CB1 Wants Fresh Start on Pier 40 Plans

By Andrea Appleton
POSTED JUNE 1, 2007

Community Board 1’s Waterfront Committee voted overwhelmingly to reject the two competing proposals for the redevelopment of Pier 40, at Houston Street.

The resolution came in the wake of a public hearing on May 3 when more than 1,500 people turned out to voice their discontent with the proposals, one by Related Companies and the other by children’s camp operator CampGroup and co-developer Urban Dove, a recreational organization for poor youth.

The fields are important to many Lower Manhattan families because they provide additional needed play space for Downtown leagues.

Both plans were a response to the Hudson River Park Trust’s request for proposals (RFP) for the huge pier, now a parking garage and athletic field. The RFP specified that any proposal would have to make money for the park, which extends from Battery Park City to 59th Street. It also said that the programming and size of existing athletic fields would have to be maintained or improved.


Related’s plan would include spaces for the Tribeca Film Festival, Cirque de Soleil, and a live entertainment promoter, as well as lawns, a dog run, several basketball or tennis courts, a marina, parking and athletic fields.

The CampGroup/Urban Dove proposal also calls for parking, athletic fields, a dog run and a marina, and includes an eight-court basketball facility, swimming pools, space for a new school, and day camp facilities.

But neither proposal met the approval of the CB1 committee or those who turned out at the public hearing. At that hearing, the vast majority of the crowd was there for one reason: to protect and expand Pier 40’s ballfields.

“When I heard about this process, I thought, ‘What an opportunity to really turn this into a venue for youth sports and activities,’” said Kevin Doherty, who is president of P.S. 234’s PTA and one of 50 people who spoke at the hearing. “But now that I see these plans tonight, I say it’s a very small step forward. Can’t we double or triple the playing space?”


The Related plan, while providing slightly bigger fields, would relocate them to the roof, and close them down for an estimated 18 months during construction. The CampGroup plan also expands the fields, but day camp kids would have priority over some of them.

In rejecting both plans, the CB1 committee said in its resolution that it “does not consider Pier 40 to be the real estate equivalent of a vacant lot, ready to be filled in by the economic goals of a single developer.”

“We would like to see a much more community-driven micro-development, instead of one big mega-development,” said board member and Downtown Little League president Mark Costello.

Michael Ketring, a Downtown Alliance attorney and member of the committee, was a minority of one in his support of commercial interests on the pier. “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” he said. “You do need significant revenue from development. Perhaps a mega-developer is in the best interest of the park.”

The Hudson River Park Trust has not indicated whether it would be willing to consider other alternatives aside from the two proposals. But executive vice president Noreen Doyle, who was present at the committee meeting, said that the RFP allowed for proposals for an area as small as 300,000 square feet. “It was not a core requirement of the RFP that it be one developer doing the whole space,” she said. No proposals for partial sections of the pier were submitted.


Along with requesting more “community-friendly” ways of making money, the resolution also demands that existing ballfields remain unaltered, with at least 150,000 square feet of indoor space given to local arts and culture groups, and to indoor recreation. The resolution goes before the full board on June 19.

The Hudson River Park Trust Act designated Pier 40 as a “park/commercial space.” It, along with several other piers, must generate revenue for the entire park. And the Act does not allow the Trust to be the developer itself.

But most board members were undeterred. “This is a crucial facility for the future,” said Costello, “and it’s a mistake to be too hemmed in by what the law may say right now. When 1,800 people come out on a Thursday night, new things become possible politically.”

More information on the proposals is available at www.hudsonriverpark.org. Written comments may be emailed to comments@hrpt.state.ny.us until June 19. 

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