritime recreation uses, both commercial and noncommercial, according to the request for expressions of interest the Trust issued last year.
All four teams that received the R.F.P. on June 9 intend to have historic ships, marinas, maritime and environmental programs, art galleries and public space.
One of the teams, Original Ventures, is a consortium including Hudson Guild, the National Maritime Historical Society and Riverkeeper, the nonprofit group headed by Robert Kennedy, Jr. The plan includes a Hudson River Performing Arts Center, with space for music, dance and theater events. Michael Kramer, a Chelsea resident and former member of Community Board 4, is a partner. HRH Construction, KeySpan and the architectural firms of Richard Dattner, Dan Ionescu and Buckhurst, Fish & Jaquemart are team members.
Discover 57 is a team that includes LCOR Development Services, Bovis Lend Lease project managers, Meta Brunzema Architects, JM Zell Partners Museum Services and DMCD, Inc., a museum design firm. John Doswell, a member of Community Board 4 and a founder of Friends of Hudson River Park, is a partner in the Discover team. The Jacques Cousteau Society would run a center with historic vessels. Docking space for excursion boats, a diving center, a marine supplies shop and space for U.S. Coast Guard boats and classrooms are in the plan. Retail space, galleries, studios and a 35,000-sq.-ft. event center are also part of the Discover plan.
Chelsea Piers Management, which operates the sports and entertainment complex on the Chelsea waterfront, is the leader of another team that plans a row of art galleries, studios and a 40,000-sq.-ft. dance center on Pier 57. An arts center with classes in plastic and visual arts, plus an aquatics center are in the Chelsea Piers plan. A tennis center is included along with historic ships and a small boat marina.
Leonardo at Pier 57 is a team that includes the Cipriani restaurant group with Plaza Construction Corp and The Witkoff Group. Leonardo plans an Italian crafts, retail and cultural center in a two-story, enclosed pedestrian mall inside the pier shed. The plan also has a restaurant, event space and a marina and nautical store on Pier 57.
