NEW YORK | New East River access

[NYguy]

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110414/murr...erfront-public

City Could Open Swath of East River Waterfront to the Public
Money has been allocated to study costs and challenges of opening the waterfront from East 38th to East 60th streets.



April 14, 2011
By Amy Zimmer

As the city works to revitalize Manhattan's waterfront with green space, one large stretch has remained cut off to the public.

But now plans are inching forward to open the area along the East River from East 38th Street to East 60th Street, where the FDR Drive and the United Nations have blocked residents' access to the waterfront.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's long-term waterfront plan, Vision 2020, called for significant improvements to this greenway gap.

Bloomberg's plan echoed the community's desire for a public park at an East 38th Street pier, which has been sitting fallow since Con Edison sold the site in 2005.

It also raises the possibility of making a deal with the United Nations, in which the city would allow the UN to build on a part of Robert Moses playground on First Avenue between East 41st and East 42nd streets in exchange for a public waterfront esplanade.

The plan also called for an esplanade to be built on existing piles — left behind from a 2002 temporary FDR Drive roadway — between East 53rd to 59th streets.

It did not, however, set aside any money to build any of these projects.

But there is money now to do a study on what could actually be built in the area, and how much it will cost.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney secured $475,000 in federal funding from the Surface Transportation Program and state funding from the Department of Environmental Conservation for a feasibility study of the engineering, design, landscaping and other planning related to the new esplanade for her East Side district.

The city's Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for the study on Tuesday.

"The mayor has been staunchly advocating a green belt around Manhattan, but so far there has not been much concrete action in the east Midtown area," Maloney said in a statement. "This study will help us gain a better understanding of the costs and complications involved in building a new esplanade at this location."

Since Community Board 6 is among the areas most bereft of open space in the city, residents here have long sought new parks, and have eyed the 34,000-square-foot Pier 38 as a spot for one.

The former Con Edison site, from East 38th to East 41st streets, was originally built to receive coal deliveries, before it was transformed into a parking lot.

The structure would have to be renovated or reconstructed, according to the RFP. The Municipal Art Society is expected to host a design summit this summer with architects to envision how this pier could become a public jewel in the future, the RFP noted.

The only way to get to this part of the waterfront now is through a cavernous urine-stenched passageway at East 37th Street.

The feasibility study would also focus on improving this connection to the waterfront as well as others, including at 42nd Street and possibly turning an existing elevated deck structure at East 48th Street that is part of the UN campus into a waterfront esplanade.

Building the esplanade in front of the United Nations, of course, has another set of sticky issues. For one, coordination with the UN and NYPD on security issues would be necessary, the RFP pointed out.

Despite the looming bureaucratic issues, residents think the study is a step in the right direction.

"Rather than hiding our waterfront behind chain link fences and highways, we hope to see the day when we can actually enjoy the East River's shore," said Mark Thompson, chair of Community Board 6.

"It's a lot of money for a study, but this is a lot of work. It's not small potatoes," said Ellen Imbimbo, chair of CB6's waterfront committee. "It's a huge area and it will be a while before anything comes of it. But this will be a giant step forward in assessing the needs."

The abandoned Pier 38, a former Con Edison pier along the East River from East 38th to 41st street. The public wants to turn it into a park.




The East River esplanade abruptly stops at the abandoned Pier 38, a former Con Edison pier along the East River from East 38th to 41st street. The public wants to turn the pier into a park.




There's no way to cross to the water at East 38th Street where the public would like to turn Pier 38, a former Con Edison, into a park.

[NYguy]

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011...s/?mod=WSJBlog

Stanford Eyes Roosevelt Island Campus



Main Street on Roosevelt Island. Stanford University indicated its interest in building a campus on the island.

By Aaron Rutkoff
April 19, 2011

Stanford University has its eye on a potential Roosevelt Island campus.

Late last year, New York City put out a call to academic institutions throughout the world seeking a top-tier applied-science facility to be built here. By March, some 18 schools had submitted proposals. Details remained vague, but city officials had identified a handful of city-owned sites as potential locations. Roosevelt Island was on the list.

Stanford University, which first signaled its interest back February, took steps last week to flesh out its proposal. The California-based school would choose the Roosevelt Island location for its proximity to Manhattan, university officials said in an internal presentation last week. The website Business Insider reported on the presentation earlier Tuesday, breaking out highlights from the accompanying PowerPoint.

“It is a unique place, mainly used for housing, hospitals and recreation,” Bob Reidy, Stanford’s vice president of land, buildings and real estates, said in the presentation. “It is a special place in that it’s oddly apart from the city, but very closely adjacent.”

