Governors Island [Archive] - Page 2

ZippyTheChimp

August 4th, 2006, 08:35 AM

Fantasizing about island future, as visitors see present

By Ronda Kaysen

Governors Island is on the cusp of change. Sitting silent and empty just off of Manhattan’s shore, it is a ghost town waiting to breathe again.

“We want these buildings to come to life,” said Leslie Koch, the new president of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the state-city authority vested with transforming 150 acres of the abandoned island into a vibrant wonder in the New York Harbor.

Her agency is reviewing requests for proposals for commercial development there. The National Park Service controls the remaining 22-acre National Monument of Fort Jay and Castle Williams.

Since the federal government sold the island to New York City and State for $1 in 2003, its future has been the subject of unending speculation. Open to the public for the first time ever — it was controlled by the U.S. Army until 1966 and then the U.S. Coast Guard until 1996 — New Yorkers are increasingly curious about what will come of the slip of land that sits 800 yards off the coast of Manhattan and 400 yards from Brooklyn.

“It’s such a unique opportunity for New York,” said Koch, 44. Formerly C.E.O. of the Fund for Public Schools, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the New York City Department of Education, Koch assumed her post in late May. A lithe, energetic woman Koch was undeterred by a passing summer storm as she toured the island’s historic Nolan Park neighborhood of Yellow Victorian houses with Downtown Express. “It’s been this mystery for New Yorkers for hundreds of years.”

And the future of this historic swath of land with breathtaking views of Manhattan and the harbor will remain a mystery for at least the time being. GIPEC has been largely silent about the proposals being reviewed and how the teardrop shaped island, peppered with historic buildings, will look in the future.

“While we’re very encouraged by the progress that has been made in the last year, we’re still a little concerned about the process that they’re following,” said Robert Pirani, executive director of the Governors Island Alliance, a civic organization under the umbrella of the influential Regional Plan Association. Pirani looks toward Battery Park City as a model for how Governors Island could be developed. Plans for the future of the 92-acre, planned neighborhood — public spaces, residential and commercial development — were laid out before developers were invited to bid on the parcels. At Governors Island, R.F.P.’s were sent out before an overall plan for the island’s uses and design was devised, leaving open the possibility that private developers — and not the public — will shape the island’s future.

“I expect that they’ve gotten some good responses back” from the R.F.P.’s, said Pirani. “We want to make sure that as they evaluate them, they evaluate them in the context of parks and public spaces.”

The deed for the island has several restrictions. It cannot be used for residential development and 92 acres must be used for public benefit, 40 of which must be a public park and 20 of which must be for educational use. The remainder of the island, including many of the historic buildings, is up for private use.

The public has opinions about how it would like to see the island developed. An Alliance poll showed that 51 percent of respondents would like to see the public space consolidated at the southern end of the island with its sweeping views of the Statue of Liberty and the harbor. Although the poll was not scientific—any visitor to the Alliance’s Web site, www.governorsislandalliance.org, could take the poll—Pirani said it was consistent with earlier public comments. Thirty-six percent of participants liked the “harbor” alternative, which placed the public space around harbors lining the east side of the island, facing Brooklyn.

City Councilmember Alan Gerson sees the island as a fitting home for a science think tank, along the lines of the M.I.T. Sea Grant Center for Coastal Resources in Boston or Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

“We have many fine universities, but we don’t have a collaboration center,” said Gerson. “Governors Island just lends itself to this kind of endeavor.”

The island is in need of a major overhaul of its infrastructure—cost estimates run as high as $1 billion—and some worry that the pressure to cover those costs will result in development that caters to a high-spending tourist market.

“The conceptual plans seemed overly tourist driven,” said Community Board 1 chairperson Julie Menin, referring to concept plans that included luxury hotels, spas and entertainment complexes. “We don’t want it geared toward tourists… We’d like to see uses that residents can enjoy it as well.”

Menin said the community board would like to see more access to the island’s ball field, and parks that lure New Yorkers seeking badly needed open space. “We have a dearth of open space Downtown,” she said.

The island is a likely tourist destination. Ferries to Governors Island leave from the historic Battery Maritime Building, which is not far from the World Trade Center site. Nine million tourists are expected to visit the Trade Center memorial every year when it is completed in 2011 and Koch was heartened by the prospect of so many visitors.

The island must also be a public space, she said. “It can be and will be a great public space,” said Koch, adding later, “We are very aware and respectful of the need that those [commercial] spaces integrate well with the public spaces.”

GIPEC has taken steps to make the island more accessible than before. It launched an ad campaign and is hosting a series of free events all summer, including Jazz Age, a daylong Roaring Twenties event on Aug. 5 and Civil War Living History, a recreation of the New York City Draft Riots of 1863 on Aug. 12.

The biggest change to the island this summer is the ferry ticket price. It’s free. Last summer the ferry cost $6 a person and in 2004, the first year it was open to the public, it cost $5.

The changes have had an impact. Last summer, only 8,000 people trekked to the island. This summer, the island has already seen more than 13,000 visitors since it opened in June and the summer season does not end until September 2. “It’s very different who comes here when it’s free,” said Koch. “You see New York on the ferry.”

But there are still limitations. The island has no concessions, so visitors must pack food and water. There are no plans to bring concessions to the island in the foreseeable future.

Many still see room for improvement. “Was it everything that we wished for? No. But it was a step in the right direction,” said Menin, of C.B. 1. “There should be more marketing, there should be more advertisements. Overall there should be more events and it should be open more than two days a week.” GIPEC increased public access to the island at the insistence of C.B. 1, said Menin, adding that the board pressured the agency to open the ball fields for Downtown Little League.

Island visitors on Fridays and Saturdays can mill about the 15-acre Parade Grounds and walk along the 2.2-mile long promenade that skirts the island. They can putter around Colonels’ Row, a neighborhood of historic brick buildings, and take guided Park Service tours of Castle Williams and Fort Jay.

On the morning Downtown Express visited the island, a flock of geese milled about the empty Parade Grounds, seemingly headed nowhere. They return here every spring to revel in this moment in time where a ghost town exists on the edge of Manhattan.

“This is a complex island,” said Koch. “How do you think about a place that no one has ever been to?”

Governors Island is open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays until Sept. 2 and accessible by a ferry that leaves the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan every hour. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, there are free guided tours only with ferries leaving at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. until Aug. 31. www.Govisland.com.

Downtown Express is published by
Community Media LLC.

lofter1

August 4th, 2006, 11:09 AM

the latest on the poll results regarding the park plans at GI:

Question:

Which park design would you prefer?

Harbor: 36%

Channel: 10%

Prow: 52%

pianoman11686

August 9th, 2006, 04:39 PM

Fantasy Island

Nickelodeon makes bid to run Governors isle

By ROBERT GEARTY

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Kids may one day get to frolic with SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and Jimmy Neutron on historic Governors Island - or take a ride on an iconic Ferris wheel modeled after the London Eye.

Cable network Nickelodeon is vying to turn a portion of the 172-acre isle into a themed-resort complex, where kids would get their own rooms and go to breakfast with their favorite cartoon characters.

Nickelodeon is one of 10 bidders granted an interview about redevelopment plans for Governors Island, a former military base the feds sold to the state for $1 in 2003.

"The 10 we interviewed, clearly they are the ones we are exclusively focused on at this point," Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, chairman of the city-state Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp. (GIPEC), told the Daily News.

The 10 include developers with visions of building everything from a "CUNY University Village" or a recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theater to an environmental research center with a 2-acre scale replica of New York Harbor.

Some of the plans for the prime East River site include proposals for parks, hotels, and even an amphitheater and aquarium.

The 10 developers on the short list were among 25 that submitted plans to GIPEC.

The other 15 bids - which include proposals for a 2015 Worlds Fair and an NYPD training campus - have not irrevocably been ruled out, Doctoroff said. But he made it clear the working list has been pared down.

Under terms of the selection process, GIPEC can cobble together a development team from combinations of the various proposals.

GIPEC sought plans from developers who wanted to redevelop the whole island, and those who only wanted to overhaul portions of the site or just specific buildings.

The corporation initially planned to announce its finalists by Sept. 13 and the winning developer or developers by the end of the year.

But GIPEC President Leslie Koch, who took over in May, said the date for selecting the finalists was being postponed. No new date has been set.

"That was a very aggressive timeline," she said of the September deadline.

Doctoroff said he was not concerned about the delay.

"We have a sense of urgency," he said. "On the other hand, any decision we make is going to last forever, so we want to make sure we make the right decision."

Before ownership of Governors Island was transferred during a Jan. 31, 2003, White House ceremony - after 203 years of federal ownership - the state agreed to a series of deed restrictions.

They required that of the 150 acres controlled by GIPEC, 40 acres remain parkland, 20 acres be used for education and 30 acres be used for public benefit. The island's other 22 acres are still administered by the National Park Service.

The restrictions also bar the construction of casinos, power plants and residential housing.

The 25 original applicants were discussed at a recent GIPEC board meeting.

Doctoroff told board members that officials had been "looking for extraordinary ideas" in its request for proposals.

He did not say if he felt that GIPEC had received any proposals of that caliber. "It's a little premature to reach any broad conclusions," Doctoroff said.

One civic leader had more to say. "The feedback I got is they didn't get the kind of proposal that would be a magic solution," said Al Butzel of the Governors Island Alliance.

Butzel said he was not surprised.

"I would have been pleased if they came in with two or three strong proposals and we saw the light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "But look, they got some proposals, and they'll try and negotiate a proposal that works."

The Proposals

Here's the short list of proposals being considered for Governors Island:

Nickelodeon Recreation/Miller Global Properties: Development of a Nickelodeon Family Suites themed resort complex. The company presently runs a similar operation in Orlando, near Disney World.

Federal Development LLC/City University of New York: Creation of a "CUNY University Village" and "Leadership Park" for 5,000-10,000 educators, students and staff with two hotels, research park, marina, theater library and a not-for-profit-run educational research center.

Industrial Realty Group: Master development plan includes a conference center, hotel, amphitheater and a Ferris wheel modeled after the London Eye.

New Globe Theater: Replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater inside an old fort on the island, Castle William.

Harbor 360 Partnership: Environmental research facility with a 2-acre scale replica of New York Harbor.

The Related Companies: Master development proposal for the creation of a Global Health Center on the north side of the island and a conference center hotel, aquarium, park, concert shell on the south side.

Metropolis USA: Design proposal for a green community of arts, education, culture, hospitality, retail and entertainment.

Becker + Becker: Proposal to redevelop two historic buildings, with a fitness facility on the top floor of one of them.

New York Harbor School: Proposal to move the Brooklyn Maritime High School to Governors Island.

Phoenix House: The substance abuse rehab agency would develop a "Phoenix Academy" for 170 teens.

All contents © 2006 Daily News, L.P.

TREPYE

August 9th, 2006, 09:41 PM

^ VERY underwhelming proposals. :(

pianoman11686

September 13th, 2006, 05:46 PM

Governors Island proposals to be trashed

by Anne Michaud

September 13, 2006

Insiders say that the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp. plans to throw out all the master-plan redevelopment bids it received.

Insiders say that the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp. plans to throw out all the master-plan bids it received to redevelop the former military base because the costs are too high.

The city-state agency pared the 25-bidder list to 10 last month, including a proposal by cable network Nickelodeon to build a theme park and resort.

However, GIPEC officials realized that all of the projects would require substantial government subsidies, given the transportation needs and the deed requirements to retain and maintain old buildings.

The federal government gave Governors Island to the state for $1 in 2003. Restrictions prohibit casinos, power plants and residential housing.

Sources speculate that the 172-acre island will be broken into smaller projects, with GIPEC taking the role of master developer. GIPEC might begin with a 40-acre park that is one of the deed requirements.

A spokeswoman for the agency declined to comment.

COPYRIGHT 2006 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

TREPYE

September 13th, 2006, 06:19 PM

^ Good riddance. All of them suxed.

lofter1

September 13th, 2006, 08:44 PM

Governors Island proposals to be trashed

... GIPEC officials realized that all of the projects would require substantial government subsidies, given the transportation needs and the deed requirements to retain and maintain old buildings ...

Sources speculate that the 172-acre island will be broken into smaller projects, with GIPEC taking the role of master developer. GIPEC might begin with a 40-acre park that is one of the deed requirements.

I don't see how this addresses the cost of transportation to get folks back and forth to the ISLAND ...

JCMAN320

September 15th, 2006, 02:28 PM

I think that they should make Governors Island a historic landmark and leave it as is but make it a historic tourist destination and make it part of the Liberty and Ellis Island tour. Liberty Island, Ellis Island, and Governors Island part a Historic Island Trilogy. Just my opinion. I should take a boat over there soon and check it out. :)

ZippyTheChimp

September 15th, 2006, 02:51 PM

^
The entire island?

sfenn1117

September 15th, 2006, 02:58 PM

Yeah I'm definitely glad the proposals will be thrown out....they were very disappointing. Some kind of landmark should go there...of what, I don't know, but someone out there must have the imagination for it.

JCMAN320

September 15th, 2006, 02:59 PM

No, but make it a cultural destination, not a feggin amusement park or something abusrd like that. Make it a cultural destination in the harbor the likes of Liberty and Ellis Island. Perserve the old fort there and some of the buildings and make it smart development, something that will add to richness of the island.

Kris

September 29th, 2006, 06:46 PM

Lost in the Harbor
by Fred Mogul

NEW YORK, NY September 29, 2006 —Manhattan’s Far West Side. The new Penn Station. Ground Zero. The list seems to be growing, and the skyline isn’t. No one said it was easy to build mega-projects. But why are so many stuck in the mire of planning and politics? Meanwhile, out in New York Harbor, sits a piece of land larger than all of them combined, waiting for attention. The board that oversees Governors Island was expected to meet this week to discuss a rejected slate of proposals, but officials are now taking more time to plot the next step. WNYC’s Fred Mogul explains why.

REPORTER: Last February, top officials unveiled a package of models, maps and computerized images of Governors Island. Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff asked New Yorkers to. . .

DOCTOROFF: . . . imagine the island not as it is, but as it could be…

REPORTER: The city was launching its “Request for Proposals” – inviting developers to bid on parts or the whole of the 172-acre island. Architect Santiago Calatrava was on hand with just the thing to get the creative juices flowing – or maybe flying.

CALATRAVA: A slender mast gives a touch of modernity…

REPORTER: Calatrava’s idea: transport people to Governors Island not by ferry, but by a futuristic aerial tram. This “gondola” would reach the island from two different points, one in Lower Manhattan and one in Brooklyn.

CALATRAVA: What we are offering as new here is a very modern structure…who tries to be from the impact, the environmental impact, to minimalize the amount of points of support. We have only three [towers]. [There's] no support in the water . . .

REPORTER: No support in the water, and none, apparently on the land, either. After three months gathering proposals and another four months narrowing them down to a short list, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, or GIPEC, put the process on hold. The joint city-state agency won’t comment officially, but sources say Doctoroff, its board chairman, wasn’t satisfied with any of the developers’ proposals. Not the Nickelodeon network entertainment center, not a replica of the Elizabethan Globe Theatre:. and not several different combinations of hotels, schools, entertainment attractions, or research centers. Oh, and not the drug rehab program. By this week, GIPEC tentatively planned to announce it had four or five finalists. And by December, after some bid-tightening and public comment, GIPEC had hoped to pick a winner. Robert Pirani, a watchdog from the Governors Island Alliance, is not surprised the process has hit the skids.

PIRANI: The more specific a question is, the better the answer. And I think in this case, GIPEC really didn’t provide enough information and enough commitments to generate the kind of specific responses they were looking for.

REPORTER: Pirani says despite millions of dollars and years of studies, surveys and workshops, GIPEC was hoping to get inspiration from the developers. So it didn’t want to restrict them. But in the end, they didn’t get enough guidance, and what they produced did not inspire GIPEC.

PIRANI: This is Planning 101. Just like the development of Manhattan was preceded by a street grid, the redevelopment of Governors Island has got to start with some decisions about the place before any sort of development is possible, and that’s really government's responsibility.

REPORTER: Congressman Anthony Weiner, who helped submit one of the eliminated plans, says the Bloomberg-Doctoroff “visionary approach” puts the cart before the horse.

WEINER: The first thing we see announced is this idea for a gondola to get you there. Well, you can have the fanciest gondola in the world, but if we can’t reach a consensus soon on what we’re gonna have on Governors Island, not too many people are gonna be getting on it.

REPORTER: But there’s no reason to expect a consensus soon, says Rick Rosan, the president of the Urban Land Institute. A decade ago, he was on a panel that studied what to do with the island. The former head of the New York Real Estate Board and the city’s Economic Development Corporation says projects of this scale are difficult enough even when cities are pressed to get them done, and there aren’t many other competing projects or basic transportation issues. Take the waterfront park project across the harbor in Brooklyn. It’s been long stalled, but....

ROSAN: …you know that will work, because there’s just a lot of people with a lot of accessibility to get to it. You can go around the city of New York, and there are projects like the Brooklyn waterfront that are huge and have actual financial and economic feasibility.

REPORTER: Rosan and other observers credit the administration for its grand ambitions and point out that many projects on this scale take generations to develop and entail numerous false starts. And they hope that after what has turned out to be yet another round of fact-gathering, Governors Island finally has enough information to lay out a plan and plunge ahead.

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/66757

projectsnyc

September 29th, 2006, 08:25 PM

the next chance to get direct answers may be at the local CB#1 meeting:

10/23 Waterfront Committee – 6 PM
Location: CB #1 Office
49-51 Chambers Street, Room 709

1) Governors Island – Update by GIPEC (CB #6 will be invited to attend)

pianoman11686

October 7th, 2006, 02:03 AM

City Prepares to Promote a New Tourist Site: Harbor District

By PATRICK McGEEHAN

Published: October 7, 2006

New York City has long had a theater district, a garment district, a flower district, even a diamond district. Now, at least on paper, it has a harbor district.

That is the label the Bloomberg administration has applied to a collection of islands and waterfront parks in and around Lower Manhattan that it wants to promote as a group of recreational areas and tourist destinations. City officials recently formed a Harbor District Advisory Board and have begun searching for the first director of the harbor district and consultants to study how to better exploit it.

Yesterday, the city’s Economic Development Corporation released a request for proposals for a comprehensive study of the nine sites that make up the harbor district. It asks for suggestions on creating a “unified identity” for the sites, which include Governors Island, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Battery Park City. A second contract will be let for a consultant to draw up a marketing and branding plan for the district, said Jennifer Falk, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

Unlike the city’s other districts, which are discrete areas with common purposes, the harbor district is scattered from the western edge of Brooklyn to Liberty State Park in Jersey City. It comprises property controlled by a variety of city, state and federal agencies.

Still, Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor for economic development, has been stumping for a concerted effort to link these spots along the waterfront and coordinate their development and transportation among them. He pointed to Boston, San Francisco and Sydney, Australia, as models.

“We think the harbor is a magnificent differentiating factor,” Mr. Doctoroff said. “What we’re doing is creating this unique mix of culture, recreation and history all tied together by the water, and that you don’t have anywhere else in the world.”

The consultants would advise the director of the harbor district, who would report directly to Mr. Doctoroff.

Plans for the study came as a surprise to some advocates for waterfront development who said they did not know that the mayor’s recent references to a harbor district were more than rhetorical. Some wondered how a city official would ride herd over officials from the state, the National Park Service and New Jersey.

“Clearly, there are big bureaucratic obstacles to getting everybody to play well together,” said Robert Pirani, director of environmental programs for the Regional Plan Association. “But the rewards are there in terms of cost savings in maintenance and services and marketing — and a better experience for visitors and New Yorkers.”

By far the best known and most popular attractions in the district are the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, which together draw about three million visitors a year. The National Park Service, which controls those sites, is preparing to open bidding for the contract to provide ferry service to them. Mr. Doctoroff said he had been trying to persuade the park service to add ferries from more parts of the city, like Brooklyn and Governors Island.

Maria Burks, the commissioner for the National Parks of New York Harbor, declined to discuss the next ferry contract yesterday. She said a request for proposals would be released by the end of the year.

Ms. Burks, a member of the advisory board, said the audience for the group’s efforts was not limited to tourists who visit the statue. “There’s a whole community of boroughs that has turned its back to the water that we’re hoping will turn its face back to the water,” she said.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

BigMac

October 24th, 2006, 10:21 AM

New York Sun
October 24, 2006

City Seeks Designers for Park on Governors Island

By DAVID LOMBINO

The city is moving to select a design team for a 40-acre public park, a two-mile waterfront promenade, and open space on Governors Island.

Yesterday, a city-state agency, Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, issued a request for qualifications from architects to build parks that would transform the island into "a significant, attractive and unique destination with authentic New York character."

Visitors would reach the island by ferry or gondola, the documents said, and "the destination and experiences offered there must justify the effort of the journey."

The proposed park would be located on the waterfront at the island's southern edge and contain least 20 contiguous acres, according to the city-state agency. It could accommodate recreational uses, or "temporary festival activities," like concerts, festivals and performances.

The city and state are also looking for a design of a new public waterfront promenade that would encircle the island and provide "one of the world's most extraordinary, distinct, and enchanting walks," with views of the New York skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Earlier this year, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation issued a request for proposals from private developers to transform for the 172-acre former military base in New York Harbor into a worldclass destination that would be self-sustaining. The city and state acquired it from the federal government for $1 in 2003, but it costs millions each year to maintain the island. Ten finalists were selected, including proposals for a Nickelodeon theme park and a campus for CUNY, but no winner has been selected.

The executive director of the Governor's Island Alliance, a coalition of civic groups, Robert Pirani, said that those proposals have likely been put on the back burner, but could be revived next year. He said that settling on a park design would help to distill those ideas and give private developers more information to work with.

"What will make the island work is providing greater amenities and access. That will drive private developers to consider investing in the island. The park is the key element in that," Mr. Pirani said.

Designs from architects are due by mid-November, and the city will select five finalists to participate in a public design competition next spring. Their responses will be used to help choose a project architect as early as next summer.

© 2006 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC.

BigMac

November 14th, 2006, 10:41 AM

AM New York
November 14, 2006

Governors Island weighs new look

By Michael Clancy

http://www.amny.com/media/photo/2006-11/26399041.jpg
Great Promenade rendering.

http://www.amny.com/media/photo/2006-11/26399034.jpg
Great Promenade rendering.

http://www.amny.com/media/photo/2006-11/26399042.jpg
Summer Park rendering.

http://www.amny.com/media/photo/2006-11/26399044.jpg
Summer Park rendering.

The first tenant of the new Governors Island could be the New York Harbor School, a specialized public high school that teaches children about maritime issues and history, city officials announced Monday.

The school, currently landlocked in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, now holds the distinction of being the first institution invited to move to the 172-acre island since the city took control of the former military base in 2003 through a deal with the federal government.

"It's a really positive thing," said Robert Pirani, of the Governors Island Alliance, a coalition of nonprofit groups formed to ensure the island is used properly. "It sets the tone for the island as being a place for New York City, for being about education, for being about the harbor -- as opposed to being a casino, which has nothing to do with those things."

The move will need to be approved by the island's development agency and the Department of Education.

"We are just thrilled," said Murray Fisher, the harbor school's program director. "To be located in the middle of New York harbor, it's a dream come true."

Meanwhile, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp., the state agency created to redevelop and operate the island, said Monday that it is going back to the drawing board to pick a development partner. The agency will not accept any proposals from 10 finalists -- from a Nickelodeon theme park to a CUNY campus -- selected after the agency requested proposals in February.

Instead, the agency wants design firms to come up with a plan to develop 25 to 40 acres of parkland on the southwest portion of the island, and a 2.2-mile waterfront promenade encircling the island, said Leslie Koch, the president of the Governors Island corporation.

"The next and most important step is the creation of the new park and the promenade on the island," Koch said. "We expect over time for it to become home to a diverse array of commercial and not-for-profit enterprises."

As many as five of the park proposals will be chosen and put on exhibit by next summer before a final plan is chosen.

The agency is also studying the feasibility of connecting the island with lower Manhattan and Brooklyn through aerial gondolas.

Copyright 2006 AM New York

daver

November 14th, 2006, 11:13 AM

The agency is also studying the feasibility of connecting the island with lower Manhattan and Brooklyn through aerial gondolas.
Oh come on. They can't be serious. Can they?

lofter1

November 14th, 2006, 11:23 AM

Very serious ...

Start reading HERE (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=83556&postcount=136)

More HERE (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=104552&postcount=252)

TREPYE

November 14th, 2006, 11:40 AM

AM New York
November 14, 2006

Governors Island weighs new look

Meanwhile, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp., the state agency created to redevelop and operate the island, said Monday that it is going back to the drawing board to pick a development partner.
Copyright 2006 AM New York

Two words should be included in the same sentence for these future plans are: MUSEUM, CALATRAVA (or GEHRY).

daver

November 14th, 2006, 01:35 PM

Hmm. Well, that is very different from your average county fair aerial gondola. I'm not taken with the idea, but depending on what they intend to do with the island, maybe there would be a use for it. I'd have to, at a minimum, see what kinda of numbers and times you could move thorugh it compared to ferry service.

BPC

November 14th, 2006, 04:38 PM

Hmm. Well, that is very different from your average county fair aerial gondola.

Yes, your average county fair gondola would not mar one of the most magnificent vistas on the face of the earth.

ZippyTheChimp

December 1st, 2006, 08:13 AM

Island planners want visitors now, big money later

By Skye H. McFarlane

The redevelopment of Governors Island may have taken a detour earlier this fall with the rejection of a set of master plan proposals, but island managers say that the abandoned Coast Guard facility is finally building momentum in its quest to become a premier New York City destination.

After pulling in record crowds last summer, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, a state-city public authority, is taking steps to build the island’s visitor base in the coming season while conducting a design contest to plan the facility’s future parkland.

To make the island more attractive to commercial developers down the road (officials hope that one day Governors Island will be financially self-sustaining), GIPEC is working to make the island more visible and accessible to New Yorkers. Although plans for next summer won’t be finalized until the spring, GIPEC president Leslie Koch said that the island will offer improved access through some combination of longer hours, more days or opening up a larger section of the land to visitors.

