Work is closing in on completion on the East Midtown Greenway, a 1.8-acre public promenade along the East River waterfront in Sutton Place. Designed by Stantec, the 2,000-foot-long plaza runs from East 53rd to 61st Streets and is the second phase of the three-segment East Midtown Waterfront Esplanade, which will eventually stretch down to East 38th Street with recreation space for pedestrians and bicyclists. The $100 million project is located to the east of the FDR Drive and will also include a new park entrance at East 60th Street, a pedestrian bridge, and the revamping of Andrew Haswell Green Park and the Alice Aycock Pavilion.
Recent photographs taken in the late afternoon show the elevated pathway replete with seating, shrubbery, drinking fountains, lamp posts, metal railings, and large stone slabs. The reinforced concrete platform is supported by piers rising from the East River, and will offer visitors panoramic views of the Queensboro Bridge to the north, Roosevelt Island and Long Island City to the east, the rising developments of Hunters Point and Greenpoint to the southeast, and the Williamsburg Bridge and Downtown Brooklyn skyline to the south. When complete, the East Midtown Greenway will create a continuous 32-mile loop around Manhattan.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
The below diagrams detail the layout and sections of the East Midtown Greenway.
Rendering courtesy of the NYC Economic Development Corporation
Calra Coffey Park will anchor the southern end of the East Midtown Greenway with a new pedestrian bridge.
Rendering courtesy of the NYC Economic Development Corporation
Rendering courtesy of the NYC Economic Development Corporation
Rendering courtesy of the NYC Economic Development Corporation
Rendering courtesy of the NYC Economic Development Corporation
The northern end will be home to Andrew Haswell Green Park.
The entry to the entrance to the Andrew Haswell Green Park.
Rendering courtesy of the NYC Economic Development Corporation
Construction restarted in October 2020 and is slated for completion this fall.
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I’m glad to see this project come together but the contrasting hex pavers are pretty tacky. They should have stayed with the standard Parks pavers IMO.
Wonderful! Can’t wait to walk it, and I hadn’t known the plan was to have a continuous esplanade around the city.
When will the UWS get something like this?
I know, the west side really lacks waterfront parkland.
Need more like this, please!
Like the Hudson River greenway?
Joe the UWS has the Hudson River Greenway and Riverside Park
The best view is from the Roosevelt Island Tram, especially of the Andrew Haswell Park with it’s stepped seating now being installed. From a hole in the river (former heliport) the new park is materializing.
The south view is also great with the white ribbon materializing out of the river.
I suggest a roundtrip tram ride to get great views of the north and south construction.
JUDITH BERDY
ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
You’re totally correct and LOVE Roosevelt Island so much for the skyline views!!!
The East Midtown Greenway will create a continuous 32-mile loop around Manhattan, very good urban planning for people of the city. 32-mile is a very long distance to build a seige of a city, but beautiful buildings that tall and lined along the river. Made me forget details on the topic above: Thanks to Michael Young.
This section is not the riverfront of Turtle Bay. It’s in Sutton Place.
You don’t do anyone any favors by mindlessly using Google Maps to determine what neighborhood a project is in. Google Maps is infamous for misnaming neighborhoods and even making up new ones. The commonly accepted borders of Turtle Bay are from 43rd to 53rd Streets, east of Lexington Ave. This is in Sutton Place
And you don’t do anyone favors by mindlessly speaking so condescendingly rude, disrespectful, and flagrant the way you started off your opinion. It doesn’t show anyone anything good except your arrogance and ego, so mind your manners and your tongue next time!
Will there be an entrance at East 53rd?
Look at the image showing the plan for Clara Coffey Park
Very nice. But could they manage to put in a few bathrooms along the way?
Well, at this rate, the remaining dozen blocks of park might be finished by 2030.
Wonderful!
This will be so cool to watch the ferries passing by from and see down the East River 😄
So that’s what they’ve been doing! I thought they were expanding the FDR lol
Fabulous park!
The East side has been starved for waterfront improvement while the West side continually reaps enormous increases and improvements in facilities. This is a good start, and certainly the East side poses significant challenges, but hopefully, this will serve as foundation to significant extensions and improvements to come.
I’m excited, but I hope they add some noise abatement to temper the highway noise from the FDR. From what I can see it looks like the FDR will be within 10 feet of the edge of the promenade, not very peaceful.