Some details of Stanford’s vision for a New York campus have been known since February, but the presentation offered a clearer picture of the project’s shape. The campus would initially aim to have 440 graduate students for the 2015-2016 school year, and later expand to 2,200 students and 100 faculty members. It would take up about 1.3 million square feet on the island.

In last week’s presentation, officials indicated that they would hire up 20 new faculty members in computer science and bring other professors over from the main campus for the first phase of the proposed campus. “The focus of the first phase would be on information technology –- electrical engineering and computer science -– with special attention given to entrepreneurship education and research,” said Stanford President John Hennessy. “Executive education both in technical fields and in management would also be featured.”

“We envision faculty here and faculty in New York teaching classes to students in New York and students here in real time,” said James Plummer, dean of Stanford’s School of Engineering. “The students in both places need to feel and be part of the same classroom experience.”

Presentation video

• Video Link




http://www.businessinsider.com/stanf...-york-campus-1

[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

NYC sees rich future for Pier 15
City agency seeks proposals for East River pier that will include mix of boat docking and retailing; rent to be earmarked for maintenance of new East River Esplanade

The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a Request for Proposals Tuesday for seeking someone to lease and operate the Maritime Pavilion at Pier 15, as well as the accompanying Lower Manhattan ship-berthing spaces along the East River.
In the RFP, the EDC said it seeks to use the pier, which is a part of East River Esplanade South, for education programs, food and beverage vendors, as well as a dock for excursion vessels.
The proceeds of the lease will be used for the maintenance and operation of the entire East River Esplanade South.
"Pier 15 is a key component of the City's new East River Esplanade project that will not only become a new Lower Manhattan destination,” said NYCEDC President Seth W. Pinsky in a statement. “But will also generate revenue needed to support the long-term future of this public waterfront esplanade.”
The tenant selected for the location will manage, program, and maintain approximately 550 linear feet of available transient boat docking space along the north, east, and south sides of Pier 15 in the financial district. This docking space will allow the tenant to maximize non-commuter passenger vessel services, including; commercial, educational, recreational, private, and other excursion services to and from Pier 15.
The Maritime Pavilion will consist of approximately 1,763 square feet of programmable interior space. NYCEDC is currently constructing the core and shell of the Maritime Pavilion, as well as a publicly-accessible restroom. The agency expects to complete construction in the autumn. The tenant will be responsible for all necessary internal fit-out and programming of the Maritime Pavilion. Programming must feature a maritime or environmental educational component and additional space may be used for other commercial purposes, excluding food and beverage retail.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/110619946

[NYguy]

World Architecture News
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com...pload_id=17184

SHoP's esplanade opened in New York

Friday 22 Jul 2011

Designed by SHoP Architects with Ken Smith Landscape Architect, the new esplanade - open to the public from 6:00am to midnight - provides much-needed outdoor public space for residents, office workers and visitors. Along with new plantings and trees comprised of native coastal species, the park incorporates seating elements evocative of the area’s maritime past and elevated bar stool seating that offers visitors an opportunity to sit next to the railing and look out over the water toward Brooklyn. The railing also doubles as a tabletop on which users can eat, use a laptop or read.

The esplanade also features chaise lounges, game tables, planter walls and waterside benches.

[NYguy]

Tribeca Trib

http://tribecatrib.com/news/2011/jul...esplanade.html

Lounging and Lunching: First Part of East River Esplanade Now Open


Carlos Rodriguez relaxes by the water on his lunch break at the newly-completed stretch of the East River Esplanade.



Julia Gind enjoys lunch at one of many newly-installed waterfront seats along the East River Esplanade.


By Jessica Terrell

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and other officials on Thursday declared the $165 million first phase of the project open. But the stretch of shore between Wall Street and Maiden Lane was already being enjoyed by area residents and workers for the past few weeks.

“On such a sunny day, we can truly appreciate how lucky we are to live in a city surrounded by water,” Bloomberg said, adding that the park was one step in an ongoing plan to make the waterfront accessible to New Yorkers.

“We must return the river to the people of this city, to whom it belongs,”

[NYguy]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-40-years.html

Kahn’s FDR Memorial Rises in N.Y.C. River After 40 Years





A detail of the memorial room under construction that is the key element of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York. Intended as a roofless, contemplative space, the room -- now surrounded by a temporary metal bulkhead -- will appear to rise from the swirling waters of the East River. The 38-year-old design by celebrated 20th-century architect Louis I. Kahn is only now being realized. It will open in 2012.



A view of the the $54-million Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park rising at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in New York. Visitors will pass by the preserved ruins of a 19th century hospital (left in photo) and mount a stairway to a long wedge-shaped garden that leads to a square roofless memorial room.