Last summer the island was open from June 2 to Labor Day, with open access from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, guided tours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and several festivals and specials events sprinkled throughout the summer.

The island attracted 26,000 visitors, a number that Koch called “a drop in the bucket” compared to other N.Y.C. sites, but a 300 percent increase for the island. Controlled by the military for most of its history, the space only became accessible to the public in 2003.

“We’re hoping for at least 30,000 visitors this summer,” Koch said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed for good weather.”

In pursuit of that goal, GIPEC is installing a barge dock so that commercial water taxis can join the Governors Island ferry in bringing visitors to the island. A new trolleybus will be available so that guests with limited mobility can tour the island. GIPEC is considering adding a short bike route through the historic district this summer and the Downtown Boathouse plans to install a floating dock for kayakers in time for the 2007 season.

Made possible by grants from the Friends of Lower Manhattan ($25,000) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (just over $50,000), the 20-by-40 foot dock and access ramp will also be able to accommodate canoes. The dock will be designed so that it could be relocated to accommodate future construction on the island. According to Boathouse founder Jim Wetteroth, who also supplied the design details, the dock would serve as a destination point for kayaking tours and groups. For security reasons, the boaters would have to clear their trips with GIPEC before arriving on the island. A GIPEC spokesperson said that the group couldn’t comment on the specifics of the kayak dock until it meets with Wetteroth to discuss the details.

As for the island’s less immediate future, Koch said that GIPEC is focusing on developing the island’s 85 acres of open space. On Nov. 13, the same day that GIPEC rejected all 25 responses to this summer’s request for proposals, the group announced that the island will be the future home of the Harbor School, a marine-themed public high school that currently resides in Bushwick. The school will be located in one of the historic district buildings and the Department of Education will be responsible for renovating the building and funding the school. Neither a specific location nor a timeframe for the school has been identified.

GIPEC also extended the deadline for applications to its two-step parkland design contest until Dec. 1. Representatives from 46 different developers and landscape architecture firms attended a pre-submission information session on Halloween, two weeks before the original deadline. In January, GIPEC will select five finalist firms, each of which will be asked to submit a design to the contest. By spring, the public should be able to view and comment on the designs. To encourage high-quality work, GIPEC will reward each of the five competitors with a $40,000 “honorarium.”

“We want to recognize how much effort it takes, and how much it costs, to come up with a truly innovative design,” Koch said.

Koch added that GIPEC will choose a design team based on the team’s plan as well as the team’s ability to interact with the community and respond to public concerns. Rules governing what can be developed on the island specify that there must be at least 40 acres of parkland in the final design, with no gambling or residential buildings allowed. In addition, GIPEC wants the park designer to create a two-mile boardwalk and bikeway to replace the current road that encircles the island. GIPEC’s other visions for the open space include barbeque grills (grilling is forbidden in most city parks), playgrounds, sculptures and an outdoor amphitheater.

In the much longer term, Koch hopes to bring a mix of hotel, retail, commercial and non-profit tenants to the island. GIPEC is still studying the possibility of an aerial gondola to transport visitors from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. Renowned architect Santiago Calatrava unveiled gondola drawings with the mayor in February, but there has not been much talk about the project since.

“The only way the island comes back to life is if you use it,” Koch told Community Board 1 members on Nov. 27. “We need your help to make sure that it’s a priority and that we use the momentum we’ve gained in the past few months.”

Skye@DowntownExpress.com

Downtown Express is published by
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© 2006 Community Media, LLC

Email: news@downtownexpress.com

BigMac

December 1st, 2006, 02:12 PM

Downtown Express
Volume 19 | Issue 29 | December 01 - 07, 2006

Editorial

No need for fantasies on Governors Island

Our optimistic side sees that with each failed effort on Governors Island, officials may actually learn a little bit. The revelation that nobody submitted a viable plan to develop the island earlier this year has led to the newest in a series of “can’t miss” strategies. Bring more people to the island this summer, set up a design competition for a public park and build it – then we’ll get enough people visiting to get investors interested in proposing a feasible, long-term use for the island, so the new thinking goes.

Sounds reasonable to us as long as officials focus on one step at a time. The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the state-city authority managing the island, made a smart decision this year by expanding access to the island and Leslie Koch, GIPEC’s president, told Community Board 1 this week she wants to increase the number of people visiting the island next summer.

That’s the right next step. The island has long tantalized open space lovers but has befuddled New York politicians for a decade because none of the countless ideas has unleashed the necessary enthusiasm and money to make it happen. To this day, nearly all New Yorkers don’t know of the beauty and history that is a mere seven-minute ferry commute from Lower Manhattan.

Koch wants to open the island up to kayakers and bikers next summer and add a trolleybus so those who have trouble walking can see it. In addition, the island should be open on Sundays and for more months next year. Why not let dogs and their owners visit too? The more people who come, the more public pressure to get something done. Koch also talked about long-term plans to allow people to barbecue – normally a forbidden activity in city parks. We see no reason why that can’t be done this spring.

The park design competition should be extended until the state and city identify the funds to build it. Officials have tried too many times before to excite the public with un-funded ideas. No one’s naïve enough to be paying attention anymore. If there is money to build a park, let’s get the competition underway and build something. If not, let’s just get lots of people out there and wait for the day when the will to make it better is there. It’s pretty great now.

They will come, and then it will be built.

© 2006 Community Media, LLC

antinimby

January 18th, 2007, 02:20 AM

Gov. Island competitors announced

by amy zimmer / metro new york

JAN 18, 2007 (http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/article/Gov_Island_competitors_announced/6565.html)

GREENWICH VILLAGE. Plans for Governors Island have moved in fits and starts since the federal government transferred the 172-acre former Coast Guard base back to New York in 2003. But the city/state agency overseeing the project hopes they will be jolted forward by yesterday’s announcement that five internationally renowned landscape and architecture firms will compete to design the island’s park.

After the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation tossed out proposals by developers last summer, it decided to focus on developing the public space. The contestants were selected from 29 teams, which included 65 firms from 10 countries, and they will develop a range of conceptual designs for the 2.2-mile promenade encircling the island as well as a 25-40 acre southwestern area with views of the Statue of Liberty. A jury of design experts and officials is expected to select a winner this summer.

The competitors include Field Operations, which is designing landscaping at Fresh Kills and the High Line; Ramus Ella Architects; Hargreaves Associates; Rotterdam-based West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture; and WRT LLC, which has developed a Staten Island project in New Stapleton.

“The open space needs to be the anchor and armature of the island,” said Leslie Koch, GIPEC’s president, last night at a public forum held at the American Institute of Architects’ New York Chapter.

Koch said she wanted the island to become a place where New York families could come on weekends and feel as if they’re on a “mini-vacation.”

© 2007 Metro.

pianoman11686

March 28th, 2007, 01:15 AM

Governors Island Could Play Host to an Auto Race

BY ELIOT BROWN
Special to the Sun
March 27, 2007

URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/51224

A car-racing league is considering a slot on its circuit for Governors Island, the 172-acre former military base that the city and state are intending to develop.

A spokesman for the Indy Racing League, John Griffin, said the company hopes to add New York City to its racing league within a few years.

"Governors Island certainly is something that has come up, but in terms of definitive plans, we still have a long way to go," Mr. Griffin said. "We've had some discussions with people in the greater New York City area," including the agency overseeing the island's development. "No single idea has been approved or shot down," he added.

The Indy Racing League, which holds a 17-race circuit that includes the Indianapolis 500, three years ago began including courses that utilize city roads, as opposed to solely racing on oval tracks, Mr. Griffin said.

Representatives from the agency overseeing the project, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon.

The inquiries by the Indy Racing League were reported Sunday in the St. Petersburg Times.

The Gipec president, Leslie Koch, told the city Planning Commission yesterday that the task of creating a mixed-use development on Governors Island would be broken down into numerous pieces. Previously, the agency had asked single developers to submit bids to tackle the giant project themselves. However, the final submissions, which ranged from a Nickelodeon-themed amusement park to a giant CUNY campus, were considered disappointing and were rejected last fall.

Ms. Koch stressed that creating a world-class park for much of the island was at the top of her agenda, but no date has been set for new proposals.

"Our focus right now is on building the park," she said.

The push to give Governors Island a makeover has puttered along since 2003, when the space was acquired from the federal government with a provision that barred residential development. Earlier this year, Gipec announced a competition among five finalists to design the parkland section of the island, with the winner expected to be chosen in the summer.

© 2007 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC.

lofter1

March 28th, 2007, 02:07 AM

A speedway on Governors Island?

WTF???

projectsnyc

March 28th, 2007, 09:09 AM

Ironic that the powers that be at Governors Island would not allow visitors to ride their bicycles over the past two summers because they were afraid of potential lawsuits...

ZippyTheChimp

March 28th, 2007, 09:44 AM

Deep-six this idea.

infoshare

March 28th, 2007, 10:02 AM

Something tells me, this is going to be a looooooong thread. :D

The attachment below shows an aerial photo/rendering of one, of the many, design concepts for the island. Fortunately this particular 'design concept' does not include (http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3700) a Race-Track!

BPC

March 28th, 2007, 06:47 PM

I assume this Gran-Prix idea is some sort of twisted joke.

antinimby

March 28th, 2007, 06:50 PM

Hardly something to get worked up over, people.

This is another one of those crazy proposals that is bound to end up in the parts bin collecting dust.

ZippyTheChimp

June 3rd, 2007, 09:18 AM

http://nymag.com/news/features/32387/

Fantasy Island

Five teams compete to make Governors Island an urban paradise. Only one will survive.

By Alexandra Lange

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_1_560.jpg
REX/DESVIGNE This French-American team envisions 55-by-55-foot
landscaped squares pixelating the island's shores; on the western edge,
facing the Statue of Liberty, a boxy beach, pool, and viewing platform.
Rendering: REX/MDP/Image by Luxigon

Tooling around the outer edge of Governors Island on a glorious spring day, it hardly seems like it would be difficult to motivate people to go out there. What you see looking out is the movie version of New York City, the coming-to-America view of the Statue of Liberty, the glittery skyscrapers along the Battery. What you see looking in is Nolan Park, a charming row of yellow clapboard houses, flowering trees that shiver pink petals over the lawns; Fort Jay, its bermed sides covered in grass—and, on the South Island, an 80-acre wasteland of Coast Guard structures, slowly falling to pieces.

In other words, Governors Island, sitting at the mouth of the East River, a half-mile below Manhattan, is a jewel—but it’s also a remarkably difficult development conundrum, whose recent history is littered with failed plans. First of all, how is anybody going to get there? The aerial gondola designed by Santiago Calatrava was a beautiful idea, but one that seemed to be a fantasy. (In fact, it’s currently undergoing feasibility studies, and may yet happen.)

The bigger question, of course, is why anyone would want to go. The federal government sold Governors Island to the city and state for $1 (the city and state administer 150 acres; the National Park Service is responsible for 22 more) with a number of stipulations, the most restrictive being no residential development. Back in the day, the city was looking for one big idea for the island. (The Giuliani administration floated the idea of a casino and five-star hotel but was thankfully thwarted.)

A request for expressions of interest in 2005 brought out a grab bag of parties, from the Related Companies and the Durst Organization to the New Globe Theater (still vying for a place at Castle William) to a Tivoli Gardens–esque children’s park complete with giant London Eye–inspired Ferris wheel. Nickelodeon proposed the obvious theme park; Durst was in on an idea for a sustainable cuny campus. Both Industria Superstudio and IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center were interested, as was Friends Seminary. The city hired Toronto-based planners Urban Strategies Inc. to analyze the responses, coagulating them into four themes: Iconic Island, stocked with functional and sculptural works of art and architecture; Innovation Island, an incubator for new research, education, and business ideas; Destination Island, the theme-park option; and Minimum Build Island.

Last year, the city solicited more-specific ideas from the private sector for master plans, but the request didn’t bear fruit. Developers (not exactly a shock) did not want to pony up for new docks, new roads, or new parks. They were waiting for the city and state to make Governors Island a destination island.

As City Hall’s maker of big plans, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff gets fingered for the failed request for proposals, but he says he was always skeptical. “We could have gotten a person that wanted to create a legacy and do something truly spectacular. In this era of fabulous wealth, it was worth a try,” he says. And Doctoroff still thinks that a global health institute—or an environmental one—could work.

So the city went back to the drawing board—or, actually, five of them. Five design teams were asked to conceive a new landscape, from 25 to 40 acres, for the southern end of the island, and a new 2.2-mile promenade encircling it, and to rethink the open space in the northern historic section.

The essential question all five teams need to answer is, Why have this park? “Everyone knows how to get to Prospect Park or Central Park,” says Leslie Koch, president of the Governors Island Preservation & Education Corporation. “What is the experience that this park and promenade can provide that is unique? This has to be compelling.” Compelling enough to make us get on a ferry or water taxi, and go to New York’s own Nantucket. The visions on the following pages are a first step toward compelling.

And the question is even being posed to the public: Would you go there? After May 31, the five plans will be exhibited both on Governors Island and at the Center for Architecture on La Guardia Place, with comments requested. The island itself will be open to the public on the weekend all summer, with a free, seven-minute ferry from the Battery Maritime Building. A jury will recommend a winner by fall—at which point the next and more difficult phase will begin.

First, all sorts of other dreamers want to impose their vision on the island. Landscape architect Stephen Whitehouse, who developed a concept for Governors Island in 2003, thinks a spa is a no-brainer. Art dealer Daniel Wolf proposed a children’s island including playgrounds by wife Maya Lin, a Takashi Murakami fountain, and new Gates by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Julie Menin, chair of Community Board 1, wants playing fields. Joseph Melillo, executive producer at bam, thinks the island needs its own creative director to seek site-specific events.

But the bigger problem is finding developers with real money. Mark Strauss, a partner at architecture and planning giant FXFowle, thinks that the park alone will not be enough of a draw. “I don’t see the park as a catalyst in itself for attracting people and investment,” he says. “There has to be a vision from the top, and I think it could be academia. Columbia moved up to 116th Street 100 years ago because they were better off selling their existing land and being pioneers.” Downtown’s current gorilla, crushing all townhouses in its path, is NYU. Could it leap the East River?

But, at long last, something will happen at Governors Island. Demolition of the Coast Guard facilities could begin within a year. It shouldn’t be a fantasy much longer.

THE GRID

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_3_560.jpg
REX/DESVIGNE In the island's interior, a flat checkerboard of
woodlands, pastures, prchards, and meadows, unique in being
"a place to dig a hole."
Rendering: REX/MDP/Image by Luxigon

The basis of this plan, by architect REX and landscape architect Michel Desvigne, is the grid. But what they propose is hardly Manhattan’s gridiron. Rather, it is Jefferson’s, dividing the entire island into 55-by-55-foot units that would then be planted, paved, planked, and filled with grass, hard court, cedar, water, or sand to create a thick perimeter of people-intensive programming: beach, sports facilities, boating, stages, and amphitheater seating to watch the informal parade. “We didn’t want it to be just a treadmill for views,” says REX principal Joshua Prince-Ramus.

The interior would be low-cost, low-impact micro-agriculture, woodlands, water meadows, pastures. Places to dig a hole, to participate, not just watch. “It is not fake nature designed to look picturesque,” says Prince-Ramus. “We want it to be what it is: synthetic.”

Prince-Ramus wants to make sure that the park his team designs works on its own terms, and as a core around which development can happen. He points out that a 14,000-person amphitheater requested by the city would take six hours to fill with the current ferry service. And he thinks half the project’s $200 million budget will go just to infrastructural issues like preventing erosion. That said, he is optimistic. Their grid would allow whatever happens—conference center, museum, campus—to be plugged in without disrupting the pastoral center. While silvery cubes glimmer in the background of several renderings, the plan offers no architecture per se: “No one has the right to design a boathouse yet,” Prince-Ramus says. “Credibility before beauty.”

THE NECKLACE

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_5_560.jpg
Rendering: Hargreaves Associates/Michael Maltzan Architecture

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_4_560.jpg
HARGREAVES This team describes its promenade as a necklace
arching in and out into the water studded with pearls like a set
of southerly dunes.
Rendering: Hargreaves Associates/Michael Maltzan Architecture

Hargreaves Associates and Michael Maltzan Architecture take a necklace as its dominant metaphor. “We thought of the promenade as a necklace with several strands,” says George Hargreaves, “and then these jewels on it that are plazas or activities.” The jewels are buildings, which echo the fluid lines of the public spaces and places, with few right angles. There is a double-ring hotel and conference center, an ecology center set over new wetlands to the west, and another doughnut creating a pool in the southeast. Flowerlike canopies shade multiple ferry terminals, and there is a rippling cover (Maltzan is a former Gehry employee) over the amphitheater—an open, grassy space that flows into a lawn and playing fields. The promenade loops like a racetrack in and out from the land to various piers. Many walkways would be fitted with solar canopies that would, with the power generated by windmills set in a new range of pine barrens, take the southern end off the grid.

Hargreaves picked Maltzan to design the architecture because of its winning plan for the Los Angeles State Historic Park, and because of Maltzan’s experience designing MoMA QNS. “I realized he has faced this problem before, of creating something ‘out there’ and getting people to go out there,” Hargreaves says.

THE PATH

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_7_560.jpg
WEST 8 / QUENNELL ROTHSCHILD Three thousand free wooden
bikes would allow for rapid circumnavigation on looping, leafy paths.
Rendering: West 8/Rogers Marvel Architects/Diller Scofidio + Renfro/Quennell Rothschild/SMWM

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_8_560.jpg
Rendering: West 8/Rogers Marvel Architects/Diller Scofidio + Renfro/Quennell Rothschild/SMWM

A large team (composed of landscape architects West 8 and Quennell Rothschild & Partners, architects Rogers Marvel and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and planners SMWM) proposes a hybrid of landscape and architecture, based around a sinuous set of new watercourses and paths. Development would follow the eastern edge and hug a new waterway, with a DS+R ferry terminal. Proceeding south, a visitor would encounter the Vertical Landscape, mountains popping up out of the flat southern tip that would integrate active recreational, cultural, and educational functions. Inside could be snack bars, exhibits, a funicular, and caves for spelunking. Says West 8 partner Jerry van Eyck: “We wanted to give it the attitude of a national park, one with primal nature, robustness, where you don’t feel the hand of man.” (Although with certain amenities: The plan would also supply 3,000 wooden bicycles and 3,000 wooden armchairs.)

THE SHELL

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_6_560.jpg
FIELD OPERATIONS To create an island of year-round attractions,
FO looked east and north, adding a "rouge element" with a hanging
bridge between a meadow and tidal flats.
Rendering: Field Operations

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_9_560.jpg
Rending: Field Operations

Called “Mollusk,” the plan developed by Field Operations and WilkinsonEyre is encapsulated by an ideogram of a ridged, bumpy shell encircled by a golden path. “It should be a fairly empty landscape,” partner James Corner says. “No clutter. We want to maintain the scale of being out there in the harbor and the sense of vulnerability, of exposure.” The golden path represents the required promenade, which would create a hard edge all the way around the island. Within that band, the flat southern topography would be sculpted into a series of soft hills, crowned by flowering meadows. In a certain sense, FO’s is the most Olmstedian proposal, as it creates a naturalistic landscape on landfill from 1900, a place that could immediately seem like it had always been there.

But there are plenty of 21st-century touches. Facing Brooklyn, there would be protected boating areas, a beach carved into the island, and a floating pool set on the edge. At the far end, the land would be carved down, creating tidal pools that could fill with the bay’s original mollusks. Farther north are a set of thermal pools, heated in winter like an Icelandic sauna, and the Nest, a global weather institute. FO is already designing the landscapes for both the High Line and Fresh Kills parks, so it would have to be considered the front-runner.

THE NEST

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_11_560.jpg
Puppy
Rendering: WRT LLC/Urban Strategies, Inc.

http://nymag.com/news/features/fantasy070604_10_560.jpg
WRT To welcome visitors to the island and to make clear they
are entering a more organic world, WRT invisions a bivalve-inspired
ferry terminal—"a stage for the city" opening onto Oyster Dock.
Rendering: WRT LLC/Urban Strategies, Inc.

The Philadelphia firm WRT, teamed with Urban Strategies, from Toronto, mixed its inspirational metaphors. “We were looking at forms in nature like oysters and pearls and stem cells,” says WRT partner Margie Ruddick. “Things that have a forgiving architecture, and where one thing is nested in another.”

Her team’s plan carves a series of interlocking ovals into the flat southern landscape, nesting a play lawn inside a larger great meadow, and an artificial hill inside a new wetland at the southern end. Rather than building up the center, the WRT scheme builds up the edge, stringing a series of structures that could house a spa and retreat center on a rocky promontory, plus a working waterfront along the Brooklyn side. These buildings, however, would not pop up out of the landscape but be part of it: Green roofs would slope up from the interior toward the water at one or two stories, turning the center of the island into a protected bowl.

“I have been reading Last Child in the Woods,” Ruddick says. “It is about how those of us who connected very closely to nature as children have a sense of responsibility for it. I thought at one point of calling it Gore Island.” To this end, the team envisions a camp in a new forested ravine and a sustainable farm and garden. The southwest side of the island has evolved into a sandbar beach and reef. The plan has a hotel on the west side (perhaps one of the new Starwood eco-hotels), but not for the business traveler: “It should be considered a retreat.”

NIMBYkiller

June 26th, 2007, 11:16 AM

Is a beach such a good idea, or are the waters around the island not too rough? I like the idea of some sort of raised structure overlooking Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge, which can be used as a ferry terminal underneath as proposed in that necklace design. And I'm not too sure if it would get patrons, but perhaps use an apartment building or two that is there already on the western side of the island as a hotel, or one of the lots as sort of bungalows or whatever(I know, no residential stuff, but these would be hotels/motels type deals)

lofter1

June 26th, 2007, 02:35 PM

My problem with a beach -- either on Governors Island or anywhere along the Hudson River Park -- is the flotsam / garbage which the tidal pull of the Hudson River leaves behind on the shore ...

Take a look just about any day of the week as you walk along the shoreline. Pretty disgusting. The amount of effort / money to keep any beach cleared of all that stuff would be ridiculous. And the "beach" would be "usable" for about 2-3 months -- max -- out of the entire year.

Funds can be better spent. If swimming is the desired activity then a huge pool would undoubtedly be cheaper and easier to maintain.

Ninjahedge

June 26th, 2007, 02:45 PM

Loft, who uses beaches for swimming anymore?

It is like saying you want more green space to do something like, I don't know, throw a BALL or something!!! ;)

lofter1

June 26th, 2007, 03:07 PM

What's the point of a going to all the trouble of building a beach if it's not going to be clean and clear of nasty junk?

That's my point: What is the designer's intention? I don't know ...

Was only raising the question regarding the possibility of using the beach for swimming.

Ninjahedge

June 26th, 2007, 03:18 PM

Loft, I was just talking about the nature of open space in the city these days.

People are much more likely to just sit on their keisters whether it be sand or grass than to actually do anything like swim.

Besides, realistically, if they wanted to keep the beach clean they could just put in something like a breakfront. SOmething that would keep the rubbish at more than arms length...

DarrylStrawberry

October 14th, 2007, 08:15 AM

New York mayor proposes public health center on Governors Island

The Associated Press
Published: October 13, 2007

Ever since the city and state paid the federal government $1 for an island in New York harbor, officials have wondered what to do with it. Mayor Michael Bloomberg floated a new idea: spending his own money to create a public health center there.
The billionaire and longtime philanthropist who gives away multimillions each year has recently begun shaping his official charitable foundation. He suggested on his weekly radio show Friday that the foundation could lease some of the historic buildings on the 172-acre (70-hectare) Governors Island and create an international campus dedicated to public health.
Visiting scholars would come and study together, hold conferences and present research, he said.
"Something that pulls together — where you'd have a conference on malaria, let's say, and there'd be papers presented and people from around the world would come and could actually stay there on the island in these old houses and use one of the buildings for dining rooms and meeting rooms and presentations."
The island, about half a mile (800 meters) from lower Manhattan and accessed by ferry, is virtually uninhabited now, apart from a firehouse, small security operation and staff from the National Park Service, which still owns and operates 22 acres (9 hectares) there. A new high school is set to open there next year, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The island served as a British and then American military base for more than 200 years. Captured Confederate soldiers from the secessionist southern states were imprisoned there during the American Civil War in the 1860s, and it was an Army supply base during World Wars I and II. Landfill from the excavation of the Lexington Avenue subway was added in the early 1900s, forming 103 acres (42 hectares) of its total area.
The federal government ceded most of the land to the city and state in 2001, but since then officials have not been able to decide what to put there.
Public comment has been collected, environmental studies have been done, and more than once officials have put out feelers asking for development ideas. Those have included casinos, housing complexes, a skate park and various commercial developments; Bloomberg said Friday that none of the ideas submitted has been feasible.
Bloomberg said he estimates it would cost $100 million (€72.11 million) to renovate the buildings and create the center, plus about $30 million (€21.63 million) a year to run it.
He added that a public process would be needed before he could take over. A 12-member board, half appointed by him and half by the governor, governs the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation that oversees the island now.
On Friday, the group issued a statement encouraging but not endorsing Bloomberg's idea.
"The mayor's vision would fit with the concepts advocates have long called for on the island... We would be happy to meet with representatives from the mayor's foundation as we would any individual or group considering tenancy on the island."
Bloomberg said he has been exploring the concept of creating such a center for some time, and that Governors Island is just one potential location out of several. Another likely place could be Baltimore, where the public health school at Johns Hopkins, his alma mater, bears his name.
Public health is one of the main areas where he has focused his philanthropic giving over the years; money has gone toward many aspects of the cause, from stem cell research to anti-smoking campaigns.

projectsnyc

October 14th, 2007, 09:47 AM

interesting how Bloomberg is preparing for the year 2010...his girlfriend runs the Hudson River Park Trust and he wants to have 160 acres of Lower Manhattan/Brooklyn to shmooze and change the world. no wonder nothing of substance has happened in either realm since changing Governors...

it's not a bad vision, just not part of any master planning process.

