A part of Chelsea Piers that saw historic ocean liners RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania sail out of New York, as well as the arrival of The Titanic’s survivors aboard The Carpathia in 1912, is finally ready to begin its new life. Cunard’s former Pier 54 is now being transformed into an iconic floating park above the Hudson River called Pier 55, designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
Effective today, a multi-block stretch of the East River Esplanade is closed temporarily as work is undertaken for the expansion of Rockefeller University’s Upper East Side campus. All pedestrians and cyclists will be unable to access the stretch between East 63rd and 68th streets, from Monday, February 13 to Friday, March 31.
Renderings have been revealed of the two-towered, 1,350-unit mixed-use project planned at 260 South Street, on the Lower East Side. As currently proposed, the towers would stand 69 and 62 stories in height, rising 798 feet and 728 feet to their roofs, respectively. Twenty-five percent of the units would rent at below-market rates through the affordable housing lottery, the Lo-Down reported, and some senior housing will also be incorporated. Plans are still in place to expand the ground-floor retail footprint of the existing 26-story Section 8 residential buildings, called Lands End II, at 265 Cherry Street and 275 Cherry Street, which contain a total of 491 apartments. Renovations will be made to existing park spaces.
Construction on the first nine piles has been completed for the 2.7-acre park, dubbed Pier55, planned in the Hudson River. The location is near the Meatpacking District off West 13th Street. The pilings mark the end of the first phase of construction, DNAinfo reported. The public park is expected to have grassy hills, vegetation, recreational space with paths and seating, and an amphitheater. The London-based design firm Heatherwick Studio and New York-based Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects are behind the design. A partnership between The Diller – von Furstenberg Family Foundation and the Hudson River Part Trust is developing the project. The pedestrian bridge connecting the park to Manhattan will be built by the city. Completion is expected in 2019.
Since last fall, when façade work was wrapping up, construction on the 11-story, 106-unit residential building at 456 Washington Street, located on the corner of Watts Street in TriBeCa, has finished. The new building encompasses 186,054 square feet and is home to 106 luxury rental apartments, 22 of which will rent at below-market rates through the housing lottery. The apartments, averaging 1,330 square feet apiece, range from studios to five-bedrooms.
