The Hudson River Park Trust in New York City voted unanimously on Feb. 11 to approve a plan to build a $130 million pier, with lush greenery and an outdoor performance space, on the Hudson River, according to Business Insider.
The so-called “floating park” is the brainchild of billionaire mogul Barry Diller and his wife, the fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. The 2.4-acre park, officially called Pier 55, will rise out of the river, 186 feet from its shorelines, near West 14th Street. Various news reports, including one posted on the website DNAinfo.com, state that the park is scheduled to open to the public sometime in 2019.
Diller, the chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp, will contribute $113 million for construction, and will finance the park’s maintenance for 20 years. The city is kicking in $17 million, and the state will provide $18 million toward an expanded public esplanade between Bloomfield and 14th streets.
Diller’s largesse is the single biggest private donation to a public park in New York’s history, according to Capital New York, eclipsing a $100 million gift that hedge fund manager John Paulson bestowed on the Central Park Conservatory in 2012.
More than half of the performances held at the pier’s 700-seat amphitheater will be free or low-cost, according to a 20-year lease awarded to Diller’s P55 nonprofit organization. (That lease includes an option to renew for another 10 years.)
Diller told Capital New York that the nonprofit would produce works “across all forms of performance—musical, musical comedy, concert, pop concert, spoken theatrical play, ballet, etc.” P55’s board members include the film and theater producer Scott Rudin, movie director Stephen Daldry, and theater director George Wolfe,
To deflect criticism that this is just another land grab by a rich entrepreneur, the Hudson River Park Trust said it is establishing a community advisory committee comprised of local residents and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, which would consult on the park’s programming and ticket distribution.
The next step will be for the developers to apply for permits form the Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The goal is for construction to begin next year.
Capital New York reports that Heatherwick Studios has been commissioned to design the floating park. Heatherwick is notable for having built a garden bridge over the Thames River in London. It will work with landscape architect Signe Nielsen, who designed the Tribeca section of the Hudson River Park.
The new pier would replace the existing, albeit crumbling, Pier 54, which once served as one of Hudson River Park’s main performance venues. Capitol New York and the New York Times report that the new pier would stretch 320 feet by 320 feet between Pier 54’s old pile field and the pile field that once supported Pier 56. The parallelogram-shaped pier would be built atop 300 concrete columns that range in height from 15 feet to 62 feet above the water level.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Modest recession for education construction
Construction spending for education expanded modestly but steadily through March, while at the same time growth for other institutional construction had stalled earlier in 2009. Education spending is now at or near the peak for this building cycle. The value of education starts is off 9% year-to-date compared to 2008.
| Aug 11, 2010
Manhattan's Pier 57 to be transformed into $210 million cultural center
LOT-EK, Beyer Blinder Belle, and West 8 have been selected as the design team for Hudson River Park's $210 million Pier 57 redevelopment, headed by local developer Young Woo & Associates. The 375,000-sf vacant passenger ship terminal will be transformed into a cultural center, small business incubator, and public park, including a rooftop venue for the Tribeca Film Festival.
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
| Aug 11, 2010
Curtain rises on Broadway's first green theater
The Durst Organization and Bank of America have opened New York's first LEED-certified theater, the 1,055-seat Henry Miller's Theatre. Located inside the new 55-story Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, the 50,000-sf theater is located behind the preserved and restored neo-Georgian façade of the original 1918 theater.
| Aug 11, 2010
Restoration gives new life to New Formalism icon
The $30 million upgrade, restoration, and expansion of the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles was completed by the team of Rios Clementi Hale Studios (architect), Harley Ellis Devereaux (executive architect/MEP), KPFF (structural engineer), and Taisei Construction (GC). Work on the Welton Becket-designed 1967 complex included an overhaul of the auditorium, lighting, and acoustics.
| Aug 11, 2010
Concrete Solutions
About five or six years ago, officials at the University of California at Berkeley came to the conclusion that they needed to build a proper home for the university's collection of 900,000 rare Chinese, Japanese, and Korean books and materials. East Asian studies is an important curriculum at Berkeley, with more than 70 scholars teaching some 200 courses devoted to the topic, and Berkeley's pro...
| Aug 11, 2010
Piano's 'Flying Carpet'
Italian architect Renzo Piano refers to his $294 million, 264,000-sf Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago as a “temple of light.” That's all well and good, but how did Piano and the engineers from London-based Arup create an almost entirely naturally lit interior while still protecting the priceless works of art in the Institute's third-floor galleries from dangerous ultravio...
Cultural Facilities | Aug 11, 2010
12 major trends in library design
Many academic planners assumed that the coming of the Internet would lead to the decline of the library as we know it. To the contrary, many academic libraries have experienced significantly increased patron use in recent years.
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Ill.
To complete the $55 million renovation of the historic John G. Shedd Aquarium in the allotted 17-month schedule, the Building Team had to move fast to renovate and update exhibit and back-of-house maintenance spaces, expand the visitor group holding area, upgrade the mechanical systems, and construct a single-story steel structure on top of the existing oceanarium to accommodate staff office sp...
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Green Building
27. Next-Generation Green Roofs Sprout up in New York New York is not particularly known for its green roofs, but two recent projects may put the Big Apple on the map. In spring 2010, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will debut one of the nation's first fully walkable green roofs. Located across from the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center's North Plaza, Illumination Lawn will consist ...