Clarknt67

October 26th, 2007, 04:37 PM

I recall reading that the Hudson River clean-up was going well enough the EPA would consider it swimmable in a few years (of course, RW user-reviews may vary). The East River (not a true river but a tidal strait) is more stagnant and more polluted and would break on GI's shores too.

I love the idea of swimming, but think maybe they should devote some of the landfill island to building an enormous pool, or even an waterpark.

Bloomberg's idea isn't terrible. I've always thought the old structures there from the Officer's row to the Barracks seems like an ideal setting for a educational institution. This seems a little more elite than I would have imagined (I'd rather see CUNY there) but if there's an international appetite for a complex like this, I suppose it's good for NYC overall, and respects the landmark buildings.

I'd worry that there might be a conflict between security concerns and public access however.

JCMAN320

October 29th, 2007, 10:55 AM

Well Hoboken has a beach and a swimming area in the river. Hopefully they can do more tests around Gov's Island and see if they can put a beach on the Hudson River side.

BigMac

December 19th, 2007, 02:39 PM

New York Sun
December 19, 2007

Dutch Firm Selected To Design Governors Island Parkland

By BENJAMIN SARLIN
Special to the Sun

West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture (http://www.west8.nl/)

http://www.nysun.com/pics/68376_main_large.jpg
Renderings of open space on Governors Island.

The Dutch firm West 8 has been selected from among five finalists to design the open space on Governors Island, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Spitzer announced today.

The makeover will feature a two-mile promenade along the water, a park on the southern half, and a new park design in the northern section.

"New York is re-embracing the waterfront for the first time in more than a century," the mayor said today at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal. "This park on Governor's Island will be at the center of this new era of waterfront recreation for New York City, and will complement the City's other great parks and recreation spaces."

City officials said the parkland is expected to be completed by 2013.

© 2007 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC.

lofter1

December 19th, 2007, 04:26 PM

Good choice ...

West 8 (http://www.west8.nl/)

Governor's Island (http://www.west8.nl/projects/all/governors_island/) (Nooten Eylandt :cool: )

http://www.west8.nl/images/dbase/281.png (http://www.west8.nl/news/west_8_wins_governors_island/)

NYatKNIGHT

December 19th, 2007, 04:35 PM

Looks beautiful, as renderings anyway. Are there mountains on Governors Island that I'm not aware of? Good idea to have bikes for all to use. Can't exactly sneak them off the island. Really like the transition at the south end from land to water with the boardwalk/marsh area.

BigMac

December 19th, 2007, 04:38 PM

According to 7online.com (http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=5844919), new hills will be created from recycled materials.

BigMac

December 19th, 2007, 04:55 PM

NYC.gov (http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fht ml%2F2007b%2Fpr469-07.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 469-07
December 19, 2007

Watch the video in low (http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2007b/media/pc121907_governors.asx) or high (http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2007b/media/pc121907_governors512k.asx) bandwidth

MAYOR BLOOMBERG AND GOVERNOR ELIOT SPITZER ANNOUNCE THE SELECTION OF TEAM TO DESIGN PARK AND OPEN SPACE ON GOVERNORS ISLAND

Design team led by acclaimed firm West 8 will plan a destination park and Great Promenade for New York City and the region

New Chair named for the Governors Island Preservation and Education Commission

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Governor Eliot Spitzer today announced the selection of internationally renowned design firms West 8 / Rogers Marvel Architects / Diller Scofidio + Renfro / Quennell Rothschild / SMWM to design Governors Island's future open space, including a new park and promenade. The team was one of five finalists chosen last January by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) for a competition to plan three new open spaces on the Island: a two mile Great Promenade along the water's edge; a new major park located on the southern half of the Island; and an improved park design within the northern Historic District.

Together, this area comprises 90 acres of parkland that will provide unique outdoor recreational activities for New Yorkers. The Great Promenade and forty-acre park will provide places to relax, play sports and explore, all with an incredible view of the Statue of Liberty. In the National Historic District, visitors can continue to enjoy acres of green space that include buildings and homes dating from 1810.

The Mayor and Governor also announced the nomination of Avi Schick as the new Chair for GIPEC. Schick is currently the Downstate Chief Executive Officer and President of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and Chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC).

"New York is re-embracing the waterfront for the first time in more than a century," said Mayor Bloomberg. "This park on Governors Island will be at the center of this new era of waterfront recreation for New York City, and will complement the City's other great parks and recreation spaces. I am pleased that West 8's first major commission in the United States will be in the country's greatest city - New York."

"Governors Island provides us with a unique opportunity to develop extraordinary parkland that will benefit the City, its residents and visitors," said Governor Spitzer. "The selection of the design team allows us to begin restoring this historic national treasure and add the Island to the extensive state and city park system. I congratulate the design team and look forward to working with the City of New York and our partners on the future plans for the park and promenade."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose district includes Governors Island, said: "The design of a new park and promenade is an important step toward creating an extraordinary recreational resource on Governors Island for the people of lower Manhattan and all New Yorkers. This will help us realize our goal of creating more open space in an otherwise crowded city."

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, whose Congressional district includes Governors Island, said: "I fought for many years to have the island's historic sites protected as National Monuments and have the island returned to its rightful owner, New York. Today is truly another important day in the history of this extraordinary island, and I congratulate Governor Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg for selecting the West 8 team to lead the design of the open spaces for the public to enjoy."

Lieutenant Governor David Paterson said: "Governors Island, before being reserved for military use for 200 years, was the landing place of the Dutch settlers and the birthplace of New York. Now, thanks to the vision of Governor Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New Yorkers can rediscover Governors Island, taking in its rich past while looking towards its bright future."

The West 8 team's competition entry highlighted the Island's unique characteristics and harbor location, and incorporated environmental sustainability. It featured new hills created from recycled materials, and free bicycles for visitors. The team imagined visitors riding free bicycles at the water's edge or climbing new hills to experience panoramic views of New York Harbor. Their ideas for the Historic District included restoring its landscapes and enlivening them with targeted improvements such as seating and new walkways which respect this island's historic character.

Dan Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding and Chairman of GIPEC said: "West 8's design approach and extensive experience in creating great civic spaces will help create a park for the 21st century. Their idea to recycle materials from demolished buildings is an innovative solution that will re-use building materials, keep tons of additional materials out of landfills, and create a sustainable park for New York."

Avi Schick, Downstate Chief Executive Officer and President of ESDC, Chairman of LMDC and incoming Chairman of GIPEC said: "The development of Governors Island will allow us to create a world class park and open space that will be a destination for all those living and visiting Lower Manhattan. Together with the ongoing revitalization efforts in Lower Manhattan, this will ensure that downtown is a world class neighborhood with unsurpassed parks and open space."

Leslie Koch, President of GIPEC said: "The design competition's goal was to select an outstanding team, not a scheme. We look forward to now beginning the process of working with West 8, the public, and others to design these new spaces for future generations of New Yorkers to enjoy."

Carol Ash, New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner said: "Serving as a member of the Park Design Competition Jury was both instructive and exciting as all teams provided fresh and inspiring visions for public park usage on Governor's Island. The choice of West 8 will bring to this unique location a tremendous team that will transform the south end of the Island to a state of the art public space that will be enjoyed and treasured for generations."

West 8 is an internationally acclaimed landscape architecture firm and its leader, Adriaan Geuze, is one of the foremost landscape architects and urban designers in the world. This team was one of 29 who initially responded to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) last year. Other members of the team include Rogers Marvel Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Quennell Rothschild, and SMWM. Rogers Marvel's projects include the Studio Museum in Harlem and streetscapes for the New York Stock Exchange. Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a firm which recently completed the expansion of Lincoln Center, and is working on the High Line in New York City. Quennell Rothschild will contribute their landscape expertise from projects such as the Hudson River Park Master Plan, and finally, SMWM, a design and planning firm known for their urban waterfront design work in New York City and San Francisco, will also work on the design team.

Adriaan Geuze, Principal, West 8 said: "We are proud to have been chosen to design new parkland and open space in New York. These spaces will be places where New Yorkers and others will experience a completely new set of captivating and unique recreational, cultural and educational opportunities."

To solicit public input and responses on the finalists' entries, GIPEC sponsored a design competition exhibit entitled "The Park at the Center of the World: Five Visions for Governors Island." The exhibit was held at the American Institute of Architects in Manhattan, on Governors Island, and on the web. Public input was solicited at the exhibits as well as on the web. A distinguished jury of government officials and design professionals reviewed the proposals, interviewed the teams, listened to public input, and ultimately recommended the winning team.

The Jury selecting the winning team consisted of: Carol Ash, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (http://www.nyc.gov/parks); Leslie Koch, President, Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation; Reed Kroloff, Director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum in Detroit; Karen Brooks Hopkins, President, Brooklyn Academy of Music; Laurie Olin, Principal, Olin Partnership; Gregg Pasquarelli, Co-Founder, SHoP Architects; Joseph Rose, Partner, The Georgetown Company.

Moving forward, GIPEC will work with the West 8 team, advocates, community leaders and groups, and the public, to design the new park and open spaces on the Island.

The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) is responsible for the planning, redevelopment and ongoing operations for 150 acres of Governors Island. The National Park Service owns and operates an additional 22 acres of the island. A partnership of New York City and New York State, GIPEC seeks to bring Governors Island back to life, making this island at the center of New York Harbor a destination with great public open space, as well as future education, not for profit and commercial facilities. For more information please visit www.govisland.com.

Copyright 2007 The City of New York

pianoman11686

December 19th, 2007, 06:45 PM

More/bigger renderings from Curbed (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/12/19/governors_island_going_dutch.php#more):

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_200.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_207.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_198.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_202.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_211.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_199.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_203.jpg

http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_12_212.jpg

lofter1

December 20th, 2007, 12:05 AM

Park Plan Is Chosen for Governors Island

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/12/19/automobiles/20governors-600.jpg
Vincent Laforet/The New York Times
File image of Governors Island July 5, 2001 with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

NY TIMES (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/arts/design/20gove.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin)
By ROBIN POGREBIN
December 20, 2007

More than 10 years after the Coast Guard left Governors Island in New York Harbor, a team of architects has been selected to design a grandly whimsical green 40-acre park on its southern half that public officials hope will ultimately attract commercial development.

City and state officials announced Wednesday that the design — by the Dutch firm West 8, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, Rogers Marvel Architects, Quennell Rothschild & Partners and SMWM — had triumphed in a competition that had narrowed to five finalists.

Governors Island “has languished without sufficient attention, without sufficient investment,” Gov. Eliot Spitzer said at an outdoor news conference at the Staten Island Ferry terminal in Manhattan with Governors Island as a backdrop.

In an interview, he added, “We are committed to building it.”

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg echoed the governor’s determination. “It is one of the jewels of our city,” he said. “We couldn’t have a better location. Now it’s up to us to do it.”

The design, commissioned by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, calls for transforming much of the flat, sober island, which is roughly a half-mile from Lower Manhattan, into green space. That includes a two-mile promenade at the water’s edge, a new park on the southern flat expanse of landfill — where abandoned Coast Guard buildings are to be demolished — and an improved park in the island’s northern historic district. The architects proposed using the detritus from the buildings that are to be destroyed to form hills that would exploit the island’s views, which include the Statue of Liberty.

“We have to create a completely new and original experience,” Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff said yesterday. “We’ve always seen the parks as the catalyst to the development of the rest of the island.”

Jerry van Eyck, one of the West 8 partners, said in an interview that the architects hoped to set a standard of quality design on the island so “we don’t end up with Disney or casinos.”

Financed by the city and state, the park project is expected to cost about $400 million and to be completed by 2012.

Isolated and vaguely mysterious to many New Yorkers, Governors Island served as the site of American military installations since 1794. In 2003 the federal government sold it to the state and city for $1 under a general understanding that it would be developed into park space and a cultural destination, among other uses.

The National Park Service continues to own and operate 22 of the 172 acres, including Castle Williams and Fort Jay, two early 19th-century Army forts that are protected by landmark status.

The architects were asked to set aside space for new buildings that Mr. Doctoroff said could ultimately include cultural or academic institutions. “Part of the plan was to leave areas that can be allocated as developers come in,” said Ricardo Scofidio, one of the architects. “You kind of set the stage with the park.”

A jury of city and state officials and design professionals picked the architects over four other teams: Hargreaves Associates and Michael Maltzan Architecture; Field Operations and Wilkinson Eyre; REX/MDP; and WRT and Urban Strategies.

The winning design “was really the scheme that best addressed the issues of phasing,” said Frederic M. Bell, the executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, who served on the corporation’s advisory committee. “If money is going to be the problem, how do you create something at the outset that can grow and change over time?”

In the main, however, the architects were charged with imagining a park that was compelling enough to prompt visitors to get on the ferry — to design a destination that would “justify the journey,” said Leslie Koch, president of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation.

The notion was, “What can you do in this park that you can’t do anywhere else?” Ms. Koch added.

For West 8, that includes providing a fleet of bicycles on the island that can be used at no charge; the architects even designed a wooden prototype bicycle for that purpose.

For now the island’s environmental conditions are harsh and windy, said Adriaan Geuze, one of West 8’s partners. So the architects aimed to create a landscape where people would feel shielded from the elements. “We believe we have to change that into a more intimate, human-scale green island where you’re protected,” he said.

Jonathan Marvel, one of the architects, said: “We tried to establish different ecological zones with the park. Topography, shoreline, freshwater places for migratory birds to land because they use the Hudson River as their compass.”

The firms involved in the winning proposal met several times to brainstorm and map out the project. “In a way it started as a think tank,” Mr. Scofidio said.

The city has been studying the possibility of building a gondola designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava that could transport people to and from the island. “Based on what we’ve seen so far, it is definitely very feasible,” Mr. Doctoroff said.

Avi Schick, president of the Empire State Development Corporation, was named chairman of the Governors Island corporation yesterday; he replaces Mr. Doctoroff, who is leaving the city administration in February to become president of Bloomberg L.P. but will remain a member of the corporation’s board.

At the news conferernce Governor Spitzer played up the symbolism of enlisting a Dutch architecture team to design on an island where the Dutch were the first European settlers in the early 17th century.

Asked whether he was gratified by his involvement in the high-profile project, his first in New York, Mr. van Eyck said, “Look at my face” — and then smiled.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

lofter1

December 20th, 2007, 12:07 AM

Financed by the city and state, the park project is expected to cost about $400 million

and to be completed by 2012.

2012 could be an amazing year in NYC, given the WTC Memorial, this new park, Hudson Yards and any number of other projects which should be completed by then.

pianoman11686

December 20th, 2007, 12:41 AM

Anyone else disappointed by this plan? I was sort of hoping for Hargreaves' proposal to win.

TREPYE

December 21st, 2007, 12:54 AM

Oh, a park....how nice. :cool: So why bother to take a ferry to go see something like Central, Prospect, Flushing, [prospective] Brooklyn Bridge parks?? Nice park and all but nothing really that would make me go out of my way to see it more than maybe once every 2 years.

This park as it is presented now is nice, I guess, but not as spendid as Millenium Park in Chicago. A park as elaborate as that would be more of a mover. :rolleyes:

ZippyTheChimp

December 21st, 2007, 01:07 AM

Jeez, read the thread.

The competition was to pick a design for the island's park space, not the full development.

TREPYE

December 21st, 2007, 10:50 AM

Pipe down Chimpy.:) Why dont you read the post with a lil more comprehension...

This park as it is presented now...

BigMac

December 21st, 2007, 11:11 AM

Downtown Express
December 21, 2007

Governor, mayor spin new island idea on Governors

By Julie Shapiro

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_241/bikes.gif
The winning plan for Governors Island, designed by West 8, includes free wooden bicycles.

Free bicycles and hills made from recycled demolished buildings might be coming to Governors Island, but not for a few more years at least.

The firm West 8 won the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation competition to design 90 acres of park space on the island, including a two-mile promenade. Governor Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the choice Wednesday morning, after a jury of officials, nonprofit directors and business leaders selected West 8’s plan.

“The commitment to open space is really what I’m excited about,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told Downtown Express. “With a view of Downtown Manhattan and a view of the Statue of Liberty…it’s a nice place to sit and think, have peace and quiet and great views.”

The West 8 design, as presented last June, includes pathways inspired by dragonfly wings and manmade hills to provide elevated views. Free wooden bicycles will be available for visitors to ride. On the culture side, the design includes a ballet school, an art gallery and a culinary institute — and, for a break from all the activity, a floating bar.

But many previously announced plans for the island have never come to fruition and if this one is implemented, New Yorkers will still have to wait a while to take advantage of it. Construction won’t start for at least a year or two, and there is no finish date. The next step is to complete the designs and do environmental impact studies, Silver said.

There is no projected price tag for the project, but the state and city will split the construction costs 50-50, Spitzer and Bloomberg said.

“All the funds needed for the next two years are there,” Spitzer said, adding that those funds will cover the design and environmental review. The construction is further off and so money is not allocated in budgets yet, but “We will be there,” Spitzer said. “Both the city and the state are committed to making it happen and we will.”

The delays in progress on Governors Island have made skeptics of many locals — including Silver.

“I’m one of those people who has been skeptical in the past about grand plans on Governors Island,” Silver said. “I’m not skeptical about this plan because it deals with public open space portions of the island,” not a comprehensive plan for the whole island. Now that the park plans are in place, Silver is confident that development on the rest of the island will continue as well.

City Councilmember Alan Gerson, whose district includes Governors Island, released a statement praising the design but criticizing the selection process.

“It is sadly ironic that an island cited for its role in the development of our democracy would now be developed outside of our full democratic process,” Gerson said in the statement. He urged GIPEC to involve the City Council and put the project through the city’s land use review process.

The community has reached a consensus on the amenities the island should have, Gerson said, including passive recreation, sports fields, science and technology facilities and a museum of the island’s history.

On Wednesday, Spitzer and Bloomberg also announced the nomination of Avi Schick as chairperson of GIPEC, a post currently occupied by Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who is resigning at the end of the year. Schick, the president of the Empire State Development Corp., is also chairperson of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

The West 8 design team includes Rogers Marvel Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Quennell Rothschild and SMWM.

© 2007 Community Media, LLC

ZippyTheChimp

December 21st, 2007, 11:30 AM

Pipe down Chimpy.:) Why dont you read the post with a lil more comprehension...That nastiness was uncalled for.

You stated:

Oh, a park....how nice. So why bother to take a ferry to go see something like Central, Prospect, Flushing, [prospective] Brooklyn Bridge parks?Expecting something more than a park on a design competition for a park?

Whether people will bother taking a ferry to the island is an incomplete picture.

If you don't want to be misunderstood, do a better job of constructing posts.

**If you have anything more to say to me about this, send a PM.

lofter1

December 21st, 2007, 11:44 AM

If folks don't go in droves then it would be just fine by me ...

More peace, more quite, more respite from the big City :)

pianoman11686

December 21st, 2007, 06:51 PM

^^Plus, the Federal Government put specific restrictions on the type of uses (non-commercial) that would be permissible on the island following the $1 transaction...

The more I think about what to do with the north end of the island, the more I feel a small liberal arts college with an experimental, sustainable-community type of mission would create a unique attraction. Throw in a traditional, small-scaled main street, some working farms, maybe a mill, and you might have something. Something that would compel people to take a ferry ride and spend more than an hour walking around the promenade.

ZippyTheChimp

December 22nd, 2007, 09:57 AM

^
Have you been to the island? The historic district does have a campus atmosphere.

http://www.west8.nl/images/dbase/219_large.jpg

TREPYE

December 22nd, 2007, 06:00 PM

You stated:
Expecting something more than a park on a design competition for a park?

Yes. Something more original....like Millenium Park, where there is a theme of park space and undulating art intertwined. This plan as it is presented now is not much different than other parks (that I mentioned in the previous post) that you do not need to take a ferry to get to. That was my point.

Whether people will bother taking a ferry to the island is an incomplete picture.

It is, and thats why I am still holding out hope that they do come up with something a lil more scintillating than what they have now.

pianoman11686

December 22nd, 2007, 06:18 PM

^
Have you been to the island? The historic district does have a campus atmosphere.

Nope, haven't gotten around to it yet. But the fact that it already has that "atmosphere" means it would be all the more appropriate to retrofit for academic use. If the institution in question hired an especially good architect, with experience in adaptive re-use and historically-sensitive modern additions, I think they could make it look stunning.

But since it is such "virgin" territory, as of now, I could really picture something even more experimental - in the sustainability category. Just as an example, my campus recently finished funding the construction of a "Smart Home" on site, which some people think heralds the future of single family housing. A "Smart Campus" - complete with its own food, energy, water, and recycling facilities - would fit nicely with the goals of PlaNYC.

BTW, thanks for posting that more detailed map (which I assume incorporates the winning plan). Gives a good perspective of how much of the island they're actually looking to develop.

MidtownGuy

December 22nd, 2007, 06:25 PM

a small liberal arts college

B-O-R-I-N-G. It should be for everyone, not a college campus (probably with expensive tuition). Ewww! College campuses are boring and sterile, and exclusionary by definition. We need exciting and diverse uses for everyone, not just rarefied 'intellectuals'.
Putting a college there is a really lousy, shortsighted, bougie idea. No thanks!
Who the hell would visit that? Parents dropping off?

ZippyTheChimp

December 22nd, 2007, 06:48 PM

We're talking about the northern third of the island, which is a historic district.

MidtownGuy

December 22nd, 2007, 07:07 PM

Yes, and I reiterate that I would not want to see the northern historic district become a college. I would rather have those buildings put to more inclusive use instead of becoming the realm of students and faculty at a private institution.

pianoman11686

December 22nd, 2007, 09:24 PM

B-O-R-I-N-G. It should be for everyone, not a college campus (probably with expensive tuition). Ewww! College campuses are boring and sterile, and exclusionary by definition. We need exciting and diverse uses for everyone, not just rarefied 'intellectuals'.
Putting a college there is a really lousy, shortsighted, bougie idea. No thanks!
Who the hell would visit that? Parents dropping off?

I didn't just say "a college campus." In fact, I doubt any regular college would want to open up a campus in such a location. There would need to be something unique about its mission that resonates with the vision for Governors Island. Hence my preliminary ideas about experimentation with sustainability (and I don't just mean LEED certification).

I don't know about you, but I've personally not experienced college campuses as "exclusionary." Most are very open to the public, and give tours year-round. And where they work well, "college towns" function as great incubators of creative and small businesses - and bring in a wide variety of people from the surrounding area for various reasons. Since New York doesn't have a real college town atmosphere adjacent to any of its major campuses, I felt this might be a good place for it.

What else would you suggest that would make good use of the existing historic "campus"? Or would you prefer to start from scratch?

MidtownGuy

December 23rd, 2007, 01:06 AM

Most are very open to the public, and give tours year-round

The opportunity to join a tour? :D Cute, but hardly what I mean, piano.

Seriously, they aren't usually open, you need a student pass to get through doors, gates, and so forth, and it needs to be that way for security. Plus they just aren't a very enticing destination unless you're in a place like Fredonia and the Student Union is the most exciting show in town.
I wasn't aware that the absence of a "college town feeling", whatever that means, is a hole that needs to be filled. Students don't come here for a simulation of life in Syracuse.

What else would you suggest that would make good use of the existing historic "campus"?
I thought I already made that clear, anything that all New Yorkers could enjoy and be drawn to, of course. A qualification not met, IMO, by a college regardless of how many tours they are willing to schedule.

pianoman11686

December 23rd, 2007, 01:19 AM

The opportunity to join a tour? :D Cute, but hardly what I mean, piano.

Seriously, they aren't usually open, you need a student pass to get through doors, gates, and so forth, and it needs to be that way for security. Plus they just aren't a very enticing destination unless you're in a place like Fredonia and the Student Union is the most exciting show in town.

Why consider anything else I said? Just shoot down the idea by ridiculing the tour.

Did I actually ever suggest that people would want to go on these tours? No: I meant it as an illustration that campuses are not "exclusionary."

I don't know how many campuses you've visited, but the ones I've been to (including the one I attend) have almost constant events that draw in members of the surrounding community: everything from concerts organized by students, or given by visiting performers; special museum exhibitions and art shows; sporting events; sponsored public speaker events; book readings, fundraisers, fairs, heck, even Mass. Colleges are, in most of their communities, the BIGGEST part of the community. You seem to think they're isolated, and more like a private estate. They're just not.

I wasn't aware that the absence of a "college town feeling", whatever that means, is a hole that needs to be filled. Students don't come here for a simulation of life in Syracuse.

Did I say it was a hole? No - I said it's not something we have adjacent to any existing colleges. If this hypothetical college were to have its own "town", it could be a unique drawing point for students, and visitors alike. You're constantly bemoaning the lack of retail diversity in this town. I would have thought you'd welcome the idea of an alternative retail destination - one without the requisite bank branch on every corner.

I thought I already made that clear, anything that all New Yorkers could enjoy and be drawn to, of course. A qualification not met, IMO, by a college regardless of how many tours they are willing to schedule.

Like I said, you've already got the park, and there are designated areas for development on the southern end of the island. What do you do about the historic North end that's interesting enough to draw in New Yorkers?

MidtownGuy

December 23rd, 2007, 02:42 AM

Arts and cultural spaces, entertainment and generally fun stuff.:)

BPC

December 25th, 2007, 11:29 PM

It should be a CUNY campus. The setting is perfect for a college campus, but I agree that this is public space, so turning it over to a private college would be wrong. Now, if only one of CUNY's many rich and successful alums would just pony up the money to build the campus, we would be good to go.

Clarknt67

December 28th, 2007, 11:29 AM

I'm not disappointed by the plan AT ALL. My greatest hope was this island would remain an open access park for all New Yorkers and it looks like they've done a great job ensuring that will be the case. Love the change in topography, if the rock climbing feature materializes, I'll be very psyched. This looks like it will be a beautiful jewel in the City's crown.

