Major Prep Work Is Just the Beginning for Huge BPC Flood Protection Project
Belvedere Park is closed as part of site readiness work for the Battery Park City resiliency project. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib
What appears to be newly fenced off construction work in Battery Park City is actually what the Battery Park City Authority calls “site readiness.” It includes moving utilities, installing the infrastructure for tide gates, assessing what lies underground, and more, in preparation for the real job: the massive $1.7 billion, five-year Battery Park City Resiliency Project. To be completed in phases, beginning early next year, that project will span from across West Street in Tribeca to the South Cove and impact large swaths of the neighborhood.
.png "The Battery Park City Authority released this map showing the locations and types of “readiness” work that precedes the resiliency project.")
While some of the preparations are underway, other work, particularly in the north neighbhorhood, is yet to begin. (Controversy erupted over the demolition of the Ned Smyth installation “Upper Room” at the end of Albany Street, which the Authority insists had to be removed for the installation of a tide gate.) Signage posted throughout the neighborhood is intended to inform residents about the work, which will begin “ramping up in intensity and duration as the start of project construction approaches,” the Authority says.
In an effort to address questions and concerns about the work, the Authority offers weekly “drop-in” sessions. (Fridays, until Dec. 19, and Feb. 6 to March 27, 10-11am at 200 Rector Pl.; and Tuesdays, until Dec. 16, and Feb. 3 to March 24, from 12-1pm at 6 River Terr. No session on Nov. 28).
Stuyvesant High School Plaza and Nearby Esplanade
Sections of the areas shown in the above photos will be closed for tide gate installation for about one year. (A southbound lane of West Street will also close at night.) But the work requires “close coordination” with Hudson River Park Trust and other agencies, which has yet to be settled, so no date is set for the work to begin. The Citi Bike stations will be relocated and the bike lane along Stuyvesant High School rerouted inland. “We have to narrow the entrance to the north esplanade which is not an ideal situation given that it is very narrow to begin with,” said Claudia Filomena, who is in charge of the operation for the Battery Park City Authority. Planners are trying to be as “least impactful as possible given that this is very complicated work in a very tight footprint,” she said.
Northern BPC Esplanade, Chambers Street and North End Avenue
.jpg)
Due to tide gate installation, the turnoff from the north esplanade onto the Rockefeller Park walkway (top photo) willl be closed. Chambers Street, west of North End Avenue, and River Terrace, north of Warren Street (above), will be closed to vehicular traffic. Both projects are expected to take about six months and begin in November.
Vesey Place and the Ferry Terminal
The work here is especially complicated because it involves the installation of a tide gate on a 96-inch sewer. In addition, it is in close proximity to the ferry terminal, which will remain open. "For the most part,” Filomena said, pedestrian access, including a queuing area for the ferry terminal, will be maintained. Glass bench seating next to 300 Vesey will not be accessible because it will be within a construction staging area. This work is expected to take seven months, from April through October, 2026.
Belvedere Plaza
Ongoing work at Belvedere Plaza includes test pitting in order to identify and relocate underground utilities.
WATERFRONT PLAZA AT NORTH COVE MARINA
The lower level of Waterfront Plaza will be closed for six months of site readiness work, beginning as early as this month. Once completed, the entire area around the marina is expected to be closed until 2031, although pedestrians will have north and southbound egress alongside the exterior of Brookfield Place. There will be no public seating. A “very significant” telecommunications duct bank, which sits over the PATH tube, needs to be rerouted, requiring a bridging structure constructed over the tube and a trench dug through the plaza up to the 300 Vesey Street tower.
Pumphouse Park
Pumphouse Park is expected to be closed until March for site readiness work and then remain closed until 2031, the anticipated year of completion for resiliency work at North Cove.
Albany Street
This is where Ned Smyth’s sculptural installation “Upper Room” used to be. It is now demolished to make way for the installation of a tide gate, sewer overflow system and the relocation of utilities. The work began in October and is expected to continue for six months.The upper esplanade will be closed and some seating removed.
Rector Place
Similar to the work at Albany Street, there will be a tide gate and sewer overflow system installation here, which the Battery Park City Authority says will not affect access and egress to the residential buildings at 377 and 380 Rector Place. The art installation “Rector Gate” will remain in place. The work is expected to take six months. Some seating will be removed.