Major Step Forward on East Side Waterfront Park
March 12, 2008 |
MAS is pleased to announce that New York City Council Land Use Committee voted this morning to approve a proposed plan for the former Con Ed Site on the East River between 38th and 41st streets on the East River. This plan makes the East Side Waterfront Park possible, as the developer of the site, East River Realty Company, has agreed to provide an easement so that the FDR highway can be realigned when it is rebuilt in the next few years that will allow a deck — with a park on top — to be built over the highway, finally connecting the East Side to the waterfront. Additionally, the developer has agreed to provide $10 million towards the construction of this deck and has also guaranteed public access to the park along the routes of 39th and 40th streets.
We congratulate all those involved — particularly local Council Member Dan Garodnick and Speaker Christine Quinn and the developer East River Realty Company — for their hard work in reaching this agreement. We'd also like to thank Manhattan Community Board Six for their many years of tireless work on the project. If you'd like to contact Council Member Garodnick click here or you can e-mail Speaker Quinn here. Continue reading...
MAS-Led Coalition Launches Campaign for East Side Waterfront Park
February 21, 2008
The Municipal Art Society, City Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick, Manhattan Community Board Six and a coalition of civic organizations and local legislators today launched a campaign for a new four acre park that would create much needed open space on the east side of Midtown Manhattan while also providing access to the East River.
The coalition is calling for the City and State to coordinate major projects in the area – including the redevelopment of the former Con Ed site and the reconstruction of the FDR highway - to create a dynamic park in a neighborhood that has the least per-capita open space in Manhattan. The coalition is also calling for the City and State to ensure that the redevelopment plan for the former Con Ed site, which will be voted on by the City Council next month, facilitates the creation of a waterfront park in the future. For more details on the vision and the opportunity to build a new park on the east side waterfront, visit www.eastsidewaterfrontpark.org.
For more on the press conference, Continue reading...
Update on the East River Waterfront
January 02, 2008
For most of the last century, Midtown East has been cut off from its waterfront and starved of open space, but now the stars are aligned to address this. The future of three major projects -- the redevelopment of the former Con Ed site, the rebuilding of the FDR Drve and the potential UN campus expansion -- is in the balance, and, if planned together, these projects could be designed to create a glorious waterfront park between 38th and 42nd streets that descends to the East River.
Continue reading...
Approval Process Begins for Former Con Ed Site
October 01, 2007 Last month, the city begin to rezone the former Con Ed site in Midtown Manhattan, where the developer East River Realty proposes to build 6 million square feet of residential and commercial space. At a hearing held by Manhattan Community Board 6, local residents expressed serious concerns about the proposed density, height of buildings, retail and parking in the plan, as well as the impact on local schools and open space. The Municipal Art Society testified that the City must seize the opportunity to create more open space and access to the river by planning for a broader area, as recommended at the recent MAS-convened charrette.A Vision for Midtown's East River Waterfront is Unveiled
June 11, 2007
A group of six leading landscape architects united for a day of brainstorming and collaborative synergy in early June to develop a bold vision for Midtown’s inaccessible East River waterfront, and three days later they presented the resulting concepts and images to a crowd of more than 200 interested New Yorkers. The intensive day-long design workshop, known as a charrette, was organized by the MAS, City Council member Dan Garodnick and Manhattan’s Community Board 6 Continue reading...
Midtown's East River Waterfront
June 01, 2007
The development of Hudson River Park, and Stuyvesant Cove Park along the East River, has moved Manhattan tantalizingly close to being surrounded by an accessible green waterfront. A major missing link, however, remains along the segment of the East River shoreline that includes the campus of the United Nations and a large new development planned for the parcels once occupied by the Con Edison power plant that spanned from 38th Street to 41st Street, along First Avenue. Continue reading...
Environmental Review Begins for Con Ed Site
March 10, 2006
When considered together, proposed East River developments at the former Con Ed Waterside Power Station site, the planned new construction by the United Nations, and the reconstruction of the FDR Drive present the city with an unprecedented opportunity to reinvent the Far East Side. The city could feasibly get a great new public waterfront park, access to the water, reasonably scaled new housing, and a revitalized First Avenue. Continue reading...
MAS to City: Study Community's Plan for the Former Con Ed Site
May 05, 2005
The city has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to community-based planning by officially studying the alternative plan for the former Con Ed site that Manhattan's Community Board Six produced. The community's plan - which, unlike the developer's plan, calls for real waterfront access, meaningful public open space and reasonably scaled buildings - has been endorsed by all the elected officials who represent the area. Continue reading...
Rockefeller Center of the 21st Century? The Future of the Con Edison Waterside Plant
October 14, 2002Four enormous city blocks, just south of the United Nations along the East River, offer a rare opportunity for a world-class development in Midtown Manhattan. Con Edison's plan to close the Waterside plant now occupying the site could lead to the conversion of an isolated industrial area into a lively, mixed-use destination tied into the surrounding neighborhoods and connected to the East River. However, with this massive opportunity comes the potential to make colossal mistakes. Continue reading...