Oh, a park....how nice. So why bother to take a ferry to go see something like Central,
I guess it's a matter of perspective, from where I live in Brooklyn Heights, it will be easier access than Central, or even Prospect. I did hear Brian Leher show on NPR and one of the selection committee members mentioned that what won them over to 8 West was the idea that their plan was to distinguish THIS park from other parks in the city. You can probably download that from NPR.org.

MidtownGuy

December 30th, 2007, 05:50 PM

I agree, the topography is brilliant.

brianac

January 31st, 2008, 05:14 AM

NYU wants to build campus on Governors Island

By Catherine Contiguglia

After years of speculation and debate, New York University has finally announced its intentions to build a campus of up to 1 million square feet on Governors Island.

The university had often hinted at its interest in the island, but had never confirmed any intention to build there until it unveiled details of its 25-year, six-million-square-foot expansion plans to the press today.

Although the university has not yet released any renderings of a Governors Island campus, university officials said the campus would include both academic and residential buildings, as well as athletic facilities.

"We're trying to determine what would be something we could put out there," said William Haas, the director of planning at NYU.

Lynne Brown, NYU's senior vice president for university relations and public affairs, said the university had been approached by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the city and state agency known as GIPEC, and began a serious discussion last May. The agency also talked to several other institutions, and Brown said it would not issue a formal request for proposals until this summer at the earliest.

Brown said that while developing the island would present some difficulties with infrastructure and transportation, its potential was worth the extra planning.

"It's a tremendous asset," Brown said.

Cathy Simon, an SMWM architect working with NYU on its expansion plans, said the island's natural beauty and versatility made it an ideal site.

"I think it would be a perfect setting for an academic institution," Simon said.

NYU plans to discuss its expansion plans, which also include possible sites in Brooklyn, at an open house for students and the Greenwich Village community. Earlier today, it announced at a press conference with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer that it would work with the community to limit the impact of the expansion of its main Washington Square campus.

Copyright 2008 The Real Deal

MidtownGuy

January 31st, 2008, 10:05 AM

The monster that swallowed the village, now they want Governors Island too.
I wish the Earth would open up and swallow NYU, it's like a festering tumor. Sickening.

NYatKNIGHT

January 31st, 2008, 10:30 AM

Do they have their sites set on every park in the city? Let me guess, they want to move all the existing structures 20 feet to the right so they align with the Statue of Liberty.

lofter1

January 31st, 2008, 12:20 PM

If NYU wants to attempt something on Governor's Island then they should address the transporation issue -- as it seems NYU students do not like to walk more than a couple of blocks but rather insist upon traveling in fume-spewing, noise-belching purple busses :( .

Maybe NYU could add some similar noisy & disgusting water taxis out to the new campus on GI -- and paint them NYU purple :( just so all those oh-so-bright college kids will know which one to get on when traveling to and from their new classrooms.

:(

pianoman11686

February 2nd, 2008, 03:49 AM

I'll reserve judgment on NYU until I see concrete plans and, specifically, how they intend to integrate with the rest of the island.

Clarknt67

March 13th, 2008, 07:19 PM

I'm down with NYU idea. I've thought the captain's row and other colonial buildings, along with the HUUUUUGE barrack building would be perfect for a college, so long as the public is allowed to freely roam the grounds. IMO, it's a great way to maximize the numbers of people who can enjoy the history and architecture there. With a big institution like NYU, there is persumably less risk of the building falling into disrepair or neglect. Major University's are usually good stewards of their property. At least better than everyone else (private ownership, corporate or government).

To clarify, a university insures every four years (or less) a full new set of fresh eyes will be there to appreciate the beauty of the Island.

NYC4Life

June 18th, 2008, 05:36 PM

From: The Real Deal

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/governors-island-demolition-to-begin

Updated On 06/18/08 at 04:14PM
Governors Island demolition to begin

http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/39700/vision_for_future_governors_island_midsize.jpg

By Sarah Ryley

After years of debate and anticipation, demolition to make way for redevelopment on Governors Island is finally slated to begin this week, said Leslie Koch, president of the city and state agency overseeing the former military base's transformation.

A Super 8 motel will be the first building to come down, replaced by a stage in time for the New York Philharmonic's free July 5 performance on the 12-acre parade grounds.

Koch acknowledged that with only $20 million in capital finds budgeted this year, and with worsening economic conditions, it will be difficult to secure the more than $200 million needed to build what has been dubbed the "Park at the Center of the World."

So far, there's only money for the plan's first phase, which includes a master plan and environmental review, the demolition of 13 buildings, and a basic re-landscaping of cleared land, she said.

Along with the motel, another ten buildings, including an elementary school and the Bachelor Officers Quarters, are also slated for demolition this year.

All were built in the 1970s and 80s to for the 3,500 people who lived on the island and the 1,500 additional people who came to work there every day. The motel was built in 1986 to accommodate families visiting U.S. Coast Guard members stationed on the island. Other amenities included a barbershop, movie theater and Burger King.

After operating as a military base from 1800 until 1966, the island was vacated in 1997 when the Coast Guard left.

After the federal government turned the island over to the city and state in 2003, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation first attempted to choose a development team before starting construction on a modern park, and received bids that included a Nickelodeon resort theme park and a CUNY campus.

But with the island's enormous infrastructure needs, the agency decided to complete the park first to generate broader interest from developers.

The Real Deal reported (http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/nyu-wants-to-build-campus-on-governors-island) in January that the agency had discussions with New York University and several other institutions about submitting a formal bid when a new request for proposals is issued. And Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he wants to fund, with his own money, a heath think tank there.

Adriaan Geuze of West 8, the landscape architecture firm chosen last year to design 90 acres of public open space planned for Governors Island, estimated yesterday that the "backbone" of the park's master plan would take four or five years to finish, and the entire park 15 years.

Koch said Geuze's estimated timetable is "philosophical" because it would be impossible to predict future funding as the city and state must prioritize several projects in the face of anticipated shortfalls.

Among the landscape additions envisioned are a summer park with blossoms, sculpture forest, marsh, hills lined with rock climbing walls and a new promenade encircling the island.

The design team also includes Rogers Marvel, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Quennell Rothschild and SMWM.??

Governors Island, in its third season open to the public, has already drawn an estimated 5,000 people every weekend to its bucolic parks, twice last year's average. Regular free events are held, art installations are on view and a new public school is under construction.

This weekend the island will be called Punk Island as part of the citywide Make Music New York festival, while next weekend it will host an arts festival. And one of four temporary waterfalls by artist Olafur Eliasson will be at the entrance until mid-October.?

stache

July 25th, 2008, 04:39 PM

I'm guessing there's a thread about this somewhere...(?) I went there this afternoon and it's well worth the trip. Lots of trees and lawns so even the young ones in your family would enjoy it if you bring along a ball for play. The Manhattan views aren't so hot but you can see Jersey City & Brooklyn quite well. You might want to bring a sandwich as the food offerings there didn't seem very good to me. I took a wrap :cool:. It took me approx 90 minutes to walk the perimeter and do a bit of gawking. I would say give yourself four hours including waiting time for the ferry etc. Or you could easily stay there all day and take a snooze on the grass!

lofter1

July 25th, 2008, 06:06 PM

On Fridays at GI they have free bikes you can "borrow" (but you need to use a CC for deposit).

Shortens that 90-minute walk down to a brisk 30-minute ride.

More time for snoozing on the grass ;)

stache

August 1st, 2008, 07:44 PM

I went back to do the bike thing today. They actually want a driver's license, or similar state photo id. They do not want a credit card for the free period, which is an hour. Bring along a ball point pen, to fill out the carbonless paper form. It will save you some aggravation.

Triborough

August 4th, 2008, 04:30 PM

My biggest problem with Governors Island is all the neat abandoned stuff is in the off limits area. Otherwise it is worth the trip.

The National Parks Service does a tour. I did it last year and did a write up for Gothamist (http://gothamist.com/2007/09/01/gothamist_visit_1.php).

Also, you can bring your own bike.

stache

August 4th, 2008, 06:06 PM

but it's worth the trip just for a little peace & quiet. :cool: Also I found good Manhattan views at the water side of Castle William and by the bike rental place. ;)

scumonkey

August 5th, 2008, 03:38 PM

Does anybody know if they allow fishing on GI?
I love to fish for stripers and blues, but lately at BP
it's gotten outta control with a lot of non local unsavory s!

stache

August 5th, 2008, 04:31 PM

You could try calling 311.

lofter1

August 5th, 2008, 08:28 PM

or there's always the google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7RNWE&q=%22governors+island%22+fishing&btnG=Search) ...

Gone Fishing: Governors Island makes room for fishermen and women (http://govislandblog.com/2008/06/24/gone-fishing-governors-island-makes-room-for-fishermen-and-women/)

Governor’s Island blog (http://govislandblog.com/)
June 24, 2008
by Chris

This summer marks the first season that Governors Island (http://govislandblog.com/about-governors-island/) has opened its shores to
people interested in fishing. There are many locations open for the sport (http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_things_to_do/facilities/af_fishing.html)in all boroughs
of New York City, but none are quite like ours. This Island boasts views of Manhattan’s
skyline, and the Statue of Liberty, like no where else on land. Also, as we are at the
foot of Manhattan’s Battery, we sit right at the intersection of both the East River,
and the Hudson River. Along our shores are both churning tides, and calm waters, where fish
are sure to congregate. So come out to Governors Island with your fishing pole and gear (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=fishing&near=New+York,+NY&fb=1&view=text&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=4&ct=more-results&cd=1),
and enjoy a nice day on the water, looking over at the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline,
and Ellis Island!

Kayaks, Fishermen, Mini Golf, Eric Bibb and More! (http://govislandblog.com/2008/07/29/kayaks-fishermen-mini-golf-eric-bibb-and-more/)

scumonkey

August 5th, 2008, 10:03 PM

^Sometimes when I'm feeling lazy, I find that using "Lofter" is the easiest ;)
Thanks...Great News!

lofter1

August 5th, 2008, 11:06 PM

And sometimes I like being used.

Then there's those other times ...

NYatKNIGHT

August 6th, 2008, 12:54 PM

Weird to say "fishermen and women" like they're seeking those two groups, though I suppose fisherwomen is even more weird. Fisherperson?

lofter1

August 6th, 2008, 06:18 PM

'twould have been so much simpler if they'd used piscatorialist -- covers all bases :cool: .

brianac

August 16th, 2008, 07:17 AM

Governors Island

Brooklyn, Seeing a Slight, Battles for an Island

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/08/16/nyregion/thecity/17governors01_600.ready.jpg Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
It's a long journey to the island from Red Hook.

By JOHN EISCHEID
Published: August 15, 2008

MUCH activity is on tap for Governors Island next weekend, when that 172-acre patch of land midway between Manhattan and Brooklyn celebrates its role in the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Brooklyn. But Brooklyn residents who live just 400 yards away might have considerable trouble making their way to the festivities.

From Red Hook, the Brooklyn neighborhood closest to Governors Island, residents who live on the waterfront must take a bus, two subways and a ferry to reach the island for a trip that can take an hour and a half. By contrast, the island is a seven-minute ferry ride from the southern tip of Manhattan.

Even before Governors Island reopened to the public two summers ago, Brooklyn community leaders lamented its near inaccessibility.

The arduous trek is at the heart of a long-running dispute over which borough can claim bragging rights to the island and what role Brooklyn should play in its redevelopment. Although the island is legally part of Manhattan, its sewage and water pipes pass through Brooklyn. As a result, some irate Brooklynites regard their borough as the service entrance, Manhattan as the front door and Governors Island as the parlor where the influential entertain their guests.

“If we’re going to be providing the service, we want more than to be the back door,” said Jerry Armer, a former chairman of Community Board 6, which includes Red Hook.

In 2003, the board proposed an arrangement similar to the one in which Manhattan and Queens share Roosevelt Island. Such a plan would require a change to the City Charter, and nearly five years ago, the board asked Mayor Bloomberg (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) to make that change and to provide additional money for Brooklyn’s role in supporting the development of the island. The board never got a response.

In the letter, the board warned that unless the island were shared, “Governors Island easily could become the exclusive preserve for Manhattan visitors, while Brooklyn residents are left out.”

And that, community leaders say, is what appears to be happening. The New York Water Taxi’s ferry between Red Hook and Governors Island was canceled last summer, according to Tom Fox, the president of the company, because necessary subsidies from the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the state and city entity responsible for oversight of the island, were not available.

The mayor’s office did not respond to two telephone calls and two e-mail messages about the matter from a reporter. But in 2006, the mayor did seem to have the island’s accessibility in mind when he proposed a futuristic, $125 million elevated gondola system linking Brooklyn to Manhattan by way of Governors Island. A feasibility study of that plan has yet to be completed.

“While they won’t say no,” said Craig Hammerman, the district manager of Community Board 6, “by default, by inaction, they’re telling us they’re not interested.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/nyregion/thecity/17gove.html?ref=thecity

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

Triborough

August 16th, 2008, 08:57 PM

The Water Taxi option to/from Red Hook was quite nice last year. It is a shame they didn't pony up the funding for it again. The nice thing was it gave another option for getting off the island. For me I decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Red Hook because of it.

brianac

October 9th, 2008, 06:54 PM

October 9, 2008, 5:15 pm

Invitation to a Demolition, on Governors Island

By Sewell Chan (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/author/sewell-chan/)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/09/nyregion/libertyvillage-533.jpg
The 10 three-story buildings of Liberty Village, long vacant, will be demolished to make way for a planned park on the southern end of Governors Island. (Photos: Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation)

When buildings in New York City are demolished, the public reaction can range from joy (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E6DE1439F932A35754C0A9669C8B 63) to grief (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/11/sunday/main525288.shtml). Rarely, though, is the public invited to actually watch. At noon Friday, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (http://www.govisland.com/) will do just that, opening the island to visitors as giant machines destroy a complex of 10 three-story buildings known as Liberty Village.

The buildings were built in 1988 as housing for the Coast Guard, which stopped using the island in 1996. The federal government transferred the island to the state and city of New York in 2003.

The land will eventually be part of a 90-acre open space envisioned for the island (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/an-elusive-island-of-good-intentions/) under a design competition that ended last December.

“In opening up the southern half of the island, we’re giving the Statue of Liberty back to New York,” said Leslie Koch, president of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation. “We’re the closest place on land from which you can see the Statue of Liberty’s face. We’re demolishing these buildings to open up green space and let people bike around.”

She noted that the buildings had no architectural or historical significance and that there was no practical way to convert them for a public function.

The long-abandoned buildings look rather grim, and Ms. Koch said that visitors would be able to watch as they were destroyed by a giant excavator known as the Cat 330 LRD, equipped with a demolition grapple.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/09/nyregion/libertyvillage-190.jpg
Liberty Village, with the harbor in the background.

“It’ll be as if the machine is gobbling up the building before your eyes, and where that building was, there’ll be lawn in a few months,” Ms. Koch said.

The design competition included the selection of a five-member (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/design-team-picked-for-governors-island-park/) to transform the southern, nonhistoric part of the island into a 90-acre public space, including a 40-acre park. But financing for the project remains uncertain — and could be hard to come by as the state and city are grappling with mounting deficits. So far, about $120 million in public financing has been invested.

One bit of good news is that public awareness of Governors Island — open to the public (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/slide-show-summer-is-nearing-an-end-on-governors-island/) each summer since 2004 — has been steadily increasing.

The island had 26,000 visitors in 2006, 56,000 in 2007 and about 120,000 so far this year. This weekend will be the last time this year that the island is open to the public.

Ms. Koch said she expected a good crowd for the demolition event.

She recalled: “When I told a visitor to the island that he could bring his grandson, I said, ‘This’ll be perfect for a 4-year-old boy.’ He said, ‘What about a 66-year-old man?’”

The 172-acre island lies a mere 800 yards — a seven-minute ferry ride — from the tip of Lower Manhattan.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/governors-island-invites-public-to-watch-demolition/

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

brianac

October 11th, 2008, 05:19 AM

Ushering In Open Space on Governors Island

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/11/nyregion/11island01-600.jpg Michael Appleton for The New York Times
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, right, attended the start of demolition work to make way for new park space on Governors Island.

By MARTIN ESPINOZA
Published: October 10, 2008

In New York, where demolition and construction occur at a furious pace, often amid the cries of competing interests, hardly a peep was heard on Friday afternoon when a giant steel claw began to tear through a set of unremarkable three-story buildings on Governors Island.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/11/nyregion/11island02-650.jpgMichael Appleton for The New York Times
Steve and Theresa Petersen used to live in the Coast Guard complex being torn down, and came from Michigan to watch.

A couple dozen spectators quietly cheered the beginning of a project that will turn eight acres of the island into park space by next year. But Theresa Petersen, who drove all the way from Michigan with her husband, Steve, gazed at the destruction occurring before her eyes and began to shed tears.

“We were the first people to live there after they were built,” said Mr. Petersen, holding a video camera. They lived in a four-bedroom apartment with their three children in one of the buildings when Mr. Peterson was stationed on Governors Island as a chief warrant officer with the United States Coast Guard (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/us_coast_guard/index.html?inline=nyt-org).

The 10 buildings that began to come down on Friday made up Liberty Village, housing built in 1988 for Coast Guard officers. The Coast Guard stopped using the island in 1996, and since the last residents left the next year, the buildings have been vacant. The federal government transferred the site to the state and city of New York in 2003, at which time more than 20 acres on the north end of the island were turned over to the National Park Service (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_park_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org). This area includes Fort Jay and Castle Williams.

The rest of the 172-acre island, including a 92-acre historic landmark district to the north, is run by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation and includes 16 acres of recreational areas and a one-mile esplanade for jogging and walking.

The buildings of Liberty Village will be replaced by a picnic area, and the project will for the first time open up the island’s entire 2.2-mile perimeter to bicyclists and pedestrians.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said that the city expected more than 125,000 people to have visited the island by the time the island’s season, which begins in May, ends on Sunday, some of them drawn by one of the waterfall installations by the artist Olafur Eliasson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/olafur_eliasson/index.html?inline=nyt-per), on the island’s north end. In contrast, he said, only half that number of people visited the island in 2007.

Barbara Blackwood, a 65-year-old Astoria resident, said she visits the island once a week. The retired chambermaid used a walker to slowly make her way down the island from the ferry terminal to see her first demolition. She said she is eager to see the entire island converted for recreational use. “It’s open to the public, and you can see all these houses — things that were built in 1812. My God,” she said, stopping to take a breath.

Mr. Bloomberg said that by the time the island reopens next spring, new amenities will include a seasonal entertainment and dining venue on the north end of the island. The site will also have artists studios and space for art exhibitions, he said. Other plans for the island include a new home for the 425-student New York Harbor School, a public high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn, that focuses on marine science and technology.

Despite her sorrow, Mrs. Petersen said she was glad that the apartments where she once lived would be turned into a picnic area.

Mrs. Petersen watched as a huge excavator, fitted with a powerful grapple on the end of its black boom, shredded the blue roof gable and white porch where she often visited friends and other families almost 20 years ago. Her former building is scheduled to be demolished soon.

The Petersens said those few years living on Governors Island were, for them, the “ideal way to experience New York City.” They had a commissary, a bowling alley, a golf course, a Burger King, a movie theater and a school that went up to sixth grade. Meanwhile, the world-famous novelty of Manhattan’s urban frenzy was a mere minutes away by ferry.

The building they were watching come down, in grinding twists of metal and loud cracks of posts and plywood, was where a friend of their daughter had lived. They said they had not been back since 1991, when Mr. Petersen was transferred to Michigan.

“It’s just very sad to see it happen,” Mrs. Petersen said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/nyregion/11island.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

NYC4Life

October 20th, 2008, 06:47 PM

NY Times

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to Run Artists’ Space on Governors Island

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/20/arts/Gov650.jpg

Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

Governors Island, above, will be home to a year-round artists’ studio and exhibition space

By ROBIN POGREBIN (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/robin_pogrebin/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: October 19, 2008

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has been selected to run an artists’ studio and exhibition space on Governors Island that will include a year-round artist residency and weekend events.

The arts programming is expected to begin next spring in 14,000 square feet of space on the ground floor of a building on the island’s north shore. Building 110 is the “first building you see when you arrive” by ferry from Manhattan, said Leslie Koch, president of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation.

The selection of the council is the latest effort to transform the 172-acre island in New York Harbor into a destination that is an integral part of city life.

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council is perhaps best known for its work on rejuvenating the arts downtown after the terrorist attacks of 2001. But it also has extensive experience with studio programs, having brought artists into donated spaces around the city, beginning in 1997 with its World Views program at the World Trade Center.

Ms. Koch said the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, established in 2003 to oversee the redevelopment, saw the arts as crucial to melding the island into the city’s dense urban culture.

“We’re learning from other neighborhoods in New York, where artists come first,” Ms. Koch said.

Last December a team of architects was selected to design a 40-acre park on the island’s southern half: the New York firms Diller Scofidio & Renfro, Rogers Marvel Architects, Quennell Rothschild & Partners, SMWM of San Francisco and the Dutch firm West 8. A master plan for the park is to be released in the spring.

Construction is also under way on a building for the New York Harbor School, a Bushwick, Brooklyn, public high school that will be the first permanent tenant on the island. It is expected to open there in the fall of 2010.

To solicit proposals for the island’s arts programming, the corporation said, it notified every arts organization that receives funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and from the city’s department of cultural affairs, Ms. Koch said. She declined to name the other applicants.

Maggie Boepple, president of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, said the island location would provide artistic inspiration. “It’s an extraordinary island,” she said. “The ability to step on a ferry and go to the middle of New York and have this relatively quiet place is going to produce some interesting work.”

The artists will keep bankers’ hours on the island: Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. (No overnight stays are permitted.) But during the island’s “public access” season — from the end of May to mid-October — artists will also be in their studios from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

During this year’s public-access season, which ended on Oct. 12, Governors Island received a record 128,000 visitors.

“As we look at Governors Island development over time, the first phase has to build on the success we’re already having with visitors,” Ms. Koch said.

Providing weekend cultural activity for the public is part of the cultural council’s mission at Governors Island. Events will include master classes, open rehearsals, workshops and open-air performances. “There has to be a program of exhibition and site-specific work and open studios,” Ms. Koch said.

The building is to have 30 artist studios and three rehearsal studios, Ms. Boepple said. The council plans to have up to three performing-artist, dance or theater ensembles and up to 20 visual artists in the studios at one time. Residencies will last three weeks in the public-access season and three months the rest of the year. Artists will be selected by a panel of experts. The $1.5 million cost of restoring the program’s space is to be covered by the corporation. The cultural council will pay no rent for the space, but will be responsible for annual operating expenses like heat, insurance and electricity, estimated at $250,000.

“We believe very passionately that the arts are critical to our success, that we provide a unique setting for artists to interpret,” Ms. Koch said.

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

brianac

March 12th, 2009, 08:50 PM

Bloomberg Grabbing for Governors Island, Brooklyn Bridge Park

By Eliot Brown (http://www.observer.com/author/eliot-brown/)
March 12, 2009 | 3:41 p.m

http://www.observer.com/files/full/governorsisland_2.jpg

Mayor Bloomberg is seeking to grab control of Governors Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park, pushing the Paterson administration aside in an attempt to spur progress on the two projects, both of which would create new real estate development and public parkland.

As part of the mayor’s plan, his administration would take money it invested in the Javits Center (the city and state each have committed $300 million for a major expansion that was subsequently scaled down) and put it toward Governors Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“We would use that money to continue to develop these two things which are great parts of the city and the city has more of an interest,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters Thursday. “I think the state government has their own problems. It’s a good deal for the state. If not, they can take them over or close them down.”

The power grab exhibits some of the frustration the Bloomberg administration has had with the governor’s office over numerous slow-moving economic development projects requiring billions in public spending.

The Javits Center has not expanded as the Spitzer administration re-evaluated a much-criticized Pataki administration plan; and Moynihan Station has made little or no progress, effectively, since Governor Pataki left office.

Control over Governors Island, the 172-acre former Coast Guard base where officials hope to ultimately create commercial development and a signature park, is shared between the city and the state. Brooklyn Bridge Park, a set of piers near Brooklyn Heights slated to be transformed into a park with adjacent residential towers, is controlled by the state, though funded by both governments.

A spokeswoman for Governor Paterson did not signal a position on the issue either way, saying the state is working with the city on the issue.

THE COUP (OR SWAP) attempt comes as there is uncertainty over the fate of Governors Island, given that the governor’s proposed budget does not include any money for the agency that operates the island. The agency, and also the summer ferry service that brings visitors to the island over the summer, would shut down April 1 without money in the budget. Supporters of the mayor’s plan said at a public meeting on Governors Island on Thursday that even if money does ultimately come through this year, the uncertainty is bad for the project, and the city/state split is not working. If the Bloomberg administration assumed control, it could show progress thanks to the Javits funds, it reasons, rather than the relatively slow pace that the development has experienced to date (http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/albany-pace-governors-island).

Brooklyn Bridge Park is moving along at a faster pace as construction is starting, though the city has wanted to see more state money go into the project. It now has a price tag of $350 million but only a budget of $230 million (it also requested around $150 million in stimulus money to replace aging piles, a cost that could ultimately be borne locally (http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/6/32_6_mm_bbp.html)).

With regard to Governors Island, the state-appointed chairman of the island’s governing board, Avi Schick, sought to brush aside fears that the island would shut down.

“Governors Island will be open this summer,” he said flatly, speaking to reporters Thursday morning, adding that the governor “remains committed” to the island. He said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, with whom he has a good relationship, is behind this project and would be pushing for it in the final state budget.

Whether or not the trade happens will depend on the governor, though he and the mayor have had discussions about it before, apparently with no resolution. The governor’s economic development chief, Marisa Lago, reacted coolly to the concept Thursday. “I don’t think there is a major initiative that hasn’t involved a multiplicity of different actors," she said.

