Across the Harbor

Empire Outlets is poised to become a shopping destination as more major brands establish their presence in this newly created space on Staten Island’s North Shore.

While Greta Thunberg was sailing across the Atlantic to the shores of Lower Manhattan, we ventured across the Upper Bay of New York Harbor to the Island of Staten, to visit what’s becoming an engaging destination.

A few years ago, a minor league baseball stadium was build for the Staten Island Yankees farm team near the St. George Ferry Terminal. In the recent past, a giant wheel (as in ferris) nearly got spinning before the project crashed (though there is talk of its revival to some degree).

	The National Lighthouse Museum

Steps south of the ferry terminal, the National Lighthouse Museum is on the site of the United States Lighthouse Service General Depot, once the national headquarters and east coast machine shop for all things related to lighthouses. Boat tours, lectures and excellent exhibitions are the result of some very hard work by the staff of the museum.

Now add to this eclectic mix the opening of Empire Outlets, a mall that’s just steps away from the ferry terminal.

Last week, Empire Outlets executive Travis Noyes welcomed a crowd on the outdoor terrace over looking the Upper Bay with the Manhattan skyline on the horizon, when a rainbow appeared,  a double, in fact.

Polling the crowd, he asked how many had traveled to Staten Island before.

A lot of hands went up.

Then, knowingly, he asked, “how long was your visit, maybe three minutes (enough time to exit and reenter the ferry for the ride back)?”

The same amount of hands shot up.

Well, now maybe that’s changing. Shopping for discounts, captivating maritime history, plazas for ship and tug watching, benches and terraces for noshing, and a free ferry are helping to shorten the distance between the island of Manhattan and the Island of Staten.