BY ALBERT AMATEAU | The Hudson River Park Trust’s board of directors last week approved the $130 million Pier55 project funded by Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg.
The innovative new pier, to be located between the pile field of the historic old Pier 54, where the survivors of the Titanic landed, and the Pier 56 pile field, will still need approval from the Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation before construction can begin in May 2016.
At its Feb. 11 board meeting, the Trust specifically approved a 20-year lease for a new nonprofit entity, Pier55, Inc., to operate the new pier.
The Trust’s approval included some modifications to the lease, as well as to the project’s overall design — suggested during several public hearings — from plans first made public last November. For example, the highest point on the square-shaped pier was reduced from 71 feet to 62 feet and the number of permitted closings per year of the new pier for events was limited.
Moreover, Madelyn Wils, the Trust’s president and C.E.O., told the directors that Kate Horton, the executive director for programming for Pier55, Inc., the entity building and operating the pier, will meet with Community Board 2 to discuss creating a community advisory board for the pier.
The limit on the number of closings of the new pier came in response to a suggestion by C.B. 2. The agreement limits the closings to an annual average of four times a month, with no more than five closings in any single month.
Responding to questions from Pamela Frederick, a Trust director, Wils explained that the upper limit of no more than five closings in any one month was intended to avoid more closings in a single month.
The pier could close in order to set up or break down permitted events, Wils said. But it doesn’t mean it would necessarily close for each event.
“If we find they’re closing the pier if they don’t need to, we will intervene,” Wils said, adding that some necessary closings might not be all day but only for an hour or two. The lease agreement calls for a minimum 30 events annually.
“We will need to work very closely with the community,” Frederick remarked. She added that the requirement that 51 percent of the events on the new pier must be free or low-cost is still not defined.
“What if things don’t work out?” asked Joseph Rose, a developer and former chairperson of the City Planning Commission and a Trust director. “How is the downside protected?”
Wils replied that if Pier55, Inc., defaulted on the agreement to build the pier, the Trust would be able to take funds from Pier 55, Inc. to complete the project, including $25 million for maintenance.
In addition to the 20-year lease, the agreement has a provision for an optional 10-year extension. The agreement also allows Pier55, Inc., to terminate its operation of the pier after the first 10 years upon a year’s notice and payment to the Trust of $5 million.
Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, an appointee of Mayor de Blasio’s on the Trust board, said, “Real, substantive changes have been made in the project,” and expressed the de Blasio administration’s thanks to Diller and von Furstenberg.
Leslie Wright, New York City regional director of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and a Governor Cuomo appointee on the Trust board, called Pier 55 an exciting project.
“The Trust worked hard to balance the issues and the project has all the potential to be a spectacular addition to the park,” Wright said.
The construction timetable begins in May 2016, with completion and an opening day currently slated for spring 2019.
“I hope to be able to see it,” said Franz Leichter, 84, a Trust director who, as a New York state senator, co-authored the 1998 legislation that created the Trust and the 4-mile long Hudson River Park. Leichter plans to retire as a Trust director at the end of his current term, and Diana Taylor, Trust chairperson, paid tribute to his long service to the park.
Although Trust business meetings are open to the public, only directors are permitted to speak. But that did not stop Mel Stevens from rising from the audience and interrupting the Feb. 11 session. Stevens, whose zealous opposition to building in the Hudson River Park dates back to the 1980s, made his move soon after the opening and denounced Pier55 as an invasion of the river. Wils told him he could not speak and called for help to eject him from the meeting. However, Stevens was allowed to remain, holding his protest sign, after he agreed to be silent.
In other actions at last week’s board meeting, the Trust took two actions concerning the old Pier 54 and the widening of the park esplanade between Bloomfield St. — on Gansevoort Peninsula — and W. 14th St. A contract was authorized with Lomma Construction to remove the remaining deck of Pier 54 and for work on the esplanade, for a total not to exceed $1,861,200. Another contract was authorized with Skanska USA for construction management on the esplanade segment for $174,500. The esplanade widening is being done for safety purposes to accommodate the crowds that will be flocking to the new Pier55 once it is built.
The Trust also focused attention on the public parking facility on Pier 40, the most significant revenue source for the entire Hudson River Park. A three-year contract with SP Plus for parking garage management services was authorized for a total of $3,304,358. The Trust also authorized a $1,439,720 contract with Structural Preservation Systems to restore the vehicular ramp that gives cars access to the second and third levels of Pier 40.
In addition, the Trust authorized issuance of a $120,000 contract for the restoration of the sports court at Harrison St., the nearby dog run at Pier 26 and the playground at Pier 25, all in the park’s Tribeca section.
In other actions, the contract with AKRF for environmental impact statements for the Hudson River Park was authorized to add $400,000 for additional work. The total amount of the contract is not to exceed $5,285,000.
Finally, the Trust approved the amendment of its Park Enforcement Patrol (PEP) contract with the city Department of Parks and Recreation. The number of PEP officers assigned to the park will be increased in stages from 12 to 14 and eventually to 17.