It is unclear what the mayor’s suggestion to use Javits Center funds would mean for the convention center. Right now, the Javits Center is paying for a recently approved renovation with funds from a hotel tax levied in order to pay for an expansion. Without the city’s money, the convention center would not be able to afford the expansion currently envisioned (http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/another-shift-state-wants-expand-javits-40th-street)—about 160,000 square feet—though the city contends that expansion would not happen for years anyway, at which point it could add funds. It also would shift far more financial burden onto the city, especially if it adds additional money to Javits further down the line.

http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/bloomberg-grabbing-governors-island-brooklyn-bridge-park

Copyright The New York Observer.

stache

June 19th, 2009, 06:19 PM

This year you can walk/bike around the entire perimeter of the island. You can catch some good end of the world/urban decay too! :cool:

meesalikeu

June 21st, 2009, 11:28 AM

here's an annotated photo thread from last summer that i did on governor's island:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,17113.0.html

CMANDALA

June 21st, 2009, 03:04 PM

City Of Water Day July 18, 2009

http://www.cityofwaterday.org/

Merry

July 17th, 2009, 08:34 AM

New York’s Island Haven, Secret No More

By COREY KILGANNON

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/07/17/arts/17gove_600.jpg

MARTIN HANAN of Manhattan is tough to please. This is a man who just returned from a Hawaiian vacation with nothing but complaints.

Undeterred, he decided to try another island, so on a recent afternoon he boarded a boat for Governors Island.

The island, a public park open Fridays through Sundays for several years, had only just come to Mr. Hanan’s attention, which is surprising because it lies smack in New York Harbor, maybe 800 yards from the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan. Mr. Hanan himself lives a short bike ride away from those skyscrapers, on the Lower East Side, and has stared out at the island countless times without realizing it.

“I can’t believe it’s so close,” he said as the ferry departed the Battery Maritime Building. Within seven minutes it docked at the island, with its green tree canopy and aging, decrepit buildings. It was old and eerie and strangely beautiful. But how would it rate with a man who panned Hawaii?
“It’s New York’s best-kept secret,” Mr. Hanan, 45, gushed minutes later, while biking along the island’s eastern edge with views of the Buttermilk Channel, the Brooklyn waterfront and the East River bridges.

On a map the 172-acre island can look like a tiny dot that turns skinny Manhattan into an exclamation point. A former military post with roles in the War of 1812, the Civil War and both World Wars, for roughly two centuries it served as a base for the United States Army and Coast Guard, which officially left in 1996.

Since 2003, when Governors Island was passed from the federal government to New York State, its public access areas and visiting hours have steadily increased. This year it is open from May 31 to Oct. 11.

To hear island officials tell it, Governors Island has come of age this summer, with the opening of the southern portion and the 2.2-mile promenade around the perimeter. Also newly opened is Picnic Point, an eight-acre lawn on the southwest corner that features hammocks, picnic tables and what officials declare are the best shore views of the Statue of Liberty. This month a dining and entertainment spot called Water Taxi Beach opened, adjacent to the ferry dock, boasting an ambitious menu and tied in with a nighttime concert series that includes Erykah Badu on Aug. 4 and the B-52s on Aug. 18.

As part of an exhibit it is calling “Plot/09: This World & Nearer Ones,” the public arts group Creative Time has installed pieces around the island, including a sculpture in light by Anthony McCall that casts thin beams of white light down from the ceiling of the otherwise pitch-black St. Cornelius Chapel. It is quite a jarring departure from the brightly sunlit island, and visitors stagger back out into the daylight, shielding their eyes. Near the chapel hanging from a tree is an oversize wind chime — a work by the artist Klaus Weber — dangling and jangling in the breeze. At the long-vacant Fort Jay Theater, a spoof zombie film plays regularly, in a space that seems spookier than any horror movie.

On the lawn near Liggett Hall is an artist-designed 18-hole miniature golf course, with holes inspired by city rooftops, the Cyclone roller coaster and even an electric guitar.

And people are coming. The island attracted more visitors in a three-week period this summer than the 26,000 who visited during the entire 2006 season. On average, in nice weather, 4,000 to 5,000 people visit daily on the weekends, and roughly 1,500 on Fridays, according to the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation. Those figures are based on counts done by ferry officials to make sure the number of people leaving the island matches the number who arrived. (There have been attempts to stay over. Last year security workers found one couple hiding in a closet.)

Even without the special events the island has a lost-in-time appeal, like New York’s very own Twilight Zone. Its northern 92 acres fall under federal and city historic landmark status. There are miles of bike paths; guided tours are available, conducted by rangers from the National Park Service, which oversees part of the island, including Castle Williams and Fort Jay. Or you can wander aimlessly along rows of handsome, if faded, Victorian and Romanesque Revival buildings that once housed military personnel.

On the island’s southern portion the faded barracks and warehouses are fenced off and scheduled for demolition and redevelopment into parkland. Visitors rave about the views here, among them Leslie Koch, president of the Preservation and Education Corporation.

“I sit out on Picnic Point, looking out at the harbor, and think, ‘This is the greatest place in New York,’ ” Ms. Koch said. The plan, she said, is to open the island seven days a week within a few years. Her agency, a public corporation of New York State, is charged with operating and redeveloping much of the property, with city and state funds. The goal is to increase and improve the open space and develop it for a mix of educational and arts facilities and other nonprofit programs, while keeping the improvements and additions unobtrusive.

“It’s a balance: we want to make it more popular but keep its unique quality,” said Ms. Koch, 47, , who grew up on the Upper West Side but says she had never heard of Governors Island until its transfer in 2003, the year she was offered the job.

On a recent Saturday the crowds on the ferry, based on an unscientific survey, looked like a mix of families, couples, foreign tourists, cyclists and hipsters.
Two Manhattanites — Sharon Kahn, a psychology professor, and Barbara Liss, a social worker — said they enjoyed the island.

“It’s a free adventure; even the ferry ride is fun,” Ms. Kahn said. “I’d like to see more concessions, but you don’t want to get too commercialized.”
Asked to give a psychological assessment, Ms. Liss said the island fulfilled a need for people in crowded urban environments to get out of their small apartments. “The city can feel hotter than it is, and something like this is a real relief,” she said.

And what was Ms. Kahn’s professional opinion?

“I like it because it’s one of the few places in New York where you can play miniature golf,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/arts/17governors.html?hp

George Kaplan

August 16th, 2009, 04:35 AM

Oh my goodness! I'm delighted to share my cherished memories of Fort Jay New York where I was stationed in the Army as a draftee from 1961-63. I've started a story of what it was like and wonder if anyone would be interested in reading it? At this point, there'd be no charge because I've found that it is easier to go through the eye of a needle than to get anything like this actually published by the slip-shod sharks. So much for that how, though.

Here then are a few happy memories, to which I shall return. One that was prompted by an article or some headline is that a zombie movie is showing at the fort theater? Oh my goodness. Didja know that the movie, "West Side Story" was sneak-previewed at the Fort Jay theater? Yes indeed. :)

As an Army draftee I was so incredibly fortunate to serve at Fort Jay! I vividly recall my first day off the island. Of course, when you are new to the Army, everything is a big deal and rule are all around you to keep you in line. So I was astounded that after my daily assigned work, I could go into the city!? So I did take the ferry into South Ferry. And being young, carefree and very sound of limb, I walked from South Ferry up to Times Square. Then I took the subway "home." So now, you tired and proven New Yorkers will say, "Big deal. We do that all the time." Well it was a big deal to me.

Bottom line is I've not lost my fascination with this Wonderful Town. And I never shall!

More in later visits to here. God Bless Everyone. :) :)

George Kaplan

August 16th, 2009, 04:38 AM

Thanks for your story on Fort Jay! I was stationed there as an Army draftee from 1961-63. :)

Merry

September 15th, 2009, 09:13 AM

The Underground City on Governors Island

Nick Carr

Today, I finally got on the ferry and went out to Governors Island (http://www.govisland.com/). For you non-New Yorkers, Governors Island is an island located just south of Manhattan and was once used as a military base. An entire complex of buildings, including forts, churches, and army barracks, still remains in excellent condition on the island. Off limits for years, the island has recently been opened up to the public, with free ferries from Manhattan and Brooklyn. I can't recommend it enough: wander the grounds, have a picnic, bike the perimeter, and take in some beautiful views of southern Manhattan.

Though there's a lot to write about, I wanted to focus on something that was simply too amazing to believe: an archaeological dig currently in the process of unearthing an entire town buried beneath Governors Island.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/3917691707_3ff6fa22d1.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917691707/)

Since January, Belgian archaeologists (http://archdig.wordpress.com/) have been working strenuously to excavate the ruins of a former Governors Island hamlet called Goverthing (a bastardization of a Dutch word). With a 400 year history dating back to Manhattan's first settlements, the hamlet was the last civilian colony on Governors Island by the 1950's. In 1954, the town was forcibly evacuated by the city of New York, who had deemed it a safety hazard for a variety of reasons, and effectively had it condemned. As demolition was not an option at the time, the hamlet was simply buried under tens of feet of soil and forgotten.

The town was recently rediscovered accidentally by contractors conducting demolition work on the site to build a park, which has since been canceled in favor of a full excavation of Goverthing. A tour costs $5, and I definitely recommend seeing the incredible work they've done in person. The site is only open through October 11, after which it will be closed for further excavation work.

As you first walk in, you'll first see the top of the town's former water tower sticking out of the dirt:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/3918508952_5a7f603029.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918508952/)

Incredibly, the well beneath it still runs to this day. For this public exhibit, the excavators have attached a make-shift pump to draw water up - and it works! You can try it when you visit and see a stream of water pouring out:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3432/3918510022_e829866456.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918510022/)

As you walk along, you'll see the tops of rusted power line towers poking up from the ground, cables still attached:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2628/3918470294_ed0d38c191.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918470294/)

One can only imagine how deep into the ground they must go:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2460/3917684329_108f12d7a0.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917684329/)

Detail:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/3917723735_9e106bd354.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917723735/)

The centerpiece of the excavation site is the town church (note the chimneys of what are most likely former residences in the foreground):

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/3917687165_b19b71f888.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917687165/)

http://www.scoutingny.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif

I really wish I had taken notes on the history of Goverthing while I was there - it seems to be a bit hard to find any information at all online, for some reason. Apparently, the original weathervane has been removed to protect it from the elements and can be seen in the history exhibit indoors.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2430/3917686119_f2ec3a2d73.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917686119/)

The archaeologists have removed a stained-glass window from one side of the steeple to allow entry to the belfry.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3501/3917690093_996a4a414c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917690093/)

A complex system of bells and chimes can be operated manually, still in full working order:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3455/3917690793_b9c575424c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917690793/)

As you walk the grounds, you start to notice more and more chimneys poking out of the dirt, waiting to be unearthed:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3483/3918475246_5a24f25a7d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918475246/)

Some even have antennas still attached (remember, it was the 1950s when the town was buried, and you needed to get reception somehow back then!):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/3917694473_6b7361f381.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917694473/)

Another chimney:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2576/3918476424_13d82de4cc.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918476424/)

This chimney still has a weathervane attached...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3494/3918486056_d2bc8872b2.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918486056/)

...though it is in a sad state of deterioration from the elements:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2498/3917699553_820ef8b28e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917699553/)

Another chimney:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2621/3917695505_60034f5d1c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917695505/)

You also start to notice street lights as you move to what must have been the town's center:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2590/3917693031_9687fc80ce.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917693031/)

Another streetlight. It's frankly fascinating to think of yourself perched so high up over the remnants of a former town:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/3918485026_f50fb39753.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918485026/)

According to one of the archaeologists that was on site to answer questions, there was a single factory in town during the 1900's, which manufactured snow (remember, it was the 1950's, and year-round snow was difficult to come by back then):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2429/3918487658_36a38ffde0.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918487658/)

The top of two factory chimneys - you can still see "SNO" written on the left one. Also note the two smaller towers in front:

One says "SNOW" (love the dripped paint):

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3435/3917705149_fbcb5a9d4a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917705149/)

The other says "WATER." I'd love to someday take a tour of the snow factory, and hope it is fully unearthed by next summer.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3918489454_26fcf212f9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918489454/)

Perched in the center of the factory roof is this man, who I can only imagine founded the snow factory. Apparently, his light could once be seen all over town.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2624/3917706103_9645985d31.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917706103/)

Ancient birds nests still dot the factory arch. 1950's birds nests?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2675/3918488428_ffbea6f929.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918488428/)

As you make your way along, more significant progress has been made in excavating...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3418/3917703261_c3d8e23f16.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917703261/)

...including a fully exposed gas station:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3424/3918497838_9f0d4f90fa.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918497838/)

Two gas pumps lie half-buried out front:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2496/3918501894_d33db7a183.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918501894/)

I love the colors and the mechanics on this one...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/3918496174_63326abeca.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918496174/)

I also like this one, though I'm not sure how it pumped gas with only a moviola flip book inside:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/3917715883_5b03a17a18.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917715883/)

I also love the 1950's curves and angles of the gas station entrance:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2593/3918497150_431556df31.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918497150/)

Inside, the station is in reasonable shape...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2635/3918498444_9503fe74fa.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918498444/)

...and even features a fully functioning jukebox!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/3918499018_3179934a83.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918499018/)

On the side of the gas station...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2543/3917720009_f5f78f98fd.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917720009/)

...are these bizarre devices, which I can only imagine were phones (remember, it was the 1950's, and phone technology was primitive at best back then):

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/3918699230_5035878be9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918699230/)

Finally, as you are walking out, you'll pass several cars, half-exposed and in a sad state:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3508/3918506080_11c6b1a024.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3918506080/)

Another car. Amazing the city would simply bury them in, and not sell them at auction or something.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2541/3917716919_fb8fc5ec98.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/32277674@N08/3917716919/)

I had an excellent time wandering the excavation site and learning about the history of Goverthing, and at $5, it's a steal. Bring some friends to completely surprise and check it out next time you're on Governors Island. It was easily as thrilling as the time I paid to see the Feejee Mermaid.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-carr/the-underground-city-on-g_b_285641.html?view=print

ablarc

September 15th, 2009, 09:29 AM

Shouldn't some moderator take the apostrophe out of "Governor's Island" in the title of this thread?

It's actually "Governors Island"; and getting it right would make us seem more knowledgable.

lofter1

September 15th, 2009, 10:39 AM

That "Dig" is very clever ...

Touch the history of Governors Island

New Island Festival (http://www.newislandfestival.com/artist/860/compagnie-kaiet)

Archeological Dig (http://www.newislandfestival.com/event/862/archeological-dig)

An amazing archaeological site exclusively open to the public from September 10th till October 11th.

Credits:

The presentation of The Archaeological Dig was made possible through generous funds from Flanders House (http://www.flandershouse.org/), the new cultural forum of Flanders (Belgium) in the United States. Additional funding was made possible by the Flemish Community, the City of Antwerp, JetAirways and G.I.P.E.C. Presented in association with The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation and Flanders House.

From September 10th until October 11th, the site is exclusively open to the public.

Sept. 10 – Sept. 13 the site is open every:
Thursday; 4:00 – 7:15p.m.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday; 11:00a.m. – 7:15p.m.
Last Entrance at 6:45 p.m.

Sept. 17 – Sept. 20 the site is open every:
Thursday; 4:00 – 7:00p.m.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday; 11:00a.m. – 7:00p.m.
Last Entrance at 6:30 p.m.

Sept. 25 – Oct. 11 the site is open every:
Friday: 10.30am – 4pm
Saturday and Sunday: 10.30am – 6pm
Last Entrance half hour before closing.

Admission to the Archeological Dig requires tickets. Ticket prices are as follows:

Adults $5
Children (3-12 years): $3
Children (< 3 years) and surviving residents of the disappeared hamlet: Free

Free with all-access Festival Passport

The archaeological team is lead by Pro. Luc D’Hoe (Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium).

Merry

September 15th, 2009, 10:57 AM

Shouldn't some moderator take the apostrophe out of "Governor's Island" in the title of this thread?

It's actually "Governors Island"; and getting it right would make us seem more knowledgable.

Perhaps this thread can be merged into this (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2952&highlight=governors) one?

ZippyTheChimp

September 15th, 2009, 01:26 PM

Threads merged. Punctuation error self corrected.

scumonkey

September 15th, 2009, 02:46 PM

the town was forcibly evacuated by the city of New York, who had deemed it a safety hazard for a variety of reasons, and effectively had it condemned.
WHY? what makes it safe now?:confused:

MidtownGuy

September 15th, 2009, 03:04 PM

My imagination ran away when I first read this story...images of the hamlet fully unearthed, a 1950's Pompeii with visitors clamoring to get the world's most authentic snaphot of a 1950's town, objects in the same place they were left! I couldn't believe it.

Then I looked for more info, wondering how such a thing had been forgotten, and why it was never reported since January. Well, folks, the reason why is that it's just a bloody art installation:cool:

I feel like a giant balloon that just got popped.

NYatKNIGHT

September 15th, 2009, 03:11 PM

Must get a look at that jukebox!

futurecity

September 15th, 2009, 06:55 PM

Some kind of beautiful harbor bridge (calatrava?) with a people-mover and pedestrian walkway would really integrate this new parkland into the city, much more than a ferry ever could. It would be the new brooklyn bridge of the 21st century. Think of the walks over there!! And no, not that ugly gondola. Something tasteful, with room for an electric tramline and walkway.

Also, such a gem on a major cities doorstep needs to be carefully developed and integrated to draw people and preserve the parkland at the same time. For example, waterfront restaurants would help and that is something NYC lacks.

ZippyTheChimp

September 15th, 2009, 08:43 PM

^
What sort of bridge do you envision?

Keep in mind that the distance between Manhattan and Governors Island is 3000 ft.

For comparison: shoreline to shoreline distance at the Brooklyn Bridge is 1900 ft.

Stroika

September 15th, 2009, 10:07 PM

I know that there were ideas being bandied about regarding a Calatrava-designed gondola ... but I'm not sure if either that or a bridge would make any sense. Governors Island is a surreal, fantastic place; it's like having the Williams College campus a half-mile from Wall Street. I'm all in favor of treating it well.

However, it's really not much of a destination -- other than the beautiful campus buildings and the limited uses their landmarked status could handle, there's not a whole lot to draw people there, especially once summer's over.

I simply can't imagine justifying a $300 million (more? less? it'd be a whole lot of money, at any rate) bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge, fine. But if various congresspeople have called the proposed JFK-Lower Manhattan express train a "train to nowhere," this is truly a bridge to nowhere.

futurecity

September 16th, 2009, 03:16 PM

Nevermind, something visionary, but it seems NY is past the stage of big visionary projects. I would have thought, something with a people mover and a pedestrian walkway -- a very light whispy arch perhaps.

Anyway, if you can't do something with the island to make it an attractive desintation due to landmarking, I suppose its no point in the end. What a waste.

ZippyTheChimp

September 16th, 2009, 03:52 PM

Nevermind, something visionary,I didn't say visionary. I said envision [v. to picture in the mind; imagine]

I would have thought, something with a people mover and a pedestrian walkway -- a very light whispy arch perhaps.So, basically a pedestrian bridge?

It would work on the Brooklyn side, with a shorter distance. On the Manhattan side, it would have to be high above sea level, or a draw bridge. And you would need approaches at both ends to bring it up to height. A lot of engineering and expense for a pedestrian crossing.

Anyway, if you can't do something with the island to make it an attractive desintation due to landmarkingOnly about half the island is federally and city landmarked. The rest is open to development.

You don't think the landmarked portion is attractive?

futurecity

September 17th, 2009, 02:07 PM

Not at all.. rubbish IMO. The gondola would then be the best idea, not the bride

Stroika

September 17th, 2009, 04:15 PM

Let's not forget that:

1. Nobody lives on Governors Island

2. It is only open to tourists for about 4-5 months per year
(http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/default.asp)

3. In 2008, only 128,000 people visited the island during those months.
(http://www.govisland.com/Press_Room/07-29-09visitors.asp)

While the number of visitors is likelier to be larger in 2009 and will probably continue to rise, a $100 million bridge is a lot of money for that.

Even if the state were flush with cash, it'd be difficult to imagine anyone justifying a large project to an uninhabited island...

MidtownGuy

September 17th, 2009, 05:49 PM

You don't think the landmarked portion is attractive?

Not at all.. rubbish IMO.

lol...rubbish...enough said. The statement pretty much proves he has never set foot near Governors Island and has no clue what the historic houses and structures in the landmarked portion even look like. Troll alert.

futurecity

September 17th, 2009, 10:58 PM

lol...rubbish...enough said. The statement pretty much proves he has never set foot near Governors Island and has no clue what the historic houses and structures in the landmarked portion even look like. Troll alert.

My eye! Your right, I've never been there, but nothing from what i've seen in photos interests me at all. Oh, there is no crime in having an opinion on design. Remember, it is a subjective matter and does not make me a troll to declare that I find it rather uninteresting. I'm sure some of you do, but to me its a wasted opportunity -- i don't find them attractive enough to be landmarked, and i'd rather use them for something useful that would contribute to life in NYC. In general, i'm anti landmarking unless the structure is a real looker.

Of course, its such a pity that gov's island is closed most of the year....what a damn waste.

Stroika

September 17th, 2009, 11:41 PM

I visited Governors Island for the first time about a month ago. I don't often use the world "magical," but it seems appropriate here. The northern half of the island is a bucolic, genteel New England-style campus in the middle of New York Harbor. Even if you don't give a rat's ass about the four hundred years of settlement of the island (you can Wiki it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governors_Island) for the full history), it's tough to say Governors Island is not one of the most pristine, peaceful and beautiful places in the city.

I would highly recommend that futurecity and anyone else who's never been there, get there on the next nice weekend day -- whether or not you want to advocate razing everything there.

FamousNYLover

September 18th, 2009, 12:05 AM

I love Governors Island. I went there about 4-5 times.

Last time I went in 2009 Summer Sunday, It mad mad crowded and there was line similar to CircleLine to Liberty/Ellis Islands from the Governors Island Pier.

stache

September 18th, 2009, 12:33 AM

If you have the day off, I find that Fridays are good but there's lots of noisy kids on the boat. I try to get the 11 A.M. boat and it's not too crowded then.

Edward

September 18th, 2009, 02:21 PM

I spent last Saturday on Governors Island attending New Island Festival Meetup (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22118).

See my blog post New Island Festival – Dance Party with DJ Armin van Buuren (http://wirednewyork.com/2009/09/new-island-festival-dance-party/) for the video of the dance party with the Manhattan skyline as a background. You can also see this clip on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIX8OBgjNN0&hd=1).

Merry

September 19th, 2009, 04:58 AM

A new book:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51hjo-57HfL._SS500_.jpg

Governors Island: The Jewel of New York Harbor (http://www.amazon.com/Governors-Island-Jewel-York-Harbor/dp/0815609361/ref=pd_ys_ir_b_25)

MidtownGuy

September 19th, 2009, 05:53 PM

I spent the whole day there yesterday until 11:00 pm and I can't say enough about this place. What a treasure.

Futurecity has to walk past the stately historic houses facing a street lined with giant Plane Trees and Elms and then let us know if he still wants to see it all razed because it's rubbish.

I'll have more impressions to share and more photos when I finish going through them. This spider web on the porch of one the yellow houses in Nolan Park was one of my discoveries.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/3935335024_334e1ef24f_o.jpg

stache

September 19th, 2009, 07:11 PM

So, MTG, are you stuck in the area around the festival after 7PM, or do they let you roam around the island after dark?

MidtownGuy

September 19th, 2009, 07:22 PM

They had the other areas blocked off and attended by guys standing there.

I started to walk around Nolan Park at around 5:30 and wanted to get some photos of architectural details on some of the colonel's houses....as soon as I started photographing the one with the big white columns, some witch from inside the house had her period...started yelling for me to go back to the festival area.

stache

September 19th, 2009, 07:56 PM

Well at least she didn't turn you into a toad? ;)

ZippyTheChimp

September 19th, 2009, 09:05 PM

The last time I was on the island, you weren't allowed in the Nolan Park area except as a tour group. Something about some of the houses being unsafe.

It turned out well though. A woman in the group, who moved away years ago, grew up on the island. She took the ferry to school in Manhattan, and was married in one of the chapels. The Parkie let her take over the tour.

NYatKNIGHT

September 21st, 2009, 12:28 PM

So I take it the art exhibition (http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2009/plot09/) (Review) (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/arts/design/26plot.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2) has ended? I was there about a month ago and you could not only access those areas, but you could go into a lot of the houses - the ones ( I guess safe enough) to be used in whatever way the artists imagined it. Most are just empty inside with peeling paint, starting to deteriorate, but still wonderful houses. I hope they decide what to do with them soon, they shouldn't be torn down nor left to rot away.

In one house on Generals Row there was a machine in one of the upstairs closets emitting a low frequency infrasonic sound, one that you really don't hear but is meant to cause an unsettled feeling. That was all there was to it, otherwise you're just walking around an old abandoned house. It was as though the house was haunted or just plain gave you the creeps. Of all the interesting exhibits all over the island, for some reason that one really stuck with me.

Ninjahedge

September 21st, 2009, 03:21 PM

With land as expensive as it is ANYWHERE near NYC, I am surprised that this island has not havd more development. FCS, look at Randalls! That place is a tiny little narrow strip of land with clunky architecture and not much else to speak of, but people live there and STAY there.

Pedestrian bridges to the island would not be practical, but a Gondola, or more frequent commuter ferries would make that island, especially with all that open space and historical areas, a much sought after prize, especially for those willing to forego their automobiles (leave them in Brooklyn/NJ!!!!).

Merry

October 12th, 2009, 06:46 AM

A Military Past, an Unknown Future

By SAM ROBERTS

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/10/09/nyregion/books.span.1.jpg

THE Smothers Brothers were born there. It’s where Joe Louis took his Army physical. David Rockefeller once painted its restrooms. “It” is Governors Island, a 172-acre site, rich in history, that sits off the southern tip of Manhattan.

“Governors Island: The Jewel of New York Harbor” (Syracuse University Press, $60), by Ann L. Buttenwieser, an accomplished urban historian, is a vivid reminder of the city’s military past, and, above all, of the vast potential for this underappreciated and underutilized oasis.

