East River Park To Be Half-Closed Until 2025 For Resiliency Plan

EAST VILLAGE, NY — East River Park will remain partially open during a massive reconstruction project meant to protect residents from the impacts of climate change, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday in response to criticism of the city's plans.

The city will close half of the park for about five years as workers will complete the $1.45 billion storm protection project in two phases, the Democratic mayor said.

The changes came just days after Hizzoner toured the park amid furor from locals over a previous plan that would have shuttered the entire park for about three and a half years.

"The community spoke and we listened," de Blasio said in a statement. "Nearly half of East River Park will remain open throughout construction — without compromising essential flood protections for 110,000 New Yorkers."

Details of the project and phased construction plan will be presented at a Thursday afternoon City Council hearing, one of the remaining steps in the city's ongoing review process.

De Blasio said the new plan will allow half of East River Park to stay open during construction for the project, which will lift up the park by about eight feet to build a flood wall along the East River, as well as rebuild the entirety of the park and various pedestrian bridges.

Portions north and south of the park towards Montgomery Street and through Stuyvesant Town will be protected by a series of flood walls.

The new phased timeline would extend the entirety of the project's completion date to 2025, the mayor's office announced shortly after Gothamist and Politico broke the news.

Flood protections for the entirety of the project, called East Side Coastal Resiliency, will be in place by the 2023 hurricane season despite the new completion date, according to city officials.

Construction begins next March, but the East River Park itself will be open until next fall, according to the announcement.

There will be two phases of construction in East River Park, per the mayor's office:

• Fall 2020 to Spring 2023: Much of park areas between Delancey and Houston streets, the southern part of the amphitheater area, and East 10th to 12th streets will remain open.
• Spring 2023 to late 2025: East Houston to East 10th streets and much of the park areas from Corlears Hook Bridge to Delancey Street will remain open.

The construction schedule for the esplanade portion of the park will have a separate schedule.

Pier 42, a long-planned neighborhood project previously touted as one of the open space mitigations for the closure, will be finished in spring 2022.

The city developed the phasing plan with input from Keith Powers, Carlina Rivera and Margaret Chin, the City Council members representing the area, de Blasio said.

Department of Design and Construction Commissioner Lorraine Grillo called it a "great outcome driven by the community."

"After careful consideration, this new phasing plan will address the key concerns voiced from residents while continuing to provide essential protection from storm surge and rising sea levels to thousands of New Yorkers," Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin said.