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Update April 18, 2014– The educational “estuarium” that seemed to have been left out of the Pier 26 plans are now back in the plans, and have received $10 Million in funding. Governor Cuomo issued a press release on the matter.
Update March 12, 2014- The CB1 subcommittee on Tribeca met and the HRPT updated the group on Pier 26. The restaurant is stalled, with no plans to open for at least 12-months. BatteryPark.TV was the first source to report that the restaurant was troubled (see below).
However, as some small good news for the troubled Pier 26, the boathouse will open this year. The Downtown Boathouse, now at Pier 40 after being dislocated from Pier 26, will come back to run the Pier 26 new version.
November 14, 2013- Governor Cuomo finally signed A8031. The Villager reports, “On the same day that around 200 Lower West Side residents gathered to discuss their fears about a bill that would allow the transfer and sale of Hudson River Park’s air rights, Governor Andrew Cuomo finally signed the bill into law. Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, had just finished his introductory speech at Wednesday’s meeting, around 7 p.m., when word came that Cuomo had signed the bill. (It was The Villager that alerted Berman by e-mail after having been informed by a spokesperson for the Hudson River Park Trust that the governor had approved the bill. Assemblymember Richard Gottfried also confirmed to The Villager that the governor had O.K.’d the bill.)”
September 1, 2013- By Steven E. Greer
BatteryPark.TV previously reported how the HRPT went ahead with construction designs for Pier 26 which flagrantly defied several Community Board 1 resolutions. The pier plans also lacked the marine estuarium and boathouse which were supposed to be replaced and existed in the original pier.
Meanwhile, for unknown reasons, Pier 26 and the new restaurant on it had become a stalled project. Then, the New York State Assembly and senate passed bill A8031 in June. One provision of the pending law specifically addressed Pier 26 and essentially retroactively OK’d the work to date and future plans. After Albany acted, workers were suddenly seen advancing the restaurant construction.
However, Pier 26 has become a “stalled project” once again, with no work being seen performed for weeks. One reason might be that Governor Cuomo is not signing A8031 into law.
As a result of the multi-year stalled Pier 26 project overseen by the HRPT CEO, Madelyn Wils, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have been severely inconvenienced as they try to squeeze joggers and runners onto the same bike path. The park has also become a magnet for violent crime.
The fate of the new HRPT Act amendment, law A8031, is unknown. Opponents of it have gotten the attention of the governor. Stay tuned.