“For 242 years,” Ms. Buttenwieser writes, “from the arrival of a British regiment in 1755 to the disestablishment ceremonies of the Coast Guard base there in 1997, the lifeblood of Governors Island has been the military.”

Its military demands were responsible for, among other things, the nation’s biggest regimental dormitory and what was billed as the world’s shortest railroad.

While the text delves deeper into local arcana than an average reader might want to go, the book is richly adorned with evocative drawings, maps and photographs that trace the island’s life, from the Dutch landing in 1624 to its military incarnations as a fort and a prison, to its role as a site of presidential summit meetings and Coast Guard rescue base and, finally, to its transfer from the federal government to the National Park Service and New York City and State.

“The recreational legacy has finally arrived,” Ms. Buttenwieser proclaims, alluding to the island’s new and growing role as a park. But the fulfillment of that plan remains subject to the imagination and commitment of officials.

Ms. Buttenwieser’s book is a great guide, but too heavy for most hikers to carry. Fortunately, just in time for fall, several other informative Baedekers to the city have been published.

Naomi Fertitta’s “New York: The Big City and Its Little Neighborhoods” (Universe, $25), provides surprising, delightful and practical insights into the people, sights, food and shopping found in the city’s ethnic communities — a must read for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

“I began a journey that only required a MetroCard,” writes Ms. Fertitta.

Joined by a photographer, Paul Aresu, “we discovered pockets around New York City that felt as exotic as Mumbai, Casablanca, Moscow and Mexico City.” They include Little Beirut in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Little Senegal in Harlem.

Part of the proceeds from Ms. Fertitta’s richly illustrated book go to NYC & Company, the city’s official tourism organization.

“New York’s Unique and Unexpected Places” (Universe, $24.95), by Judith Stonehill and Alexandra Stonehill, delivers on its promise even to seasoned New Yorkers. The authors say it is for “urban ramblers” on the hunt for “secluded gardens, idiosyncratic museums, little shops here and there and the occasional well-known place with distinctive treasures.”

The text is both informative, and the photographs are inviting. The destinations include the Irish Hunger Memorial in Lower Manhattan and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

For city dwellers and visitors with a darker bent, there’s “A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City’s Lower East Side” (History Press, $19.99), by Eric Ferrara.

Mr. Ferrara, a fourth-generation Lower East Sider, writes that his offbeat guidebook represents only a small fraction of the mayhem that defined the neighborhood and the grimmer side of immigrant life. His eclectic sites include 70 Allen Street, supposedly the birthplace of Billy the Kid, and 6 Columbia Street, once the boyhood home of the gangster Meyer Lansky.
“Some may say it is macabre to write such a book,” he writes. “I say that it is an honor to be able to memorialize the people who were victims of their times and are otherwise lost forever to history.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/nyregion/11books.html

Merry

October 23rd, 2009, 09:12 AM

Google Validates Existence of Governors Island

October 22, 2009, by Sara

http://curbed.com/uploads/govislandstreetview.jpg

At long last, the Governors Island blog tells us, the military base turned summer hotspot and maybe someday to turn park-heavy island paradise (http://curbed.com/archives/2007/12/19/governors_island_going_dutch.php), has made it onto Google Maps' Street View! The Google Street View car took a slow drive around the island this summer and brought back photos, saving us the need to wait in line for the ferry. (Thanks, Google!) Unfortunately, the Googlecar was too big for some of the island's sites, like Fort Jay and Nolan Park. But it looks like the forthcoming Street View Tricycle might be able to do the trick.

http://curbed.com/uploads/streetviewcar%20govisland.jpg

Putting Governors Island on the Map - Literally (http://govislandblog.com/2009/10/21/putting-governors-island-on-the-map-literally/) [Governors Island Blog]
All Governors Island coverage (http://curbed.com/tags/governors-island) [Curbed]

http://curbed.com/archives/2009/10/22/google_validates_existence_of_governors_island.php #more

Merry

November 11th, 2009, 06:53 AM

Governors Island Airport that wasn't

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/11/11/alg_governors_island.jpg
September 1933

Charming notion though it seems in this age of jumbo jets, in the late 1920s and early 1930s it was widely felt that the ideal spot for New York's first municipal airport was 200-acre Governors Island. Long since obsolete in terms of strategic harbor defense, Governors was by now home to nothing but a run-down firetrap of an old Army post, but the War Department refused to let it go anyway, despite demand after demand from air-minded Congressman Fiorello LaGuardia that the big Army polo field ("E" in our photo) be ceded to the city as a flying field suitable for mail and passenger service just minutes away from Manhattan's business center. General public access to what was after all a very small island never seemed to be a major issue in anyone's mind: Surely there would arise an efficient fleet of Battery ferries; perhaps there would even be built a subway. At one point there was actually a scheme to fill in the upper bay between the island and the Battery and thus render Governors no island at all.

The quarrel between city and military went on for several years. Nothing ever came of it. By 1935, even LaGuardia himself, mayor by now, gave up on his vision and began looking around for sites elsewhere, considering that New York was already years behind other American cities in forward-looking airport development. As for Governors Island, these decades later it's still the case that no particularly good use has been found for it.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/11/11/2009-11-11_governors_island_airport_that_wasnt.html#ixzz0W XyYzR0G

Taz

November 11th, 2009, 02:38 PM

I just saw this in the paper today. It's certainly an interesting read, but there's also no way it would still be in use today with the size of most aircraft.

Merry

December 31st, 2009, 09:52 PM

City takeover of Governors Isle winning support

by Julie Shapiro

The city’s move to take over Governors Island appears to be gaining momentum.

The city and state now share control of the island and also share responsibility for funding it, an arrangement that often results in a tug-of-war during budget season and perpetual uncertainty over the island’s future.

The city wants to end that uncertainty by committing a larger chunk of money to the island over several years — but only if the city gains complete political control over the island as well. The mayor’s office is shopping the idea around to politicians and won support from Community Board 1’s Waterfront Committee last week. The Governors Island Alliance is also cautiously backing the proposal.

“The island could be better off having a single owner and a single management structure,” said Rob Pirani, executive director of the alliance.

Pirani pointed out that the island now has three masters: the city, the state, and the Empire State Development Corp., which is the parent organization of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp.

“It makes it tough to make decisions out there,” Pirani said. “Despite our best efforts, Governors Island…gets put on a heap and sometimes gets held hostage to other negotiations.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg first floated the idea of a city takeover earlier in the year, when the state cut the island from its budget and put the island’s 2009 season at risk. The state eventually came through with the money at the last minute, but the budget uncertainty makes it difficult for GIPEC to plan ahead. The island attracted a record 275,000 visitors last summer.

Governors Island would likely be part of a larger city-state trade, but it is unclear what the other pieces will be. Last spring, Bloomberg suggested that the city get the island and Brooklyn Bridge Park in exchange for the state getting full control of the Javits Center project.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is talking to the mayor’s office about the city’s proposal, said Paul Goldstein, director of Silver’s district office.

“[Silver] has indicated that he’s not opposed to a city takeover,” Goldstein said, as long as the Lower Manhattan community continues to have a voice in the decisions.

After hearing from Pirani and Goldstein, C.B. 1’s Waterfront Committee voted unanimously Dec. 21 to support the city’s bid for the island. In addition to wanting a seat at the table, the community board had several other requests, including transparent governance, expanded ferry service and more space for indoor and outdoor recreation on the island’s 172 acres.

Pirani has some of his own conditions for a city takeover, including that the city reopen the Governors Island firehouse and staff it at all times and that the city officially map the island as parkland.

Josh Wallack, a senior policy advisor for the city on economic development, attended the Dec. 21 Waterfront Committee meeting but did not make a presentation. He promised that the city would put both operating and capital funds into the island and agreed with the board’s requests for transparency and accountability.

Pirani said that it was important to get as many of the details in writing as possible.

“As much as I trust this mayor,” Pirani said, “he’s not going to be mayor forever — at least I assume not.”

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_349/citytakeover.html

Merry

March 12th, 2010, 07:56 PM

A Vision of Governors I. as a Tanglewood Moments Away

By JAMES BARRON

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/03/10/nyregion/10governor-cityroom/10governor-cityroom-blogSpan.jpg
Nice place for a music festival? Governors Island, September 2008.
This summer theatergoers will walk a mile, more or less, for a 12-hour performance on Governors Island,
the 172-acre former military base off Lower Manhattan. What about music lovers?

Imagine Tanglewood or Aspen — a summer music festival, but with New York City as the backdrop, not the Berkshires or the Rockies. Haydn by the harbor. Maybe some John Williams beside Castle Williams.

And why not fortissimos from a fort built by a nephew of Benjamin Franklin?
Bernard Goldberg, an art dealer and retired developer, has been imagining all that. He says Governors Island would be the perfect place for a festival like the well-known ones that take musicians away from the city in the summer.
“The views are better than the views in Tanglewood,” said Mr. Goldberg, 77, who was a developer and hotelier before he went into the art business in the 1990s.

“You’re looking at the skyline, the Statue of Liberty.”

But this is about what people would hear there, not what they would look at. And he is ready to throw his time behind it (although, just to be clear, not his money, he said).

“I see it as a conservatory, a place for students to learn,” he said. “Isn’t it crazy, we’re here in New York, the cultural center of the world, and there’s nothing like that? The greatest music schools are in New York, so to look at this place that’s an eight-minute ferry ride but a complete world away — it would be magical.”

Like the theater marathon, a Lincoln Center Festival production of an adaptation of a famous but forbidding Dostoyevsky novel, Mr. Goldberg’s dream of a music festival is another in the long line of ideas that fall into the category of what to do with Governors Island. For a while in January, before the Obama administration backed off from its plan to try the 9/11 suspects in Lower Manhattan, Governors Island seemed to be headed for a future quite different from the one envisioned on the island’s Web site, which mentions parks and artist studios, among other things. It was touted as a a place for the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, though that idea quickly faded.

The chamber music Mr. Goldberg has in mind would be rather different from much of the music that has already been heard on Governors Island. Last summer a major new concert space opened with the Dark Star Orchestra, a Grateful Dead tribute band. The B-52s and Mos Def played there later on. (The New York Philharmonic, which was scheduled to perform there in July 2008, canceled because of bad weather.)

Governors Island also played host to a number of nonmusical events last year, including a survey of public art and a Dutch performance-and-art extravaganza. And on Wednesday, the Lincoln Center Festival announced that it was planning a 12-hour play that is an adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel “The Demons,” also known in the West as “The Possessed.” It will be one of two Lincoln Center Festival productions on Governors Island this summer.

Leslie Koch, the president of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the city-and-state partnership responsible for most of the island, responded to questions about Mr. Goldberg’s dream of a music festival in an e-mail message sent by an aide. “We welcome Mr. Goldberg’s and other New Yorkers’ enthusiasm for bringing music to the Island and the city,” the message said.

Mr. Goldberg said that he would have time to create a music festival. Last week, he said he was shutting down his galleries on Madison Avenue and in East Hampton, N.Y., and would sell his inventory at Christie’s.

He began collecting art with a George Bellows painting he and his wife bought in 1968 with $4,000 from money friends gave them at their wedding. He went into the art business in the 1990s after being a lawyer, real estate developer and boutique-hotel owner, specializing in American art from the first half of the 20th century.

As for chamber music on Governors Island, he said: “I would like to start on it immediately. The Christie’s sale is taking place May 20, so I’m busy with a lot of stuff connected with that, but a lot of serious chamber music should happen this summer. How long it will take to complete? There’s so much to do to fill over 100 acres.”

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/a-vision-of-governors-i-as-a-tanglewood-moments-away/

Merry

March 19th, 2010, 07:18 AM

Island’s castle is closing to build walk on the roof

By Julie Shapiro

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_360/castel.jpg

Castle Williams on Governors Island will be closed this season, but the National Park Service
expects to reopen it in 2011 with a new rooftop walkway. The castle was designed by Col. Jonathan Williams (inset).

Over its 200-year history, Castle Williams has been a military fortress, a prison for Confederate soldiers, a pig grazing pen and a teen center.

Now, the National Park Service hopes to turn the red sandstone fort on Governors Island into a museum. The full plans will take 20 years and $60 million to realize, but the N.P.S. recently started cleaning and stabilizing the three-story, doughnut-shaped building using a $6.4 million federal grant.

“Every layer of its use — as a fort, a barracks, a prison, a daycare center — every layer of that right now is still there,” said Michael Shaver, chief ranger on Governors Island with the N.P.S. “We’re just going to clean the tarnish off those layers so you can still make them out.”

Most recently, Castle Williams, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has become a daytrip destination. Drawn to the weathered facade and ghostly, crumbling courtyard, about 50,000 tourists and history aficionados visited the castle last year, according to the N.P.S.

“It’s just weird and funky and very inviting,” Shaver said. “You see it on the ferry coming over here and it’s one of those things you want to check out.”

Castle Williams will be closed this summer because of the restoration work, which includes asbestos and lead abatement. When it reopens in May 2011, visitors will be able to explore not just the fort’s round courtyard but also the roof and some of the interior, which have never been open to the public.

The roof will offer sweeping views of New York Harbor, and a glimpse back in time at the impregnable defenses that protected the city for decades. Castle Williams, together with Fort Jay on Governors Island, Castle Clinton at the tip of Manhattan and forts on Ellis Island and Liberty Island, made an imposing impression on any would-be attackers, convincing the British not to enter the harbor during the War of 1812, Shaver said.

While the rectangular Fort Jay was more traditional, Castle Williams was designed to make an impression. Shaver likened it to a fist.

“It’s not a fort that’s [only] trying to protect itself,” Shaver said. “It’s a projection of strength out in New York Harbor that’s just daring people to come.”

Castle Williams was the brainchild of Col. Jonathan Williams, chief engineer for the U.S. Army and superintendent of West Point — and also, Shaver said, “a fort geek.” Williams traveled to France studying the forts, then returned to the United States in 1785 determined to reinterpret them in a modern way.

Castle Williams, which opened in 1811, was the physical expression of Williams’ pioneering ideas. While most forts were rectangular, Castle Williams was round, to provide full coverage of the harbor. And while other forts propped canons on top of walls, opening them to opposing fire, Williams stacked his cannons vertically, sheltering them in stone casements, with walls 7 to 9 feet thick.

When Williams was designing his fort at the beginning of the 19th century, protecting New York City was an urgent task. Thirty years earlier, the British sailed into New York’s largely defenseless harbor during the Revolutionary War. The British used New York for their headquarters for eight years and did not leave until Evacuation Day in 1783.

After the war, the fledgling American government prioritized the security of its financial capital, building more than a dozen protective forts. Castle Williams was one of them.

The defenses came in handy during the War of 1812, when the British laid siege to New York Harbor but never tried to enter or attack Manhattan.

“They didn’t mess with the city like they’d done before,” Shaver said. “With all these forts working together, there was no way any reasonable man would try to do a naval invasion of New York. It just was not going to happen.”

In fact, Castle Williams was only attacked once, and it was by Williams’ friends at the U.S. Navy. Williams was so proud of his design and eager to prove its strength that he invited the Navy in to test the fort’s defenses. Williams, the great-nephew of Benjamin Franklin, stayed in the castle while it was under fire. No one was hurt, and the Navy managed only to knock over one of the fort’s cannons, but not to destroy it.

Only one portrait survives of Williams, and it shows the castle in the background. Castle Williams is also imprinted on the buttons of the dress uniforms of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in tribute to Williams.

During the Civil War, the mission of Castle Williams shifted from military fort to military prison, for both Confederate soldiers and Union deserters. In the century after the war ended, the federal government continually updated the prison to make it more modern and secure, adding the steel bars that are there today.

The U.S. Coast Guard took over Governors Island in 1966 and initially planned to tear down Castle Williams but decided to convert it into a community center instead. The cells that once housed prisoners soon held woodworking classes, boy scouts meetings, a radio club, a photography lab and a daycare center. Later, the Coast Guard used the castle as storage for landscaping equipment like lawnmowers.

After the Coast Guard left the island in 1996, Castle Clinton sat empty and open to the elements. The National Park Service’s takeover of the castle and other historic parts of the island renewed interest in restoring Castle Clinton, and it has fascinated thousands of visitors since the island reopened to the public in 2003.

In the long term, Patti Reilly, superintendent of Governors Island National Monument, wants the castle to become an interpretive Harbor and History Center, where visitors can learn about not just the fort’s prior life but also about the preservation of the waterfront as a whole.

In addition to opening the roof to the public, the only part of the project that has funding so far is the first phase, which will secure the structure and rid it of hazardous materials. The $6.4 million grant, from the federal stimulus package and U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, will allow visitors to explore previously closed-off parts of the castle starting in 2011 but will not be enough to build the full museum and center, Reilly said.
Shaver is optimistic that the rest of the funding will fall into place.

“We’ve just got to clean it up so people can get into it,” he said. “Once you can go in and you can love it and hug it, things will come in easier.”

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_360/islandscastle.html

Merry

March 25th, 2010, 10:22 PM

N.Y.U. eyes Gov. Isle

by Julie Shapiro

New York University wants to someday build a satellite campus on Governors Island with dorms, classrooms and offices totaling 1 million square feet.

N.Y.U. has long considered expanding across New York Harbor to the 172-acre island but released new details and renderings this week. The move would be part of N.Y.U.’s larger plan to grow by 40 percent over the next 20 years.

“Here in Greenwich Village, we’re essentially landlocked,” said Alicia Hurley, N.Y.U.’s vice president for government relations and community engagement. “We don’t have a lot of options for expanding into the neighborhood. You just look at Governors Island, and when you step off the ferry it feels like a college-friendly environment.”

Over the years, CUNY and Columbia University have also looked to expand to the island.

N.Y.U.’s Governors Island project has no budget or timeline and would need the city’s help with infrastructure like ferry service and potable water. N.Y.U. would wait until other groups such as other universities or think tanks also invested in the island.

“We can’t be the only ones out there,” Hurley said. “We need a critical mass.”

N.Y.U. would create an institute focused on issues related to cities.

N.Y.U. has identified up to 1 million square feet of development space on the island, split about evenly between new and existing buildings. The new structures would be grouped near Yankee Pier on the east side of the island, just outside the historic district. N.Y.U. also hopes to use the enormous Liggett Hall, which spans the island’s width, along with some smaller historical buildings to the northeast. Hurley envisions an open campus that would allow the public to flow through the open space, if not into all of the university’s buildings.

The city and state now share control of the island but negotiations are underway for the city to take it over soon, which could advance long-stalled plans for parkland and other development.

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_361/nyueyes.html

brianac

March 26th, 2010, 05:48 AM

Interesting to see if any members views have changed regarding this long running saga.

NYU wants to build campus on Governors Island

By Catherine Contiguglia

After years of speculation and debate, New York University has finally announced its intentions to build a campus of up to 1 million square feet on Governors Island.

The university had often hinted at its interest in the island, but had never confirmed any intention to build there until it unveiled details of its 25-year, six-million-square-foot expansion plans to the press today.

Although the university has not yet released any renderings of a Governors Island campus, university officials said the campus would include both academic and residential buildings, as well as athletic facilities.

"We're trying to determine what would be something we could put out there," said William Haas, the director of planning at NYU.

Lynne Brown, NYU's senior vice president for university relations and public affairs, said the university had been approached by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the city and state agency known as GIPEC, and began a serious discussion last May. The agency also talked to several other institutions, and Brown said it would not issue a formal request for proposals until this summer at the earliest.

Brown said that while developing the island would present some difficulties with infrastructure and transportation, its potential was worth the extra planning.

"It's a tremendous asset," Brown said.

Cathy Simon, an SMWM architect working with NYU on its expansion plans, said the island's natural beauty and versatility made it an ideal site.

"I think it would be a perfect setting for an academic institution," Simon said.

NYU plans to discuss its expansion plans, which also include possible sites in Brooklyn, at an open house for students and the Greenwich Village community. Earlier today, it announced at a press conference with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer that it would work with the community to limit the impact of the expansion of its main Washington Square campus.

Copyright 2008 The Real Deal

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=212737&postcount=352

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=212748&postcount=353

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=212782&postcount=354

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=212990&postcount=355

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=220428&postcount=356

MidtownGuy

March 29th, 2010, 04:47 PM

Well, my view has not changed. I have visited the island and I do not like the idea of NYU or any other private university controlling it.

BPC

April 2nd, 2010, 02:35 AM

Well, my view has not changed. I have visited the island and I do not like the idea of NYU or any other private university controlling it.

I wish it were a CUNY. But there's no public money for bold ideas these days. Better NYU than neglect, provided NYU commits to keep the campus 100% public.

stache

April 2nd, 2010, 07:41 AM

They can't be trusted.

MidtownGuy

April 2nd, 2010, 02:03 PM

CUNY would be better, philosophically, than NYU. But I still would rather not have a big educational institution dominating the island.

lofter1

April 2nd, 2010, 02:15 PM

Unless NYU can show they'll step up their architectural level then they shouldn't be on Gov Island.

brianac

April 12th, 2010, 05:02 AM

New York City Takes Over Governors Island

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/12/nyregion/12island_CA1/12island_CA1-articleLarge.jpg
An artist's rendering of the Shell at Liberty Terrace, meant to complement the Governors Island landscape.

By A. G. SULZBERGER (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/a_g_sulzberger/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and MICHAEL BARBARO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_barbaro/index.html?inline=nyt-per)

Published: April 11, 2010

After more than a year of negotiations, New York City has reached a deal to take control of Governors Island from the state, moving a prime 172-acre piece of waterfront real estate into the hands of a land-starved city and closer to an ambitious redevelopment, city and state officials announced on Sunday.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/12/nyregion/12island_CA0/12island_CA0-articleInline.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/04/12/nyregion/12island_CA0.html','12island_CA0_html','width=720, height=576,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=ye s'))Michael Appleton for The New York Times
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at the lectern, flanked by Gov. David A. Paterson, right, and Representative Jerrold Nadler.

The agreement would allow the city to convert much of the former military outpost into a public park. The city also plans to add a high school, some commercial development and potentially a satellite campus for New York University (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org) on Governors Island, which sits a half mile off the southern tip of Manhattan.

Over the years, government efforts at redeveloping the island, long viewed as a rough, underused gem in New York Harbor, have been frustrated by jurisdictional battles, lack of money and unique development constraints.

The acquisition of Governors Island would be a major contribution to the physical legacy of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s administration, which has made the development of public parks a priority.

The deal also highlights how an expansionist mayor has positioned the city, whose budget problems are less severe than the state’s, to wrest control of coveted properties from the state portfolio.

Last month, the city reached a similar deal with the state to take over Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Other prospective deals being discussed in the Bloomberg administration include exercising the city’s right to buy Battery Park City from the state and negotiating a takeover of the state-run City University of New York (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/city_university_of_new_york/index.html?inline=nyt-org) system, according to city officials.

These agreements represent a reversal from 35 years ago, when a city on the verge of bankruptcy parted with a number of its assets and relied on the state to shore up its finances.

Raymond Horton, a professor at Columbia Business School who ran a commission that studied New York City’s finances during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, said that by taking over properties like Governors Island, Mr. Bloomberg achieved a milestone that had eluded many of his predecessors.

“What tips the balance here is the state’s fiscal crisis,” Mr. Horton said. “The state is in a dire situation. The city is much better managed at this moment. That makes possible something that was not when the two governments’ finances were in similar condition.”

The city and the state have jointly operated Governors Island since 2003, when the federal government handed over the shuttered military base there after years of lobbying from local leaders.

The island, which still features the historic houses used by officers and more recently built barracks for enlisted men from its years as an Army and a Coast Guard base, has since received more than $150 million for redevelopment as it was reopened for public use.

Last summer, more than 275,000 visitors took the free ferry service to the island to attend concerts and art festivals, and take advantage of sweeping views of the downtown skyline and the Statue of Liberty. The island also includes a 22-acre national monument (http://www.nps.gov/gois/index.htm) centered on two historic fortresses.

The joint operating deal has been strained, however, by disputes between the city and the state over plans for redevelopment of the island, and by a near shutdown last year after the state refused to contribute its share of operating funds. At a news conference at City Hall on Sunday night, Mr. Bloomberg called it “a less than optimal arrangement.”

Gov. David A. Paterson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/david_a_paterson/index.html?inline=nyt-per), who also attended the news conference, said that the state had simply been unable to match the city’s financial commitment, undermining the development push.

“New York City will probably be quicker to realize the potential of the island and develop it,” the governor said, “and so it was really our honor to assist them, and we know they’ll do it well.”

Under the arrangement announced Sunday (http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fht ml%2F2010a%2Fpr152-10.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1), the mayor will appoint 9 of the 13 members of a new Governors Island Operating Entity. The city, which will now bear the full cost of the estimated $200 million project, said it had already committed $41.5 million. The city will also be solely responsible for the operating costs of the island, except for the national monument, which will remain under the control of the National Park Service (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_park_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org).

The city’s acquisitions could put a strain on its budget, which faces a $5 billion deficit next year. Operating Governors Island is expected to cost about $20 million over the next five years, officials said, on top of the $40 million the city has already set aside. And should the city try to buy Battery Park City, for example, it would have to assume debts that run in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But city officials said that they were eager, when possible, to exploit “fire sale prices” to seize control over prime land within their borders.

The city, which has set aside about 33 acres on the southern half of the island for new construction, is looking for other tenants. New York University recently proposed building a satellite campus on Governors Island, complete with dorms and faculty housing. City officials did announce on Sunday that they have secured the first tenants for the refurbished buildings on the island, including artists’ studios and a 400-student public high school set to relocate there this summer.

The city and the state were prohibited from developing housing or a casino under the transfer agreement with the federal government.

Peter W. Davidson, executive director of the Empire State Development, who oversaw the state negotiations in the two recent agreements, said the state saw the deals as ways to reduce spending in noncrucial areas and found that the city was eager to take the properties off the state’s hands.

“They not only have the resources to make sure the projects go to completion,” he said, “but more importantly, they have the vision and the commitment under Mayor Bloomberg to execute the plans that were laid down.”

Mitchell L. Moss, an informal adviser to Mr. Bloomberg and a professor at N.Y.U., said there was a “recognition that if anything is going to be done, it’s got to be done in City Hall.”

