New York Prepares for its First Floating Park ~ Pier 55

The Hudson was set to receive its first floating park at an estimated cost of $130 million; due to be completed by the summer of 2019. Billionaires Barry Diller and his wife Diane Von Furstenburg, a fashion designer, have donated the largest amount to a park in the cities’ history at $113 million. In 2012 Diller assembled a group to bring the park into fruition after pier 54 was closed in 2011, when it started to collapse. The pier, which was home to concerts and outdoor events, is being replaced by pier 55.

-By Nikki Main

The new park will host an outdoor amphitheater for events and a stage as well as offer views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skyline. The theater will be a prime venue for music, dance, theater, and public art. Pier 55 will be an oasis for New Yorkers to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. However, as it stands, the park’s completion and future has become an uncertainty.

Construction on the pier 55, the new floating park on the Hudson River, has been halted several times as recently as the end of March. An investigation into whether the new floating park will affect and endanger the wildlife is under scrutiny by the City Club of New York. Late last year the U.S Army Corps of engineers signed off on the project, but nearly a year after it is underway the District Court Judge found the Army Corps of engineers wrong in having not considered the safety of the fish and wildlife. The Times declared the park has ballooned in cost to over $200 million after several years of trying to get the project completed.

-N.M.