NYC’s Waterfront Slated for Multibillion-Dollar Revamp

By Benyamin Davidsons

New York City boasts 520 miles of waterfront, as well as ample shorelines.  While the shorelines are beautiful and sought out they also present a real risk for flooding as sea levels continue to rise.

As reported by the NY Post, across NYC  forward-thinking developers are working to create sustainable waterfront projects complete with flood breaks, sea walls, esplanades, parks and piers to enhance the city’s beauty as well as protect the city from potential flooding.

One of the most ambitious projects currently being undertaken is the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project which will focus $500 million to create a protective ring at the tip of Manhattan including Battery Park.  The project was undertaken as part of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project.  The approved $1.45 billion project is underway to raise waterfront esplanades, plant 2,000 trees and create flood berms, said Kai-Uwe Bergmann of the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), which designed the ring in Lower Manhattan.

Much of the city’s waterfront efforts will be focused in the outer boroughs, where there haven’t been residential areas permitted. In University Heights in The Bronx, Dynamic Star has a plan to sell a slice of the Fordham Landing project, with 3,000 feet of frontage along the Harlem River.  The plan would make way for 560,000 square feet of apartments and 250,000 square feet of community facilities.  The esplanade there will be raised by 14 feet.

In the South Bronx , Mott Haven area, there was a groundbreaking ceremony in May, for the $349 million Bronx Point project, which will house a 52,000-square-foot Universal Hip Hop Museum and 542 units of affordable housing with water access near the 145th Street Bridge to Harlem.

Not far away, there is the $950 million project developed by Brookfield Properties to convert 4.3 acres on both sides of the Third Avenue Bridge into 1,370 apartments and a 34,000-square-foot waterfront space.

Brooklyn is also bracing itself for the addition of new waterfront towers.  As per the Post, Brookfield Properties and partner Park Tower are continuing construction on the 5,500-unit Greenpoint Landing.  The ambitious 11-building project will transform the 3-acre site creating a total of over 800 residential units, 30% of which will be affordable.  The waterfront project will include net-zero carbon building as well as resiliency efforts to hold back the rising tides.

Among numerous noteworthy residential and commercial Brooklyn waterfront projects, in Dumbo 600,000 square feet of skybridge-connected offices are being constructed with 40,000 square feet of retail, plus 55,000 square feet of landscaped terraces and outdoor event space.  The well-known “welcome” sign has already been replaced with a “Watchtower” sign.