The Trust for Governors Island wants to resurrect a 2005 proposal to move the bottom of the FDR Drive northward in order to create a safer, more welcoming plaza in front of the Battery Maritime Building, which serves as the gateway to the new park.
At a presentation to Community Board 1 (CB1) in December, Michael M. Samuelian, the new president of the Trust for Governors Island, outlined the reasons for the push. The area on South Street in front of the Battery Maritime Building (the terminal for ferries to and from the 172 acre island), is, “high traffic, crowded, and potentially unsafe,” he said. Mr. Samuelian also noted that, “the narrow sidewalks adjacent to the extension of the East River Esplanade and cycling paths create congested conditions both for Governors Island visitors waiting in line for the ferry, and for users of the Esplanade.” In this area, cyclists and pedestrians alike compete for scant curb space inches away from traffic speeding toward the FDR Drive on-ramp, while also jostling with people standing on line at the Battery Maritime Building or tourists waiting for sightseeing flights at the nearby Wall Street heliport.
To remedy these problems, Mr. Samuelian proposes revisiting at least one component of the East River Waterfront Proposal, first suggested by the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in 2005. In essence, this plan calls for shortening by several blocks the viaduct that takes FDR Drive traffic between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Battery Underpass. At the same time, the Battery Underpass would be extended northward by approximately 350 feet, from its current entrance near Whitehall Street, to Broad Street, and a deck created over the new stretch of tunnel.
This reconfiguration would create approximately one acre of new open space in front of the Battery Maritime Building. “The new pedestrian plaza would better connect the Battery Maritime Building with the sidewalk and the City and enable safer conditions for both cyclists and pedestrians continuing along the East River Esplanade,” Mr. Samuelian said.
The 2005 plan, devised by SHoP Architects, also envisaged using the new open space to create a smoother, easier connection between the East River and Hudson River Esplanades, as well as a direct link between South and Water Streets, via Broad Street. At the time of the 2005 plan’s announcement, more than $150 million had been earmarked by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to fund the Lower Manhattan waterfront improvements proposed by the Bloomberg Administration, of which $65 million was to have been spent on preliminary work related to moving the Battery Underpass entrance. In the intervening 12 years, the bulk of that funding has been spent or reallocated elsewhere.
No estimated budget, source of funding, or projected date for start of construction has yet been announced for the 2017 version of the project. But Mr. Samuelian stressed that, at this preliminary stage, he was seeking to build support for the idea.
Visitors to Governors Island and users of the Esplanade are not the only constituencies that could benefit from upgrades to the plaza in front of the Battery Maritime Building. For years, the City’s Economic Development Corporation has sought to redevelop the upper floors of that historic structure, recruiting a succession of real estate partners to create hotel, restaurant and retail space within the landmarked, 1909 Beaux Art building.
But the project has struggled financially, in part because of concern from investors and lenders that the site’s isolation (surrounded by a heliport on the north, the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on the south, and the FDR Drive on the east) might drive customers away. But creating a beautiful new street-level plaza that would entice — rather than repulse — visitors might also increase the viability of that troubled plan.