A bust of president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led America through the Great Depression and World War II, will preside over a roofless memorial space that will guide the visitor gaze to the lower stretches of the East River.


By James S. Russell
Aug 12, 2011

New York’s East River swirls around a roofless room, an unfinished shrine built of massive stones. It’s the first visible part of what will be a five-acre memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the southern tip of the island renamed for him.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park was one of the final designs of architect Louis I. Kahn, who died in 1974, a year after beginning work on the project. For years, politics and economics conspired to halt work. Now it is finally being built almost exactly as Kahn designed it.

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/ny...1&ref=nyregion

Land Deal With U.N. Would Fill a Big Gap in the Waterfront Greenway





A site on the East River once occupied by Consolidated Edison is to become part of the Greenway.

By LISA W. FODERARO
September 29, 2011

For at least a decade, the United Nations has coveted a playground just south of its landmark tower, where it would like to construct a new building. For just as long, city and state officials have longed to fill in the largest remaining gap in the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, from 38th to 60th Streets on the East River, but have not had the money.

Now, in a series of real-life Rubik’s Cube moves, elected officials are on the verge of signing an agreement that would create a framework for both sides to get what they want. The United Nations would take part of Robert Moses Playground for its new building, while the city would end up with enough cash to finish an esplanade for the 32-mile Greenway — and a replacement playground. In July, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation that gave the city and state governments until Oct. 10 to agree to the terms of a deal.

If the agreement, or memorandum of understanding, is signed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the heads of the Assembly and the Senate, as required, the United Nations Development Corporation could begin a land-use review for its new tower, which could be no taller than the 505-foot Secretariat Building.

[Obey]

When will the FDR memorial be complete?

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Obey

When will the FDR memorial be complete?

Don't remember, but I think they're doing Open House NY tours.




http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...025143388.html
Greenway Plan Gets 'Missing Link'


The Robert Moses Playground near First Avenue is adjacent to the existing United Nations campus.

By ERICA ORDEN
October 6, 2011

New York City and state agreed to the development a mile-long stretch of East Side waterfront using $73 million derived from an expected expansion of the United Nations campus, officials said Wednesday.

State legislation passed in June allows the United Nations Development Corp. to utilize the western portion of the city-owned Robert Moses Playground, adjacent to the existing United Nations campus, for a new building connected to its existing campus.

To proceed with those plans, the U.N. arm would pay $73 million into a special purpose fund, which the city has agreed to use to finance the development of the esplanade between 38th and 60th streets.

[NYC4Life]

Sure is going to take a long time to begin most of the development on the waterfront.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYC4Life

Sure is going to take a long time to begin most of the development on the waterfront.

Not sure what you mean, but development has been going on for years now along the waterfront.

[NYC4Life]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Not sure what you mean, but development has been going on for years now along the waterfront.

The map you posted suggests we're still years away before construction begins on most of the riverfront expansion.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYC4Life

The map you posted suggests we're still years away before construction begins on most of the riverfront expansion.

You're talking about that esplanade? It's only a small portion of the overall development, but a key link.

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/ny...2&ref=nyregion

Two Top Suitors Are Emerging for New Graduate School of Engineering


A view of the proposed site of a science and engineering graduate school on Roosevelt Island.

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
October 16, 2011

With less than two weeks left to apply in the competition for $400 million in land and subsidies to build a science and engineering graduate school in New York City, some of the world’s great universities continue to change plans and jockey for position, and there is a growing view among them that Cornell and Stanford have emerged as the favorites.

City officials discourage the idea that there are any front-runners, but the president of Stanford, John L. Hennessy, says bluntly that his school and Cornell — both seeking the same piece of city-owned land on Roosevelt Island — have the best chances, and officials at some of the competing institutions privately agree.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has roiled the field by suggesting lately that he might anoint by year’s end not one winner but two, which has bolstered the hopes of Columbia and New York University...

[NYguy]

FDR Memorial taking shape...

redwingx

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/ed...1&ref=nyregion

Environmental Features in Science Campus Plans


An artist's rendering of Cornell University's proposal for a graduate school on Roosevelt Island.

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
October 23, 2011

If Cornell University were to win the city’s competition to build a new science graduate school, it would install on Roosevelt Island almost four acres of solar panels, 500 geothermal wells, and buildings with the rare distinction of generating as much power as they use.

Stanford University’s proposal for the island calls for minimizing energy use, creating a marsh to filter water, and recycling water from storm runoff and sinks, and possibly from toilets as well.

Stanford and Cornell, vying for the same city-owned site on what some involved in the process have begun to call Silicon Island, are widely seen as the universities to beat. Their plans are far grander — two million square feet of space to be built over a generation with price tags of over $1 billion — and they have proposed more ambitious plans to incorporate innovative environmental measures.

