An appellate court on Thursday halted construction on Pier55... Crews had just begun work on the $130 million green space...
The opponents, led by the City Club of New York, filed suit in state Supreme Court in June 2015, arguing that the Hudson River Park Trust, the entity that manages and operates the park, did not go through the proper channels to launch the project and didn't adequately study the potential environmental impacts of Pier55.
— Crain's New York
The 2.7 acre, Thomas Heatherwick-designed park, which is funded largely by the Diller-von Furstenberg family, has been controversial for both its design and for the alleged secrecy surrounding it.
"The project is significantly imperiled at this point, and we are very happy about that," Richard Emery, the attorney representing the plaintiff stated. "We think this is a project borne of secrecy and deception, and should not be part of the city landscape without a very different approach to getting public and government approvals."
A spokesperson for Pier55 Inc, on other hand, said, "By continuing its misguided crusade, the City Club is obstructing the will of the local community and undermining a much-needed effort to create new public parks in New York City."
The state appellate court ordered work to be halted until September, when the case will be heard.
For more on Pier55 and other Heatherwick projects, check out these links:
1 Comment
Re-purposing an unused pier or industrial structure and turning it into a park/green space makes all sense to me, the Promenade Plantée in Paris and the High-Line are perfect examples, but building a brand new structure on the water to plant a couple of trees, I just don't get it. The most interesting part of the project is the bulging bottom side in my opinion, the part you don't even experience while in the park, such an extravagant waste of design and financial resources, those Von Furstenbergs sure know how to spend their cash. They could have done with something much less invasive or permanent and for sure less expensive, something floating perhaps, you're already on the water any ways. Ah well, the workings of the New York real-estate machine...
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