ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS: Sometimes — actually, often — a picture is worth 1,000 words. And this beautiful picture of a majestic view of the Hudson River is worth at least two 1,000-word articles, maybe more. … Village literary luminary Susan Brownmiller recently sent it to us, urging us to run it. “Take a look at my friend Guillaume’s photo of the patch of river that is to be developed by Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg,” she said. “It shows what the neighborhood will lose when the development is built.” Brownmiller was referring to Pier55, which now has all the required approvals allowing its construction to move forward. The project would see a glittering, bee-friendly “arts island” rise from the Hudson — to a height taller even than most Village buildings — in the spot bookended in Guillaume LeBourhis’s photo between the Whitney Museum of American Art to the south and The Standard hotel to the north, and on its east, by the skeletal former pier-shed arch from the old Pier 54, where the bedraggled Titanic survivors disembarked. The new Pier55, which will be attached to shore by two pedestrian bridges, will overlap the old pile fields of Piers 54 and 56, which can also be seen in the photo. We haven’t heard yet whether the City Club of New York has decided to appeal the court’s unfavorable decision on its lawsuit on the pier project. Assuming there are no further legal challenges, Brownmiller and other Villagers will have to get used to a carnival-like entertainment pier lighting up their view of the waterfront in the evenings. We assume the sweeping shot was taken from Brownmiller’s Jane St. penthouse balcony. A neighbor of hers, Nicolas Bustamante, owner of the new Bespoke Kitchen restaurant on Hudson St., admitted to us that Brownmiller’s balcony is the envy of the building. As for the Pier55 project, Pier 54’s decking has been removed and there already has been significant construction work done to “bump out” the shoreline a bit in the spot where the new pier will be, better to accommodate the droves of people who will come streaming in to enjoy the park and its numerous music and theater performances and art shows. We can almost picture it now, imagining what it will look like— thanks to LeBourhis’s picture.