______________________________________


http://www.betabeat.com/2011/10/24/g...ergy-building/

Get Ready for a Tech Campus PR Blitz! Starting with Cornell and Technion’s Shmancy Net-Zero Energy Building



By Nitasha Tiku 11:34am

After months of public jockeying and lobbying strategic consulting, this Friday marks the final deadline for applications to build a tech campus that will transform New York into the next Silicon Valley. That means you can expect five days of attempts at showstopping revelations from the universities. Think of it like an Advent Calendar, except with building details instead of candies and a chance to build on city-owned land instead of the birth of baby Jesus.

[NYguy]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/1...ther_on_ri.php

Stanford and Cornell Try to Outgreen Each Other on RI



Monday, October 24, 2011, by Kelsey Keith

Stanford and Cornell are locked in a deathmatch over the proposed engineering campus on Roosevelt Island; proposals for the $400 million bid are due October 28 and the two universities are busy "outgreening" one another with environmental extras. In Cornell's corner (pictured above in the circulated architectural renderings, the only applicant to do so), we've got four acres of solar panels, 500 geothermal wells, and "buildings with the rare distinction of generating as much power as they use," generating 1.8 megawatts of power, or enough to power 1,400 American homes. The whole shebang was designed by SOM and is "oriented to the arc of the sun."

In Stanford's, we've got standard, "less specific" eco-practice that minimizes energy use and relies on a graywater system with a filtration marsh, recycled rain runoff, and reused toilet "black water.

[NYguy]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000..._MIDDLE_LSMini

Shimmer on the Waterfront



By ROBBIE WHELAN
October 24, 2011

Venturing northward from the Vernon Boulevard subway station in Queens toward the Hunters Point waterfront takes the walker through a dramatic range of urban textures.

One minute you're on what looks like a small-town main street, with shops and restaurants. The next, you're in a sleepy district of low-rise residential buildings and squalid factories. Then, suddenly, the East River approaches, and you're surrounded by strapping, aquatic-hued high-rise towers with glassy exteriors and hundreds of balconies. Suddenly, it's Miami Beach.

The $1 billion-plus East Coast project, a massive, 7-building residential complex that has been two decades in the making, is just past half-done. TF Cornerstone, a development firm run by the Elghanayan brothers, K. Thomas and Frederick, has built two rental towers, a condo building called the View, and a load of infrastructure including eight acres of park space and a public waterfront promenade.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by NYguy

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/1...ther_on_ri.php

Stanford and Cornell Try to Outgreen Each Other on RI


Cornell

Monday, October 24, 2011, by Kelsey Keith

I am intrigued by these renderings...

http://www.stanford.edu/nyc/

Stanford submits plans for major applied sciences and engineering campus in New York City



October 26, 2011


Aerial view of the preliminary, proposed design for the StanfordNYC applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island.

Stanford University today submitted its proposal to partner with New York City to build StanfordNYC, a world-class applied sciences and engineering campus that is expected to serve as an economic catalyst for new companies and jobs, and to become a new hub of technological innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States.

Stanford's response to the New York City Economic Development Corp.'s request for proposals calls for the 30-year development of a $2.5 billion, 1.9-million-square-foot campus on Roosevelt Island focusing on graduate-level teaching and research in engineering, technology and entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on transferring discoveries to the marketplace.

[NYguy]

http://www.dnainfo.com/20111027/uppe...ver-waterfront

Phillip Lopate Kicks Off Design Contest For a New East River Waterfront



October 27, 2011
By Amy Zimmer

The stretch of the East River esplanade from East 60th to 125th streets is often underused and difficult to access. It's suffered neglect over the years and is dotted with sinkholes. It's narrow in many places and noisy from cars on the FDR buzzing past. Phillip Lopate has walked this stretch of Manhattan's waterfront.

In fact, he's walked along the island's entire perimeter, chronicling his journeys in the 2004 book "Waterfront." That's why Civitas, a community group trying to jumpstart the revitalization of this crumbling part of the East River shoreline, invited him to kick off its design competition re-imagining a new life for the space. "There are all sorts of things you can do if you let your imagination run wild," he said.

He imagined a waterfront with clam or mussel boats tied up selling fresh catch, or movie theaters along the river. Or, for those who find private use of public space distasteful, he suggested a waterfront post office, school or police precinct...Lopate was happy to hear that the greenway gap between East 38th and 60th streets may be closed, if a complicated deal goes through where the United Nations would build an office tower on Robert Moses Playground in exchange for opening the waterfront.