New Terminal Serving Staten Island and Governors Island Budgeted at $1.5 Billion
Plans for a new ferry complex at the southern tip of Manhattan are coming into focus, as part of the FiDi and Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan, an updated version of which was presented to the Environmental Protection Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1) on February 20.
The overall project aims to safeguard against rising sea levels and extreme-weather events along the nine-tenths of a mile between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Battery, and contemplates building a network of decks, berms, and breakwaters that will extend into the East River between 90 and 200 feet.
One segment of the revised plan envisions demolishing the existing Staten Island Ferry Terminal, and erecting a new building slightly to the west of the current structure’s location, on the site of the existing U.S. Coast Guard headquarters, which will be torn down. Once the first half of the new building – to be constructed at a higher elevation, and incorporate various flood-protection measures – is complete, Staten Island Ferry operations will move there, and the existing terminal will be demolished. This will make room for the new building to double in size, allowing the adjacent Governors Island Ferry to move into the additional space.
The Battery Maritime Building, which currently houses the Governors Island Ferry, is a legally protected landmark and will not be demolished under this plan. It will, however, cease to function as a ferry terminal, and instead be enclosed by flood walls. The heliport north of the Battery Maritime Building will be rebuilt at a higher elevation and paired with a new pump station designed to expel water that accumulates inside flood walls. On the landward side of the new ferry terminal, new heliport, and Battery Maritime Building, the plan calls for refurbishment of Peter Minuit Plaza, and the creation of new pedestrian plaza on South Street on a deck over the FDR Drive entrance to the Battery Park underpass.
The costs for these plans will be considerable. The new combined ferry terminal serving both Staten Island and Governors Island is budgeted at $1.5 billion. (For comparison, the existing Staten Island Ferry building, which is relatively new, having been completed in 2005, was delivered at a cost of $200 million.) The rebuilt heliport and new pump station are projected to cost $275 million. And the two plazas behind these structures are priced at $125 million.
At its March 25 monthly meeting, CB1 enacted a resolution asking the Adams administration to adjust the segment of the FiDi and Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan focused on the new ferry complex in several ways. Among these priorities was to “integrate a usable, publicly accessible green roof” into plans for the building, and to “reimagine the Battery Maritime Terminal as a public resource.” The Board also asked that planners “investigate the potential for Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour boat integration” into the new structure, which would allow for removal of the security tent that obstructs the waterfront in the Battery. And finally, CB1 asked that designers “explore relocating the heliport from residential areas.”