This marked the first time these areas have been open to the public since demolition work began as part of the $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) in late 2021.
New amenities in this area include six regulation tennis courts, two basketball courts, picnic and BBQ facilities, water sprinklers, a passive lawn, and a flexible-use space.
The city will officially mark this reopening at 11 a.m. today. Several city leaders and local elected officials are expected to attend, including NYC Deputy Mayor for Operations Jeffrey Roth, DDC Commissioner Thomas Foley, Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue and local City Council Member Carlina Rivera.
We visited the newly opened section on Monday and found plenty of others doing the same. The BBQ area and tennis courts were mostly full, while the lawn was about half occupied with sunbathers and others enjoying the day's low-70s temperatures.
Here's a look at this section of East River Park, which is currently accessible only via the new Delancey Street pedestrian bridge...
People we talked with liked the well-tended plantings, BBQ area and brand-new amenities.
Still, it feels pretty sterile at the moment — especially without much shade (thanks to the hundreds of mature trees that were cut down as workers raised the park eight to 10 feet to help protect against future coastal storms and tidal flooding).
According to DDC officials, 600 new trees have been planted in areas reopening, along with more than 21,000 new shrubs, grasses, and perennials. (In total, officials say they will eventually plant upwards of 2,000 trees in the new East River Park.)
You can find some shade in the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge and the (metal!?) umbrellas in the BBQ area. There are also new drinking fountains...
Here's the area around the former Fireboat House, which remains in place for now...
We were happy to be able to walk under the Williamsburg Bridge again and take in the water views. Still, you can't help but feel a little trapped, as park access is limited in either direction until the whole project reaches its expected completion date in late 2026.
This new space promises to get more crowded soon. The 10th Street pedestrian bridge closed along with those adjacent amenities on Tuesday. By the end of the summer, the complete north end of East River Park will be shuttered for the duration of the project.
This is the second new area of East River Park to reopen. The adjacent ballfields 1 and 2 debuted last September.
The folks at East River Park Action, who have advocated for a more resilient flood control plan for East River Park, share their thoughts on the new section in this post.
19 comments:
The new park looks nice but there is no forgiving cutting down hundreds of healthy mature trees. And to add insult Carlina will be showing up for a photo op
I’ve only seen it looking south before the additional closures. It didn’t look particularly elevated from the East River compared to before, which was the whole justification. Can anyone report on that? Thanks.
Yep, they transformed our park into a sea of cement, with little islands of green (plenty of artificial turf, though).
Looks incredible! Just wish there were more access points.
I noticed when crossing the Williamsburg bridge during construction the difference in height between the old promenade and the new promenade and it looked from a distance to be slightly higher but not as much as I expected.
much needed improvement (trees aside)---hope it will not be disrespected...
when the track/field closes up by 6th street, there will be a lot of ballfield activity looking for a home (school leagues, little leagues, adult rec leagues). I hope the construction moves faster for the next phase.
Its just sad. Compare it with the lovely, shady, neighborhood-cooling old-tree-lined parks in the more affluent parts of town, like Riverside Park. Our leaders let us down.
Although very nice, who’s monitoring the reckless bikes and motorcycles?
Might be 2031 before we stop hearing about the trees. Rivera too.
I saw the Parks Enforcement Patrol telling people to dismount their bikes. There is a marked bike path, but a few Citi Bikers strayed. For now, it is a very contained area. You need to ride your bike over the Delancey Street bridge to access this. Not sure how many cyclists will be zooming around the space until the whole East River Greenway reopens.
"it feels pretty sterile at the moment"
Don't worry. Will be covered in graffiti soon enough.
Looks like something a condo in LIC would build as part of their landscaping mandate. A concrete void. The old park could have been improved to mitigate flood risk while keeping the mature trees and some of its serenity. But there's no imagination left in this city, which is why everything now is a binary between gaudy and mediocre.
I heard a rumor there there is going to be a last minute effort to rename the park the East River(a) Park but I'm sure there's nothing to it.
I took a run down there on Wednesday to check it out. Bummer of course that I had to run the streets all the way over to the entrance on Delancey. The paving at the water is unforgiving for the feet. The better area are the inclines with (not sure of name) mixed asphalty hexagon pavers. For mileage I prefer the soft asphalt on the bike lanes—so that’s where you’ll find us once they open up a longer stretch.
Are there sprinklers? I wondered—I couldn’t find any but now I see it’s hidden as just a concrete area. Must have missed the on button somewhere.
I’m just thankful it’s open. Though I will sorely miss being able to get uptown on the river. That was my regular route.
I found a water fountain. Where are the bathrooms? And where is all the signage one usually finds by the ramps?
If it helps mitigate the next Sandy, some of us East Village residents are all for it.
I saw two sets of port-a-potties... some by ballfields 1-2 and, I believe, a few more at the northern end of this section where it dead ends into the construction fencing.
Only 6 tennis courts in an area that has very few public tennis courts when the previous park had at least twelve
Some pickleball courts would have been a nice edition
Todays sterile LIC park is the next generations well worn spot- build build build
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