“There wasn’t a constituency for Governors Island in Albany,” Mr. Moss said, “but in New York there’s an appetite for it. This is really going to be the catalyst for getting the park built.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/nyregion/12island.html?ref=nyregion

Copyright 2010 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html)The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

Merry

April 14th, 2010, 06:38 AM

Governors Island Vision Adds Hills and Hammocks

By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF

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When the federal government sold Governors Island to the City and State of New York for one dollar in January 2003, it wasn’t clear who had gotten the short end of the stick.

Was it really worth a dollar? Few people had visited the island since it was abandoned by the Coast Guard in 1997. For those who could get onto it, the charm of the 19th- and early-20th-century military buildings on the north end wore off as soon as they saw the southern end, a flat sprawl of concrete barracks and warehouses from the 1970s and ’80s. And in an era when government was increasingly dependent on the private sector to finance what once would have been public initiatives, it was hard to see how the city and state would ever raise the money to develop the island themselves. (A few proposals being tossed around at the time, including a global peace park and a theme SpongeBob SquarePants hotel, didn’t inspire confidence.)

But Sunday’s announcement that the City of New York has reached a deal to take control of the island from the state and will push ahead with a plan that includes a 2.2-mile-long waterfront promenade and a 40-acre park, offers reassuring evidence that even in difficult times it is possible to get the tricky balance between public good and private interests right — or at least right enough.

The plan, by Adriaan Geuze of the Dutch landscape architecture firm West 8, calls for a park that, if realized, will eventually include a cluster of steep, artificially created hills that form a focal point at the park’s center, visually tying it back to the city. Its wildly original array of parkscapes — including a “hammock grove,” a grottolike shelter, playing fields and marshlands — will give the island the kind of strong identity it currently lacks.

When considered with Michael Van Valkenburgh’s Brooklyn Bridge Park, under construction across the harbor in Brooklyn, it represents a shift in the character of the city’s park system as a whole that is as revolutionary as Robert Moses’ early public works projects or Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s Central Park.

The city has committed $41.5 million to the first phase of the development, which still has to go through the standard public review process, and is tentatively scheduled to begin construction in 2012. A new ferry landing area is to be built at the northern end of the island, with a big shaded lawn overlooking the Lower Manhattan skyline. The northern half of the Great Promenade, which will eventually encircle the entire island, will allow people to stroll along the waterfront under a shaded walkway with views that reach from the Statue of Liberty to Brooklyn Heights. And the city will replace the asphalt parking lot on the south side of McKim, Mead & White’s 1929 Liggett Hall, an old Army barracks that divides the island in half: visitors passing through the hall’s central archway will emerge onto a mosaic terrace bordered by flower beds.

It is from here that the development’s second phase — for which the city will need to raise some $220 million — should eventually unfold. Pathways will wind south through a wild array of sloping lawns and densely wooded areas, with the hills just beyond them in the near distance. Scores of hammocks will be suspended in a forest of oak and birch trees. In a rendering that shows the hammocks sagging under the weight of people napping inside them, they bring to mind human-size cocoons.

This processional narrative reaches its climax with the hills, which will be partly built on the rubble left over from the demolition of the Coast Guard barracks and warehouses. Some will drop off into cliffs on one side, creating “view channels” to major landmarks: for example, one path cuts through a narrow canyon that lines up with the statue of Liberty; another looks out toward the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. A paved terrace, with a 360-degree view of the island’s surroundings, tops the tallest hill; a more informal meadow another.

To the west, a cafe structure designed by the architecture firm Diller Scofidio & Renfro will sit at the water’s edge, facing the Statue of Liberty. A lawn expands out onto the building’s roof, where visitors will be able to climb down through a large hole into a grotto-like shelter open to the water.

The island’s southern end culminates in a watery landscape of marshes and tidal basins. By now the hills have entirely blocked out the view of the Manhattan skyline. A raised concrete walkway wraps around the marshes at the tip of the island, so that visitors should feel as if the edge of the land were dissolving around them. To add to the sensory experience, Mr. Geuze plans to plant the area with strong-smelling plants, like sea asparagus and lavender.

The movement within the design — the disappearance and reappearance of carefully framed urban views; the shift from a verticality that intentionally echoes the downtown Manhattan skyline to the flatness of the water’s surface — is its single most impressive feature. But such variations also speak to the ways the city itself is changing. The exaggerated steepness of the hills, for example, is not only a clear nod to their artificiality — a “green” counterpoint to Manhattan’s towers — but also a practical response to rising sea levels caused by global warming.

Another positive aspect of the design is the care that has been given to the boundaries that will divide the park from two future development zones on the island’s east and west sides. These lines are gently curved, giving them a more naturalistic feel, and Mr. Geuze has proposed several major view corridors that will cut through the development areas, which should help mitigate their large size.

The big question is what happens from here. Critical aspects of the project still need to be ironed out. The city has yet to determine who will develop the areas around the park.

We might end up with anything from university buildings (New York University has suggested that it could build dormitories and classroom space on the island) to luxury hotels and a conference center. And there are those who will argue, with some justification, that the plan for Governors Island is part of a larger, continuing process of gentrification in New York City that raises its own questions about whom these projects ultimately serve.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ambitious park plans, in fact, are in some ways contradictory. On the one hand they are genuinely democratic, creating valuable public space that can be shared by all New Yorkers. On the other, they are a savvy way to raise property values, which ends up pushing the poor and middle classes farther and farther out from the city’s center.

Governors Island may turn out to be a crucial project in this respect. Sitting in the middle of the harbor, it ought to be accessible to working-class families from Staten Island and the Lower East Side of Manhattan, as well as to wealthier downtowners and Red Hook’s bourgeois bohemians. The nature of the developments that flank the park will be critical to determining whether the island feels as if it belongs to all of them, or just to those few who can afford to pay for its upkeep.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/arts/design/13governor.html

ablarc

April 14th, 2010, 09:05 AM

A very seductive image --like the High Line or the Brooklyn waterfront parks.

Artificial nature and topography ... a new school of landscape architecture is emerging ... but if you think about, it's what Olmsted did at Central Park ... and Capability Brown before him.

ZippyTheChimp

April 14th, 2010, 10:47 AM

Oh, they mean actual hammocks.

lofter1

April 14th, 2010, 11:10 AM

Very good visuals of the West 8 plan:

http://www.govislandpark.com/

ablarc

April 14th, 2010, 12:18 PM

Nothing short of brilliant.

If New York City could reliably get this level of design ...

lofter1

April 14th, 2010, 12:24 PM

A couple of great things jump out:

The double level promenade with the top level up high.

The "Hills" buffering the two development zones.

And then there's all the other fantastic stuff in between.

They really need to demand / mandate a high level of architecture for the development zones, no matter who gets the deal.

ablarc

April 14th, 2010, 12:39 PM

They need to limit development parcels to small footprints; that will at least get the scale right. The Dutch map of New Amsterdam could yield guidelines for that. Even if these little buildings turn out to be New York University dormitories, the paradigm will work: little townhouses with, say, six students per house.

Also perhaps missing are animals. The birds are there, but what about raccoons, possums, squirrels, chipmunks, turtles and even pheasants? Could you get a family of ospreys to move in?

Merry

April 15th, 2010, 06:50 AM

Figment Island

Matt Chaban
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2712/4519424143_ce0bd2fdbf.jpg
Ann Ha and Behrang Behin's winning Figment entry, "Living Pavilion," was lauded for its sustainabile simplicity. (Courtesy Figment)

After nearly a year of waiting, we’ve now seen the new designs coming to Governors Island sometime in the future. But there is also some exciting architecture, art, and, most importantly, mini golf coming to the island this summer, part of the fourth annual Figment arts program that has been populating the island with exciting activities and edifices since the park first opened. On Friday, Figment announced the winners of its call for entries for the aforementioned projects, namely an architecture pavilion (http://figmentproject.org/2010/long-term-exhibitions/the-city-of-dreams-pavilion/), 17 sculptures (http://figmentproject.org/2010/long-term-exhibitions/figment-sculpture-garden/), and a 10-hole mini golf course (http://figmentproject.org/2010/long-term-exhibitions/figment-minigolf/). Eschewing the flashy forms of the three finalists they beat out, Ann Ha and Behrang Behin took a creative yet affordable approach with their winning Living Pavilion, tethering together milk crates to create planters for a garden that proceed to fold in on themselves, forming a wave-like tunnel sodded with grass. Check out the architecture finalists plus a few of the winning sculptures after the jump.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4519431983_e2cfc3b0ff.jpg
Easton+Combs' "Kaleidoscope."

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2734/4519423763_ccc29c7a28.jpg
Echomaterico's "Nimbus."

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4520060008_f089150ebb_o.jpgNameless Architecture's "Playcloud."

http://figmentproject.org/2010/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Cicada-570x391.jpgJohannah Herr's "Cicada."

http://figmentproject.org/2010/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/The-Panopticons_21.jpgChassy Cleland's "The Panopticons."

http://figmentproject.org/2010/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/TreeHouse1-570x370.jpgBenjamin Jones' "TreeHouse."

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/7209

lofter1

April 15th, 2010, 07:36 PM

Full text + photos available to read online (http://www.archive.org/details/governorsisland00smit):

Governor's Island: Its Military History Under Three Flags 1637-1913 (1913)

Below is an excerpt regarding the first Germans (Palatines) to come to New York in 1710 (brought under order of Queen Anne of England as indentured servants) plus images from the book ...

*

Merry

June 4th, 2010, 06:31 AM

Gov Island season opens with new and old alike

BY John Bayles

When Governor’s Island officially opens to the public this Sunday, visitors will be treated to some brand new events and activities as well as some of the same old staples that have made the destination so popular for so long. President of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation Leslie Koch is predicting it to be the “best summer ever.”

She expects over 400,000 visitors during the summer and is positive not a single one of them will be disappointed. The island boasts an array of activities every season that draw thousands of visitors, such as the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic, the World Trade Center Run to Remember, the NYC Pro Swim and the African Film Festival to name a few.

This summer the island is adding the NY Brewfest, is opening over 30 artists’ studios to the public for viewing and is showing off a number of newly renovated, historic buildings.
Below are five reasons Koch is so excited about the summer season.

More bikes than ever!

There will be twice as many bikes to rent on the island this year. At the end of the season last year, there were 250 bikes on the island and this year there will be 500 to start. Biking is one of the most popular activities on the island as it boasts five miles of car-free biking.

On Fridays, the island offers its “Free Bike Fridays” program where visitors can rent a bike for one hour on the house.

More music including free evening music concerts.

“The big music day is the Fourth of July,” said Koch. “We have Roseanne Cash and She and Him playing for free.”

There will also be concerts on the South Island Fields, including Passion Pit and M.I.A. Those, however, will not be free concerts. And then there is Make Music’s New York’s Punk Island concert on June 20 that will feature dozens of bands throughout the day.

More food than ever!

This summer the island will play host to numerous food related events. Two, however, are new to the island. Meatopia BBQ NYC is Jimmy Carbone’s BBQ festival and will be held on July 11. On September 5, the island will host the Vendy Awards, where hundreds of foodies will crowd the island to tastes the best of the best from NYC’s street vendors.

Opportunity for public input.

The entire Park and Public Space Master plan will be on display as a special exhibit. Visitors will be have unprecedented public input for the plan. There will be Post-it notes, rubber stamps and magic markers that visitors can use to create a “new form of public input,” according to Koch.

More mini-golf holes!

Koch said this was “sort of old and sort of new” because last year there was a miniature golf course; however it only consisted of two holes. This year there are nine new holes.

“Every year it’s my favorite thing to do on the island,” said Koch. “It’s a symbol of what makes Governor’s Island such a great destination. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It’s totally free, totally fun and it feels like you’re on summer vacation without ever leaving the New York City and that’s what is so great about it.”

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_371/govisland.html

Merry

June 6th, 2010, 12:07 AM

It looks huge from this view:

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/06/05/gal_gov_island_01.jpg

Marvelous view from here:

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/06/05/gal_gov_island_11.jpg

...not...

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Australian artist Elizabeth James paints the view from Governors Island during the summer of 2005.

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This map shows the part of Governors Island designated as a National Historical Landmark District.

the rest of the pics (http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/galleries/governor/governor.html)

Merry

June 6th, 2010, 12:13 AM

:rolleyes: (?)

Bloomberg Still Dreaming About Governors Island Gondola

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A 2006 design from Santiago Calatrava

Back in 2006, the city requested proposals for ideas for Governors Island and, in the process, Mayor Bloomberg presented a design by acclaimed architect Santiago Caltrava for a tramway linking Governors Island (http://gothamist.com/2006/02/16/gondola_dreams.php) to Battery Park and Brooklyn. The plan for the fanciful- (and cool-) looking system never got off the ground (http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2007/12/20/calatravas_governors_island_gondola_refuses_to_die .php), but it still has fans in high places.

Just yesterday Bloomberg said on John Gambling's WOR radio show (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/going_going_gondola_CYcbIo7R04LCW6ZCysnBDL?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=), "I have always thought that would be a phenomenal thing for the city, the same way The Eye [a giant Ferris wheel] is in London." He also says it would be profitable for the city, but the Post questions that, given that "the city's only tram, to Roosevelt Island, loses money." Well, tourists would probably go on a Governors Island gondola.

For now, folks will have to visit Governors Island, which may be transformed (http://gothamist.com/2010/04/13/governors_island_proposal.php) if the city can get another $200 million or so, via ferries from Manhattan and Brooklyn (http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/directions.asp).

http://gothamist.com/2010/06/05/bloomberg_still_dreaming_about_gove.php

futurecity

June 6th, 2010, 12:53 PM

Yes, much better use of resources over the long haul, than having to use fuel consuming ferries all day long... This thing could be a massive tourist attraction, due to the new governers island park/promenade at one end and the South Street Seaport/WTC memorial/Battery Park area at the other. It would connect it properly to the city as a ferry seems like a tenous link. Probably the major bonus to this is that the ride itself would be a major attraction with views, etc...similar to London Eye, etc. I really think something like this MUST be done if Governers Island development is to meet its potential. So, Mr. Mayor, make it so. IMO, this is a major opportunity, and NYC could always do with another tourist attraction to keep things fresh and exciting for visitors.

Derek2k3

June 6th, 2010, 01:27 PM

I agree. I don't know how the city can afford this. Perhaps after The High Line, BBP, ERP, and HRP are completed we can focus on this island. I doubt any other city has spent more money on new parks than us.

futurecity

June 6th, 2010, 03:40 PM

This park, and the New Fresh Kills Staten Island park, are the future of NYC. Since Bloomberg seems to like this so much, he could easily buy this thing if it only costs 150million, unless politicians are not allowed to do this.

infoshare

June 6th, 2010, 05:39 PM

This is weekend is the beginning of the season for kayak access to the island: Anyone interested in joining me, and a few other WNY members, on a half-day trip to the island can contact me by PM. This event will also be, at some point, posted as a Wiredny meet-up event (http://wirednewyork.com/meetups/).

Excerpt from the Governors Island Website:
Pier 101 Open for Kayakers: June 5 – October 10
Pier 101 is open for kayakers to land every public access day, Fridays – Sundays from June 5 – October 10.

lofter1

June 6th, 2010, 07:25 PM

Since Bloomberg seems to like this so much, he could easily buy this thing if it only costs 150million, unless politicians are not allowed to do this.

I wouldn't be surprised to discover at some point after Bloomberg leaves office that, through various foundations or other legal means, he has given big chunks of money to new parks around NYC. Even if that doesn't come to pass, these new parks will be his legacy.

stache

June 12th, 2010, 03:36 PM

Depending on your final destination, I have found it is easier to return on the Brooklyn ferry. It's faster and smaller so it loads more quickly. You can take the Atlantic Ave. bus afterward, then transfer to a train. $2.00 one way on Fridays.

Merry

August 5th, 2010, 06:51 AM

Latest Wacky Governors Island Scheme Already Thwarted

August 4, 2010, by Joey

http://ny.curbed.com/uploads/2010_8_governorsisland.jpg

What would fans of Governors Island rather see on the old army base: An amusement park, or an NYU campus? This Sophie's choice was put on the back burner when the city took over the island from the state, a move celebrated because it gave that cool new park a kick in the pants, and ended the annual threats of shutting the summertime attraction down due to Albany budget cuts. But the Observer reports that the transfer of power has had another effect: scaring off developers, including the powerful Durst Organization, which wanted to build a giant Ferris wheel on the island (think London Eye-sized) as part of a $100 million investment. Why the cold feet?

Private investment is needed on the island to pay for all the fun stuff—as well as the boring stuff, like drinkable running water—but the city's lengthy rezoning process (filled with all that icky public input that developers hate) has put a big question mark on what will be allowed on the acreage set aside for development. Had the state retained control of Governors Island, Eliot Brown writes, Albany's iron-fisted rule would have been easier for developers to work with. The Durst idea isn't dead, however, just "shelved for at least the next few years." Who knows, when it's all said and done, maybe our children's children will be able to blow off some steam between classes by being lifted hundreds of feet over the New York harbor and spun like a rotisserie chicken.

We Can Put a Man on the Moon … (http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/we-can-put-man-moon-%E2%80%A6) [NYO]
Governors Island coverage (http://ny.curbed.com/tags/governors-island) [Curbed]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2010/08/04/latest_wacky_governors_island_scheme_already_thwar ted.php

BPC

August 22nd, 2010, 03:08 PM

:rolleyes: (?)

http://gothamist.com/attachments/jen/2010_06_gondola.jpg

Oh Lord. I thought this ridiculous idea was dead and buried. So stupid. So ugly. Really an idea without a milliliter of merit.

ablarc

August 26th, 2010, 08:02 AM

Do the gondolas reverse direction when they get to each end? Continuous two-way traffic? Wouldn't that require more heft?

I think I agree with BPC.

Merry

November 16th, 2010, 07:09 AM

Castle Williams opens prison cells for sneak preview

Closed for the season, Governors Island opened to the public for a few hours today for a sneak peek of the repairs to the Castle Williams fort, where prison cells and its roof will open to the public next year.

http://www.newyorkology.com/rangeropensdoor

http://www.newyorkology.com/cellwindowopen

http://www.newyorkology.com/fallcolorscolonelrow

http://www.newyorkology.com/archives/2010/11/castle_williams.php

Merry

February 7th, 2011, 07:52 PM

The New Public Landscapes of Governors Island: An Interview with Adriaan Geuze

http://places.designobserver.com/media/images/GI_Aerial1_525_525.jpg
New York Harbor, Upper Bay, 1999, with Governors Island near the center, Manhattan
to the left, Brooklyn at top, and Jersey City at the bottom; Ellis Island is at the left,
Liberty Island at right, just off New Jersey.
[photo by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]

The Island Near the Island at the Center of the World

New York Harbor has been inspiring extravagant praise for centuries, ever since the three-masted Half Moon, sponsored by the Dutch East India Company and captained by Henry Hudson, sailed into the waters surrounding what would become first Nieuw Amsterdam, later New York City. “The greatest natural harbor on the coast of a vast new wilderness” is how Russell Shorto describes it in The Island at the Center of the World. [1] With its islands and wetlands and rivers, its maritime and industrial infrastructures, its fortifications and bridges and monuments to immigration, liberty and enterprise, New York Harbor has long occupied a central place in the history and mythology of one of the continent's greatest cities.

Today the Harbor is undergoing a vital transformation. In recent decades the decline of shipping and manufacturing, along with growing environmental consciousness, has given rise to new concerns and opportunities, spurring ideas for ecological remediation and speculative real estate, and opening up possibilities for public space where the land and the sea meet. [2] In the last three decades the most important new parks in New York City have been at the water’s edge: Battery Park, Gantry Plaza State Park, Hudson River Park, Riverside Park South and Brooklyn Bridge Park are among the most prominent.

One of the next major public landscapes at the water's edge is likely to be Governors Island. Situated at the mouth of the East River, with spectacular views of the harbor, Governors Is. has been in limbo for years, ever since the Coast Guard ceased operations there in 1996. But the Island has always been something of a mystery; for most of its colonial and post-colonial history, it was a military outpost little known by the citizens of the growing metropolis across the bay. Sparsely populated since early settlement by the Dutch and then the British, it first became known as Governors Island in 1698, when the British colonial assembly set it aside for the “benefit and accommodation of his majestie’s governors.” [3] During the Revolutionary War the Continental Army constructed earthworks to protect the harbor from the British [4], and with the establishment of the new republic, the strategically located island continued to be fortified as a defensive bulwark. In the years before the War of 1812, the U.S. Army built a castle and a battery; early in the 20th century it expanded the island with fill from the excavation of the Lexington Avenue Subway [5]; later it constructed a bulkhead for protection from storm surges, as well as other facilities such as piers, helicopter pads and a rail line.

http://places.designobserver.com/media/images/GI_1816_525_525.jpg

http://places.designobserver.com/media/images/GI_April1865_525_525.jpg

http://places.designobserver.com/media/images/GI_Views1_525_525.jpg
Top: Governors Island, 1816. [via New York Daily News]
Middle: Governors Island, 1865. [via National Association for Civil War Brass Music]
Bottom: Governors Island, with the Brooklyn waterfront in the distance.
Photo by Andrew Moore, courtesy of The Trust for Governors Island]

Today Governors Island is dominated by the vestiges of its military legacy and by panoramic views of the surrounding harbor. Fort Jay (ca. 1797) occupies the northern edge; crumbling barracks and tarmacs are found throughout the interior; the Coast Guard's old Lima Pier juts into the Buttermilk Channel toward Red Hook; the encircling bulkhead varies from seven to twelve feet above sea level. Looking north toward the mouth of the East River, you can take in the sweep of the Brooklyn Bridge, and, on the waterfront below, the new Brooklyn Bridge Park; across the river are the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, fringed by the green of Battery Park. Looking south you find Staten Island and the old naval base, now a cruise ship harbor, of Bayonne, NJ, and the gentrifying waterfront of Jersey City. And in the distance, at the mouth of the harbor, the Verrazano Bridge leaps across the Narrows, marking the entry to the port that was the gateway to America for so many millions of immigrants.

With the end of military operations, the federal government arranged the return of Governors Island to New York State for the nominal cost of $1, on condition that future development would benefit the public (with 22 acres being set aside to create the Governors Island National Monument). And even as its official status was being negotiated, the urban design community was debating new uses for the 172-acre island located just one-half mile from the southern edge of Manhattan. In 1996 the Van Alen Institute sponsored an ideas competition, Public Property, which drew more than 200 entries in response to the challenge "to consider the urban potential of Governors Island" and how it could contribute "to the survival of a vital public realm." A few years later the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the public entity charged with redevelopment, along with the non-profit Governors Island Alliance, began sponsoring programs and facilities, including art exhibitions and sports venues, as part of the effort to encourage public activity and build a constituency for the island. And in 2007 the City organized a major competition, inviting five teams of internationally prominent designers to propose ideas for the island's "future public open space," including a new 87-acre park at the southern end, a "great promenade" around the perimeter, and park spaces within the designated Historic District at the northern end. The winning proposal was the work of a team led by West 8, in collaboration with Rogers Marvel Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, and Urban Design +. [6]

http://places.designobserver.com/media/images/GI_Views3_525_525.jpg
Governors Island promenade near Castle Williams with views of Manhattan.
[via The Trust for Governors Island]

Continue reading for interview with Adriaan Geuze (http://places.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=24228)

Merry

February 18th, 2011, 07:54 PM

Governors Island Gets $150 Million From City For Hammocks And Fields

The new park in the middle of the island will include a Hammock Grove and two sports fields, say Downtown officials.

By Julie Shapiro

http://s3.amazonaws.com/sfb111/story_xlimage_2011_02_R8599_GOVERNORS_ISLAND_GETS_ 150_MILLION_02182011.jpgThe Hammock Grove is one section of the 23-acre park that will now open in 2013.

GOVERNORS ISLAND — A hammock-hemmed forest and two new sports fields are on the way to Governors Island by 2013, thanks to a new $150 million allocation by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, three sources told DNAinfo Friday.

The money in the city's capital budget will open up a new 23-acre section of Governors Island that was previously closed to the public, the sources said. Construction will start as soon as this year.

"This is terrific news, not only for lower Manhattan but for the city as a whole," said Julie Menin, a board member of the Trust for Governors Island. "[The new park] will come online significantly earlier than expected."

Menin and two other sources said they heard the news this week from the Trust for Governors Island.

A spokeswoman for the Trust and a spokesman for Bloomberg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The funding for Governors Island comes from the city's capital budget and is separate from the austere operating budget Bloomberg announced this week, which will eliminate more than 6,000 teaching jobs, cut daycare services and close 20 fire companies.

The city took over Governors Island from the state last year and promised to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to its redevelopment.

The city previously announced a $30 million overhaul of the historic section on the island's north side, which is already open to the public.

But this newly allocated $150 million will open up 23 acres in the middle of the island, called the Liggett Hall area, which has never been publicly accessible. The space currently contains rundown Coast Guard buildings and largely unused fields.

The plan, by the West 8 design team, will convert the space into a Hammock Grove of shady, winding paths and will add much-needed sports fields for local leagues.

Other parts of the island's future park, including paths that roam over hills and a grand promenade, still need more funding in the future.

"We're excited," said Jake Itzkowitz, chief of staff to Councilwoman Margaret Chin. "We want to see as much done with Governors Island as possible."

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110218/downtown/governors-island-gets-150-million-from-city-for-hammocks-fields#ixzz1EMF53vYk

Ninjahedge

February 21st, 2011, 09:27 AM

Fields? Yes.

Hammocks?

Stupid. They won't last 2 seasons (so long as they paid a "normal" price for materials and "installation" that will be no real problem... But how much you think each of these hammocks cost, bottom line?).....

stache

February 21st, 2011, 10:53 AM

Plus people will start 'saving' "their" hammocks, and others nearby for 'friends that are coming'. This will be a mess.

lofter1

February 21st, 2011, 12:13 PM

Folks already do that at the very southern end of GI, where there are some red hammocks and picnic tables.

