City Backs Long-Delayed Plan to Restore Historic Pier A
Pier A, a 124-year-old landmark, is on its way to a new life, thanks to the approval by the city Landmarks Preservation Commission of a long-delayed restoration project of the now dilapidated building.
With only a few small changes to plans approved more than 15 years ago, the commission voted Feb. 16 to allow the completion of exterior restoration work on the pier just south of Battery Park City. That work—begun more than a decade ago by a private developer but halted amid disputes over unpaid rent—is scheduled to begin again in May.
According to the Battery Park City Authority, which leases the pier from the city, the project could be completed by early next year and ready for commercial tenants to configure the space to meet their needs. On Tuesday, seven “very reputable teams,” responded to the authority's Request for Qualifications, said BPCA’s Director of Strategic Planning Gwen Anderson. She declined to name the interested parties.
The pier, a victim of more than 30 years of neglect, will undergo a city-financed $30 million restoration. Since leasing the building in 2007, the Authority has replaced much of its underwater support structure, though project architect Jack Martin of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture said the entire pier is still leaning a few degrees to the south.
“It’s a miracle that this building is still existing,” Martin said, adding that the building could now be preserved for another hundred years.
“It is so important, and a lot of people take it for granted,” he added. “It was the back door to Battery Park City for so many years, and now it’s becoming the front door.”
The building has never been open to the public. Built in 1886, it began its life as a dock for harbor police and a headquarters for the city Department of Docks and Ferries. The tower at the western end of the building was added in the early 20th century, originally as a watch post for the harbor and, in 1919, outfitted with a clock and rededicated as a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I. The clock has not been maintained for years.
In the 1950s, the city turned the pier into the headquarters of the Department of Marine and Aviation, a predecessor to today's Port Authority. Its next, and last tenant, the Fire Department’s marine division, occupied the building between 1964 and the early 1970s.
Much of pier's distinctive Beaux Arts ornamentation was removed by the Fire Department, in favor of inexpensive metal cladding. An effort in the 1990s to restore the detailing was stopped after a disagreement between the city and Wings Point, a private developer. Wings Point spent $20 million in renovations before the city barred it from the pier for failing to pay rent. The pier was then abandoned, with parts of it left open to the elements.
The Battery Park City Authority hopes to fill the pier with a mix of commercial uses. While Wings Point was still involved in the project, The pier nearly became the home of a museum dedicated to the Titanic (now in Times Square). In recent years, the National Parks Service was considering the pier as a base for its ferry operations to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Once renovations are completed and the building’s tenants are open for business, Pier A will provide an important link between Battery Park City and Battery Park.
“Both the Battery Park City Authority and the city are interested in seeing continuous waterfront access,” said Gwen Anderson. “And this is kind of a missing piece.”
By Matt Dunning