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Work Begins on New Tribeca Piers
Now, as a third season begins without Piers 25 and 26, there are signs of renewal among the forest of worn pilings, left standing when the piers were torn down to make way for two new ones, part of the five-mile-long Hudson River Park. Last month, barges, giant cranes and hardhats arrived to prepare the site for the driving of new, concrete pilings that will support the rebuilt structures, and whatever is to go on them. The clanking of heavy machinery and the pounding of piles on the local waterfront might seem like sweet music to those who miss those piers. But it was often the harsh sounds of dissatisfaction that could be heard in meeting rooms last month, where a task force of Community Board 1 members and users of the former piers told officials of the oversight agency, the Hudson River Park Trust, and their designers, the changes they wanted in the plans. At issue were the buildings planned for the future Pier 26. Before the original pier was torn down, the Downtown Boathouse and the River Project, a river research center or “estuarium,” had made their homes there, in makeshift quarters, for 20 years.
On June 19, the resolution will be voted on by the full board. During the many years of planning for the Tribeca segment of the park, the board had approved a restaurant on Pier 26, to be connected to the boathouse, and an estuarium as well. But with escalatingcosts and inflation, the $70 million that was to pay for the entire park segment, from Harrison to Houston Streets, now buys the unseen infrastructure along that stretch, but not much more. No pier buildings, plantings, minigolf or other planned amenities are funded as of now. The Waterfront Committee called on the Trust to reorder its priorities and put the river research center in the plans where the restaurant was meant to go. They contend that would give it a chance, at least, to get built.
The current plan shows where a future estuarium, as yet undesigned, could go. (See rendering on page 4.) Trust officials explained it was positioned that far west so that large research vessels could dock beside it. With construction about to begin, there was an air of urgency in the committee’s ambitious efforts to hammer out a new plan. In response to complaints by kayakers that the boathouse plans showed space-wasting features, such as interior bathrooms and an office, the piers’ designer, Andrew Lavallee of Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, came up with a stripped-down version.
“A year’s time in the framework of building something [to last] 50 years is really not that much,” said Roland Gebhardt, a resident who lives near the waterfront. The piles and concrete platforms supported by them are due to be constructed by November of 2008, if pile driving is completed this season. While Trust officials listened intently to the community’s wishes, it is not clear that they will deliver on them. To reconfigure the piles in order to support heavier weight loads, or to call for other changes to the current construction contracts may be prohibitively expensive, said Connie Fishman, the HRPT president. Additional spending would need approval of the Trust’s board. “How many thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in redesign money and then how many potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in change in construction contracts?” she told the Trib. “Once you’ve contracted people they have you over the barrel. They know you’re not going to go out and competitively bid the changes.” But Nadel, a frequent critic of the HRPT for its handling of the pier’s planning, forged ahead, as if the demands of her task force would surely be met. “Let’s redesign the boathouse, and then let’s make a plan for the estuarium and figure out how to pay for it,” she announced at the start of last month’s planning meetings. “Let’s do it now, and let’s get rolling.”
 
$20 Million Gap in Park Funding The segment of Hudson River Park from Harrison Street to Houston Street was to be paid for with $70 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. But that money doesn’t buy what it used to, back in 2003, when it was approved. Now, Hudson River Park Trust officials say, they are $20 million short of what they need to finish the job. That includes all the planned buildings and amenities on the piers (see drawing above) as well as the utilities and much of the landscaping in the plans. Last month work began on the pilings for Piers 25 and 26 which, when completed, will support a subdeck. But the actual deck, on which buildings will rest and people will walk, is not funded. Trench building for underground utilities also started last month on the land side of the park, from Houston to Laight Streets, though most of the above-ground park features also await funding. Connie Fishman, the HRPT president, expressed optimism that there will be money to finish the park segment, with the state providing funding, one phase of construction at a time. “We’ve been building every segment of the park with a gap as we build it,” she said.
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