In January, Jenny Gersten will succeed Robert Hammond, as Friends of the High Line’s executive director.
BY SAM SPOKONY | When the third section of the High Line opens in 2014, it will have been 15 years since Chelsea residents Joshua David and Robert Hammond founded the nonprofit group that helped turn the abandoned elevated railroad tracks into one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations.
The Friends of the High Line, which undertakes fundraising and oversees maintenance of the nearly 1.5-mile park, has by all accounts become a model for others across the world who want to successfully operate a modern, engaging and elevated public space.
“When we started in 1999, this was very much considered to be an underdog project,” said David, in a November 1 phone interview. “We just had this dream of going all the way from Gansevoort to 34th Street. And now it’s actually going to come true. At first I was thinking that 15 years is a long time…but I realize that it’s actually not so long at all.”
While the High Line’s entrance into the city landscape has certainly been swift, both the park and the Friends are now transitioning into changes that will define its future as a Downtown icon.
Hammond announced in February that he would step down as executive director of the Friends at the end of this year, after which David will remain as president of the organization.
The Friends’ new executive director, Jenny Gersten, was announced in October after her selection by the group’s board of directors. She will take over the position in January.
NEW HIRE WILL BRING MORE DIVERSE PROGRAMMING
While the High Line has hosted plenty of unique events since the park’s official opening in 2009 — from public art exhibits to community engagement for teenage and adult residents of Chelsea’s public housing developments — Gersten’s hiring represents a shift towards further emphasis on new programming.
Currently the artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the Berkshires, Gersten comes from a strong background of theatre production, which includes past work on several Shakespeare in Park productions in New York City.
David acknowledged that more diverse programming that focuses on the arts, family activities and niche interests will be a “greater part” of what people can expect to find at the High Line in the years to come.
“We knew that programming was something that we really wanted to expand for the future, and that made [Gersten] a great candidate,” said David. “I’m really excited about her coming on board, because she’s a really wonderful and talented person, and I think this entire community will see how valuable her skills are.”
THIRD SECTION SIGNIFIES FIRST PUBLIC PRESENCE IN HUDSON YARDS
In addition to new opportunities for events, tourists and residents alike will have more park to enjoy in 2014 — when construction on the third section (nicknamed “High Line at the Rail Yards”) is completed.
The final piece will not only extend north from West 30th Street to West 34th Street (linking the West Village to the entirety of West Chelsea), but it will also bring visitors to the waterfront, by swinging west from 10th Avenue to 12th Avenue.
“It’s a whole new thing for the High Line, which is fantastic, and I think that the connection to the riverfront will make a big difference for us, and for people visiting the park,” said David.
And once that’s finished, the Friends will be on the cusp of yet another turning point as the Hudson Yards development — which will span the 26-acre space between West 30th Street and West 33rd Street, and 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue — continues its own road to completion. Construction on the mixed-use Hudson Yards site began in 2012, and the first buildings are expected to open in 2015, with the rest of the site to follow over the next several years.
With 13 million square feet of new commercial and residential development, Hudson Yards will undoubtedly have an effect on the entire west side of Manhattan, and David pointed out that High Line visitors — whether they live around the area or not — will be able to experience that growth firsthand.
“It’s really great for us that the rail yards area, which is a place that people generally had very little awareness of, will become a very dense, multi-use neighborhood,” he said. “And the thing that’s particularly thrilling is the fact that people on the High Line will have a front row set to urban transformation.”
With regard to public art in the area, it was recently reported that Hudson Yards developer Stephen Ross, chairman of Related Companies, plans to spend as much as $75 million on a work of art — not yet designed — that will become the centerpiece of the development’s public plaza.
Thomas Heatherwick, the British designer chosen to plan both the four-acre public space and the crowing artwork, has called it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” — and sources cited in the Wall Street Journal said they believe the space will draw inspiration from Rockefeller Center and the famous Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome.
David said he thinks it’s “very exciting” that Ross is investing heavily in art to anchor the public realm of Hudson Yards, although he added that the High Line isn’t currently planning to collaborate directly with Related on any public art projects.
“There are some parallels between what we do and what Related wants to do, but I think they’ll be separate programs that serve to complement each other,” he said.
High Line visitors can sign up to take walking tours to view sculptures by Brooklyn-based artist Carol Bove, which have been placed along the unfinished third section of the park. Reservations can be made by visiting thehighline.org.
TRUE TO PRESERVATINIST ROOTS
During his interview with Chelsea Now, David also mentioned that, earlier that day, he gave a particularly emotional walking tour of the High Line to members of the Obletz family — which carries a name that any lover of the park should hold in the highest esteem.
Peter Obletz, a former West Chelsea resident and chair of Community Board 4, was the passionate train enthusiast who spent over a decade of his life attempting to save the elevated railroad tracks when they were in danger of being demolished in the ’80s. Obletz unexpectedly swooped in to buy the High Line for $10 in 1984, after the private owner of the site was in the process of abandoning it. While that sale was eventually overturned by a federal judge, and his dream was not achieved within the span his life (which ended in 1996, after a battle with cancer), Obletz remains something of a folk hero.
“He was the first saint of the High Line,” said David.
And so, on the morning of November 1, the co-founder of the High Line’s current preservation group met with Peter Obletz’s brother, Doug Obletz, who was visiting New York with his family from Portland, Oregon.
It was the first time that an Obletz had ever seen the vibrant, pulsing green space that is the High Line of today. More than 15 years after Peter’s death, and three decades since he made that famed purchase, Doug Obletz was able to witness the realization of his brother’s vision.
“It was so moving to show them something that’s basically a continuation of what Peter had done,” said David. “Robert [Hammond] and I have stayed in touch with his family ever since we started in 1999, but it was incredible to finally be able to share this experience with them.”
On the cusp of such new growth for the High Line, walking the tracks alongside the Obletz family didn’t just give David a chance to reminisce — he was thinking about the future, too.
“Plenty of people come to the High Line and think it’s beautiful, but very few of them really understand what it took to do this,” he said. “There have been challenges for all of us along the way, and I still think it’s amazing that we’ve made it through them. And it’s a privilege to be one of the people who knows the story of what Peter did, so now we’re going to keep our own story going.”