Merry

August 31st, 2011, 10:10 AM

The Next World's Fair: A Proposal

by Fred A. Bernstein

http://observatory.designobserver.com/media/images/Governors-Isand-525_525.jpg
Concept for a floating World's Fair at Governors Island by Chad Oppenheim

Would the 20th century have been “the American century” without the two New York World’s Fairs, in 1939 and 1964-65?

And are the two most recent world's fairs — in Aichi, Japan (2005) and Shanghai (2010) — harbingers of what some have called “the Asian century”?

Like the great American fairs, the Asian "world expos" showcased industrial might and technological achievement — amid compelling displays of contemporary architecture and design. The 2005 fair in Aichi, Japan, though largely overlooked in the U.S., drew 22 million visitors. It was an economic bonanza for Japan’s industrial heartland, which received a huge influx of tourist dollars and was left with one of the largest public parks in Asia.

The 2010 World Expo, held in Shanghai, was a no-expense-spared advertisement for Chinese ambition. It transformed Shanghai long before opening day with port expansions, high-speed rail links (including MagLev trains that reach 270 miles per hour), and new airports for domestic and international travel. During its six-month run, the fair brought some 70 million visitors to Shanghai. And of course there was innovative architecture (a hallmark of every world’s fair since the Crystal Palace and the Eiffel Tower came to symbolize the great London and Paris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_%281889%29) expositions).

I attended both the Aichi and Shanghai fairs, each time returning home convinced that New York should host a fair in 2020 or 2025. Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent much of his first term trying to bring the Olympics to New York, at a cost of millions of dollars, and considerable political capital. Had he succeeded, the Olympics would have brought thousands of well-heeled sports fans to the city for two weeks; by contrast, a world’s fair could attract millions of visitors over a period of months, and to large swaths of the city — not just a few hermetically-sealed venues.

The Olympics bid failed, but the mayor’s efforts reminded us that New York, the world’s most international city, would be a great place for a twenty-first century fair.

Forty percent of New York City’s residents are foreign-born. More than 140 languages are spoken in the city, and students from nearly 200 countries attend its public schools.

At past fairs, national pavilions have been conceived entirely by the sponsoring countries and, effectively, transplanted to the host city. At a new New York World’s Fair, national pavilions could be created with the input of city residents who have connections to participating countries. The fair would be not just an international exposition, but an international reunion, a celebration of New York's connections to the world.

Benefits to New York City

A world’s fair in 2020 or 2025 would bring millions of visitors, and with them hundreds of millions of dollars for hotels, restaurants, and shops. Other likely benefits of a New York world’s fair would include physical improvements to the city (including the completion of infrastructure projects that, until now, have faced no real deadline); the sprucing up of cultural and civic buildings throughout the metropolitan area; and renewed enthusiasm for New York in the eyes of the world.

With its theme of connections, the fair would bestow greater recognition on the city’s ethnic neighborhoods, some of which are little known even to other New Yorkers. It would be a world’s fair doubling as a civic celebration.

Criticisms

Critics tend to object that world’s fairs are passé in the Internet age, when virtual communication reduces the need for “physical” gatherings.

In fact, advances in transportation make it easier than ever for people to attend world’s fairs. And, while people may have higher expectations in an age of digital effects, technology makes it possible to meet, and exceed, those expectations.

The crowds at the two recent expos were vast and enthusiastic, hardly deterred by the ability to participate via computer. As historian Robert Rydell wrote of the Japan fair, “People were lined up for eight to 10 hours trying to get into the Expo grounds. And this in a high-wired, high-tech society if ever there was one."

Ironically, much of what drew the Japanese to Aichi was American culture — the biggest nightly attractions were created by New Yorkers Laurie Anderson and Robert Wilson, and a band of robot musicians performed New Orleans-style jazz.

Critics also complain that world’s fairs are too expensive. But according to New York Times Metro reporter Sam Roberts:

Each of New York's 20th-century World's Fairs drew tens of millions of visitors,
provided jobs and generated tax revenue. The first led to the linking of the Grand
Central Parkway to the new Triborough Bridge and spurred the completion of the
airport that would later be named after Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia.

“Fairs are a lot more successful economically than they seem, because we set our
sights too narrow,'' said David Gelernter, a professor at Yale and the author of
1939: The Lost World of the Fair (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/038072748X/designobserver-20/). The 1939 fair helped make Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park possible, in part, because “a stupefyingly huge dump got
cleaned up,” Mr. Gelernter said.

It also helped improve the city's image. “The fair brought huge crowds to New York;
they didn't spend enough money, but left with the impression that New York was
the most exciting place on earth,” Mr. Gelernter said. “And the years following the fair
and the war — 1945 through the mid-'50s — were boom years for the city…. Many
things helped, but the fair was a huge factor.”

In fiscally tight times, the fair must not be allowed to become a financial drain on the city and state. But, properly planned, it could be a boon to New York’s economy.

Where would the fair be held?

If a fair were to be held in New York in 2020, Governors Island could be the site of most or all of the national pavilions. Governors Island is an iconic location — providing views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Ground Zero — symbols of American diversity, tolerance, and resilience. No other site in the world is so laden with symbolism.

And no other site is so well-situated. Governors Island is, in fact, easily accessible from much of New York and New Jersey. High-tech pontoon bridges could link Governors Island to Brooklyn and Manhattan. At the same time, a “people mover” could be fitted into one of the tubes of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which already runs beneath the Island.

Several architects have proposed ways Governors Island could host a unique, and relatively green, world expo: National pavilions could be boats and barges, which would dock at Governors Island for the six months of the fair, and then return to their home countries.

At the same time, satellite fairgrounds, in all five boroughs, could host corporate and theme pavilions. These locations could include:

i. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens (the site of the last two New York World’s Fairs).

ii. The West Side of Manhattan, where the newly-enlarged Javits Center could provide exhibition space, perhaps for countries unable to afford free-standing buildings.

iii. The Bronx waterfront adjacent to the new Yankee Stadium.

iv. The Brooklyn waterfront, including the new Brooklyn Bridge Park — where gantries practically reach out to Governors Island.

v. Fresh Kills in Staten Island, which would serve as both a place for remembering the victims of 9/11 and a model of environmental stewardship.

At present, Governors Island lacks the infrastructure necessary for proposed commercial and civic uses. And it lacks a deadline to get that infrastructure built. A world’s fair in 2020 would provide that deadline. Both the new infrastructure, and the p.r bonanza bestowed by the fair, will make any future uses of Governors Island that much more successful.

What needs to be done?

When it comes to world’s fairs, the U.S. has been sitting on the sidelines. The U.S. hasn’t hosted a world’s fair since 1984. Meanwhile, its involvement in overseas fairs has ranged from embarrassing (Seville in 1992; the State Department erected a tent it found in storage) to mortifying (Hanover in 2000; the U.S. simply didn’t attend). The U.S. made a better showing in Aichi, where a corporate-funded pavilion extolled the wit and wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, but it was hardly the dazzling attraction expected of a country associated with art, entertainment, and scientific innovation at the highest levels. The U.S. put on another humdrum show in Shanghai, again in a corporate-focused pavilion.

Even more surprising, the U.S. has withdrawn from the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), the Paris-based organization that chooses the sites for world’s fairs. (Under a 1988 BIE treaty, registered expos — commonly called world’s fairs — are held once every five years.) The BIE dues, which the State Department was no longer willing to pay, were approximately $20,000 a year. Ninety-eight other countries, including every major U.S. ally, belong to the BIE. The absence of the U.S. from this forum sends a disturbing message.

Not surprisingly, no U.S. city prepared a bid for the 2015 fair; the BIE was left to choose between Izmir, Turkey and Milan, Italy. Selection of a site for the 2020 fair will be made in 2012.

Proposed immediate steps

1) New York’s congressional delegation, led by Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, must ask the State Department (led by former New York Senator Clinton) to rejoin the Bureau of International Expositions.

2) Mayor Bloomberg should immediately form a high-level committee to develop a bid for the 2020 World’s Fair, and provide it with the same resources that were available to the organizers of New York’s Olympics bid.

3) GIPEC — the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation — should embrace the concept of a fair, which would help facilitate future uses of the island.

Only by acting quickly can New York City create a bid in time for next years’ BIE meeting (during which the site for 2020 will be chosen); preclude competing bids by other U.S. cities; and engender the enthusiasm among the fair’s many constituencies — from the statehouse in Albany to the city’s immigrant neighborhoods — needed to move the idea forward.

New York has long been the world’s center of both innovation (media, fashion, art) and international cooperation (as the official home of the United Nations and the unofficial home of a united nations of immigrants and the children of immigrants). A New York World’s Fair in 2020 would give New York a chance to demonstrate its continued importance in the twenty-first century.

http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/the-next-worlds-fair-a-proposal/29808/

Don31

September 6th, 2011, 12:36 PM

Plus people will start 'saving' "their" hammocks, and others nearby for 'friends that are coming'. This will be a mess.
People would really do that?? I'm shocked!! :)

lofter1

September 6th, 2011, 01:45 PM

Pig Island II (http://www.pigisland.com/)

September 10, 2011
11:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Colonels Row

New York City will celebrate September with the 2011 food event everyone's been waiting for: Pig Island II! Picking up where we left off in 2010, Pig Island II is an all-local event, featuring farmers, chefs, brewers and vintners, bringing the best of New York State to New York City.

Pig Island II will source 80 hogs from NY farmers, prepared by 20 top NYC chefs including Heather Carlucci-Rodrigues (Print), Mary Cleaver (Cleaver & Co.), Jacques Gautier (Palo Santo) and King Phojankong (Kuma Inn and Umi Nom). This farm/food collaboration will be complemented by specialty craft beer and NY wine, cooking demonstrations, and opportunities to see the best of New York in action. Pig Island II will take place on September 10th, from 11:30am - 5pm, on Governors Island's historic Colonel's Row.

Click here for the Chef line up! (http://www.pigisland.com/chefs.html)

ZippyTheChimp

September 6th, 2011, 02:37 PM

http://briansbelly.com/halloffame/images/homer_porkrinds.gif

stache

September 6th, 2011, 06:15 PM

I'm tired of this place.

lofter1

September 6th, 2011, 07:14 PM

lol ^ :p

BigMac

November 22nd, 2011, 11:07 PM

New York Times
November 22, 2011

Visions of a Development Rising From the Sea

By JULIE SATOW

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/11/23/business/Columbia/Columbia-articleLarge.jpg
The Center for Urban Real Estate says that connecting Lower Manhattan and Governors Island would generate billions of dollars in revenue for the city.

New Yorkers are fond, perhaps overly so, of assembling ever-creative names for newly hot neighborhoods, from NoMad (north of Madison Square Park) to SoBro (the South Bronx) to BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens).

Now comes LoLo — perhaps the most far-fetched name of all, given that the neighborhood does not actually exist.

LoLo, which stands for Lower Lower Manhattan, is one of the first proposals from the Center for Urban Real Estate, a new research group at Columbia University. The neighborhood would be created by connecting Lower Manhattan and Governors Island with millions of cubic yards of landfill, similar to how Battery Park City was born in the 1970s. Over 20 to 30 years, the center estimates, LoLo would create 88 million square feet of development and generate $16.7 billion in revenue for the city.

It may be an impossible project, because there are strict regulations on building with landfill. Governors Island has also become a popular destination for recreation and arts events. But the project is the kind of big thinking that New York needs, said Vishaan Chakrabarti, the director of the center and the Marc Holliday associate professor of real estate development at Columbia.

One of the center’s other projects is examining how New York can nurture development by altering zoning regulations. There are nearly four billion square feet of unused development rights in the city, the center says, with more than 765 million square feet in Manhattan alone.

The most common method for developers to create more space is to buy so-called air rights, or the right to build vertically, from adjacent buildings. The center suggests relaxing the city’s zoning rules so that developers can buy air rights from any property owner in the same zoning district rather than limiting them to adjacent plots.

This was the strategy behind the rezoning of the High Line district, which Mr. Chakrabarti helped lead when he was the director of the Manhattan office for the Department of City Planning. Developers in that area have been able to buy air rights from property owners in the neighborhood, regardless of whether the lot was adjacent.

“I believe in the free market,” Mr. Chakrabarti said. “When there is a limited pool of buyers, owners jack up their prices. But if there is a fluid market, the price for air rights will become a more clearly defined thing. It has worked beautifully at the High Line, far beyond our wildest dreams.”

The Center for Urban Real Estate was established this fall at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In addition to Mr. Chakrabarti, the group has one full-time faculty member and a full-time researcher, and adjunct faculty also participate. It is financed by the Carnegie Corporation and the Open Society Foundations, and also receives financing from the school of architecture. The Durst Organization, which recently gave $4 million to the graduate school and its architecture library, is also financing an annual event where the center will present research.

Before he joined Columbia in 2009, Mr. Chakrabarti was an executive vice president at the Related Companies, the large developer, where he helped oversee the Hudson Yards project and the redevelopment of Moynihan Station. He still serves as a consultant to the company and continues to advise on the projects.

The Center for Urban Real Estate is also beginning work on a report, to be called NYC2040, that will examine New York’s development 30 years out, including broad public policy suggestions and environmental issues. The center hopes to publish preliminary findings in the spring and release a full report in the summer.

As for Governors Island, Mr. Chakrabarti presented some parts of the proposal at a meeting held by the Municipal Arts Society this fall. A full version of the report was unveiled last week at a daylong conference, “Zoning the City,” held by the Department of City Planning.

Mr. Chakrabarti has not yet met with city officials to push them on the LoLo proposal. He says he realizes that it is “an enormous project” that would need a lengthy environmental impact statement as well as regulatory changes.

Despite these challenges, he said it would not be different from the rezoning and development of Hudson Yards and the extension of the No. 7 subway line. Both of those projects went through extensive review processes. They will also take decades to complete and will cost the city billions of dollars.

The center is proposing a 92-acre national historic district on the island, 3.9 million square feet for public buildings like schools and 270 acres of open space. The revenue generated by the development would also pay for the extension of the No. 1 and 6 subway lines to the new neighborhood and for a bridge from Red Hook in Brooklyn.

Robert Pirani, the executive director of the Governors Island Alliance, a civic coalition led by the Regional Plan Association, said he had yet to see the full plan. But when it was described to him, Mr. Pirani questioned whether a land bridge connecting Manhattan to Governors Island would spur development. “The ferry is only eight minutes from Manhattan and relatively cheap to operate,” he said. “So in my mind, the distance from Manhattan isn’t the impediment to development.”

Instead, he said: “The city needs to build better infrastructure on the island, like potable water and public transit so that it can be treated like any other development site rather than an amorphous unknown. Developers want certainty, and that is the missing piece.”

The center also proposes using landfill to create barrier islands in the harbor that would help protect against storm surges, and it proposes removing the existing sea walls around Governors Island and replacing them with so-called soft edges, marshy land that scientists say can better absorb the impact of a storm.

The landfill would come from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is dredging New York Harbor to maintain and deepen shipping channels. Over the next 55 years, the corps is expected to dredge 180 million cubic yards of material, with the vast majority winding up in landfills and abandoned mines across the country.

Before the current regulations for building on top of landfill, the method was often used to expand the city’s footprint, including for Battery Park City, which is built on the dirt from the original World Trade Center. It is a popular strategy in other cities around the world. About 250 million cubic yards of landfill was used to create the Hong Kong airport and 6.65 billion cubic yards to create land in Tokyo Bay. The Governors Island proposal is much more modest, using approximately 23 million cubic yards, according to the study.

“Vishaan is thinking globally,” said Vin Cipolla, president of the Municipal Arts Society of New York, who has seen the Governors Island proposal, “and is unabashed about looking at the kind of things that will move regions like ours forward.”

© 2011 The New York Times Company

lofter1

November 23rd, 2011, 12:27 AM

Won't happen in my lifetime, so I can say it's a pipe dream.

Merry

November 24th, 2011, 05:19 AM

That's a hell of a lot of landfill! Almost might as well go over to Ellis and Liberty Islands as well ;).

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/11/23/realestate/23columbia-map/23columbia-map-popup.png

Ninjahedge

November 28th, 2011, 11:29 AM

Meh... It's possible....

I mean, a lot of lower Manhattan is just that!

But I am wondering about the stability of it and the possibility for contamination.

Also, drawing all these pretty pictures is nice, but if you want to build anything more than a 1 or 2 story timber framed building, you would need to put a lot of money into a pile foundation.... = $$$

ZippyTheChimp

November 28th, 2011, 12:10 PM

Mr. Chakrabarti has not yet met with city officials to push them on the LoLo proposal. He says he realizes that it is “an enormous project” that would need a lengthy environmental impact statement as well as regulatory changes.

Despite these challenges, he said it would not be different from the rezoning and development of Hudson Yards and the extension of the No. 7 subway line. Both of those projects went through extensive review processes. They will also take decades to complete and will cost the city billions of dollars.

About 250 million cubic yards of landfill was used to create the Hong Kong airport and 6.65 billion cubic yards to create land in Tokyo Bay. The Governors Island proposal is much more modest, using approximately 23 million cubic yards, according to the study.Not very well thought out. Although he acknowledges an EIS, he regards it as a political issue, rather than a real ecological issue. Hudson Yards is a completely different type of project.

Comparisons with Hong Kong and especially Tokyo Bay on the basis of volume of landfill also ignores ecological issues. Unlike Tokyo Bay, New York Bay is a tidal estuary. Over the decades, landfill was added to Tokyo Bay at its perimeter; Chakrabarti proposes to choke off a major point of current flow. Does he expect all that water to flow through Buttermilk Channel?

Actually, a more workable plan would be landfill between Governors Island and Brooklyn. Less than half the distance from the island to Brooklyn than to Manhattan, and the channel is relatively shallow. It's hard to believe no one on a Columbia research team didn't look at a map and reach this conclusion.

Or maybe they couldn't come up with another cool name like LoLo. :cool:

stache

November 28th, 2011, 12:36 PM

Yes that's what I was thinking. Brooklyn is the obvious choice.

Ninjahedge

November 28th, 2011, 01:28 PM

No, Brooklyn is not the obvious choice... for one main reason...

$$

"Manhattan" is worth more than "Brooklyn". You connect GI to Brooklyn, it will take longer to recoup your expenses. Or, rather, the profit made by private investors would be less.

Why does GI need to be attached AT ALL? Of all the things to be spending billions on, this sure as hell ain't one of them.

lofter1

November 28th, 2011, 01:55 PM

It's a silly idea, that apparently ignores the vast flow of water & energy that runs between Manhattan & GI.

Perhaps if it were done in a way to capture that energy, rather than trying to block & re-route it, then it could have more overall interest.

ZippyTheChimp

November 28th, 2011, 08:52 PM

No, Brooklyn is not the obvious choice... for one main reason...

$$You're taking the same narrow approach as a "Center for Urban Real Estate." If you're going to do it, Brooklyn is the choice because it'd the one that's ecologically sound.

But if you want to talk about $$, consider the more comprehensive benefits of connecting to Brooklyn. At some point, some type of mass transit would have to connect to GI. That would benefit GI, but Lower Manhattan already has well developed transit. Transit connections through Brooklyn to GI would provide service to Red Hook, which has access to only one line at Smith St, over half a mile away.

Why does GI need to be attached AT ALL?Who said it does? We're just running with a pipe-dream.

Ninjahedge

November 29th, 2011, 09:30 AM

Zip, I am not disagreeing.

I am just saying that the people that made this decision chose Manhattan because of $$, not actual flow patterns, bed depth, stability, cost or anything else.

I think any fill is silly. We have so much post industrial land still available that SHOULD BE CLEANED, talking about filling up the river 20 years from now is just plain silly.

I guess "reclaiming" areas of NJ would be too difficult? ;) (Looking at route 440 and 1/9..... that may be the case!)

stache

November 29th, 2011, 12:22 PM

Ideally those areas should be turned back into wetlands.

Ninjahedge

November 29th, 2011, 01:14 PM

Some of them.....

Problem is, you end up with HUGE mosquito farms....

On a side note, went kayaking out by the NJ turnpike a few years back. It is MUCH cleaner there now than in years past... almost like the marshland is "eating" all the leftover construction (powerline towers, etc)... There are still pockets of filth in the reeds (garbage cans, tires, scum) but much is GONE.

It is encouraging to see that once an area is not being exploited/industrially abused that it CAN come back from the grave...

BPC

November 29th, 2011, 02:31 PM

I can't really fault these Columbians. I used to have a lot of dumb ideas in college too. Fortunately, nobody ever listed to what I had to say, and no one but us (and, briefly, a New York Times reporter) really paid any attention to these Columbians either. I was more concerned when Deputy Mayor Doctoroff wanted to string that ski lift thingy across the harbor to Governor's Island, as he presumably had the pull to make it happen, but fortunately that idea died on the vine as well. The best idea I have heard for Governor's Island is to turn over the non-historic side (with all the crappy, modern military barracks) to some sort of university, and let them build a campus on two conditions: (a) it remain completely open to the public; and (b) the university fund non-stop ferry service to Manhattan, Brooklyn, and maybe NJ.

stache

November 29th, 2011, 03:06 PM

Great thing about wetlands is that their whole purpose is to clean everything up around their areas.

Ninjahedge

November 29th, 2011, 04:25 PM

You have to find a way to build symbiotically, not just to build to conquer.

Merry

December 13th, 2011, 08:16 AM

Moody Greens

West 8 releases new landscape details for Governors Island.

by Tom Stoelker

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Pentagram's Welcome Wall at Soissons Landing. Courtesy West 8

The vision for Governors Island came into sharper focus after more details of the first phase of development were revealed to AN last month. Leslie Koch, president of the Trust for Governors Island, confirmed that the city has committed $300 million to the project. During construction through 2012, the island will only be open on Saturdays and Sundays; work is expected to be complete by October 2013. New key features, from transparent signage to curbs that morph into seating and customized lighting provide a distinct identity.

The most immediate change that visitors will notice is a new arrival pier at Soissons Landing. Koch said that Yankee Pier to the south would accommodate visitors from Brooklyn. Historic areas will be left pretty much alone, though nearly $27 million has already been spent to stabilize historic structures. The project will also bring much-needed infrastructure such as telecommunications and a potable water connection from Brooklyn.

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New flower beds and green space surround the Liggett Terrace.

On arrival at Soissons Landing, a transparent Welcome Wall developed by Pentagram will greet visitors. Partner Michael Bierut said the designers knew that if the signage was too large it would become intrusive, too small and it would become useless. So the group explored ways to dematerialize the wayfinding. The firm created a trellis-like gate to hold cutout letters (a redesigned version of the font Agency), making the background for the letters the park itself. “The more they get smothered by the landscape the better,” said Bierut.

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Left to right: The Hammock Grove swings among full-grown oaks; a site plan of Governors Island; a planting plan for Liggett Terrace.

The terrace in front of McKim, Mead and White’s Liggett Hall seems set to become the island’s social heart. West 8’s Adriaan Geuze described the paisley-like interplay of plantings and fountains found there as a “baroque” composition. Here a swirling labyrinth of boxwoods weave in shallow fountains and play areas that don’t quarantine the kids. “No fences around this play area,” said Koch.

The Liggett Terrace swirls give way to the much-ballyhooed Hammock Grove where Geuze described a “micro typography of oak trees” leading toward baseball fields overlooking the Statue of Liberty. From the terrace to the playground and on through the southernmost tip of the island, generous white precast concrete curbing undulates with grade changes to form seating in certain areas. The curbs delineate the landscape, allowing visitors to read the typographic changes from flush with the lawn in some areas to 18-inch ledges in other areas. The petal-like swirls that are writ large in the site plan and scaled down in the boxwood hedges translate into an even smaller whorl pattern in the curb’s pre-cast concrete.

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Undulating precast-concrete curbs reflect nearby grade changes, morphing into benches.

At night, lighting by Suzan Tillotson is moody. Again, Liggett Hall takes center stage with the façade washed from below with LEDs. Nearby, discreet fixtures, tucked under the boxwood and with a pale green gel, bounce soft light off one side of the hedges. Tillotson explained that in order to preserve off-site views, the light levels taper off closer to the water’s edge. Twelve-foot high lampposts use only 40 watts. The West 8-designed fixtures resemble asymmetric Calla lilies whose light spill along the walkway. As the island’s perimeter is not included in the first phase, elsewhere the familiar orange-hued street light bulbs will be used to differentiate old from new, but the closer you get to Liggett, the cooler it gets.

http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=5798

Ninjahedge

December 13th, 2011, 09:49 AM

Not bad, but the Hammocks are just plain stupid.

lofter1

December 13th, 2011, 10:18 AM

The oaks will be new plantings in the area to the south of the Liggett building, yes?

Merry

January 12th, 2012, 12:34 AM

Solving Manhattan's Space Crunch

Columbia grad students propose a bold strategy to grow the island that might just work.

by Julie V. Iovine

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Following a thoroughly-documented analysis, The Present Future of New York City by GSAPP students Leigh D'Ambra, Scott Hayner, Muchan Park, and Luc Wilson, proposes using dredge to connect Governors Island to Lower Manhattan. Courtesy Leigh D'Ambra, Scott Hayner, Muchan Park, and Luc Wilson

Why not solve the New York City’s pressing housing and open space issues by growing Manhattan island? That was the proposal made in a joint studio last fall at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), run by Laurie Hawkinson, architect and professor of architecture, and Vishaan Chakrabarti, director of GSAPP’s Real Estate Development Program.
The studio, called Speculation, brought together collaborative teams of architecture and real estate students. “It was a great match,” said Hawkinson. “The architects were very articulate at creating visions and the real estate students were excellent at crunching the numbers.”

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A view of Lo-Lo Ma from Manhattan shows the islands expanded skyline.

The studio was driven by two au courant themes, “density” and “speculation”—defined as a kind of amalgam of intelligent vision and risk taking—along with a mandate to “keep it real.” Otherwise, Hawkinson said, “Everything was up for grabs.”

One of the student proposals, The Present Future of New York City, has captured wider attention for its visionary plausibility. “We wanted to get at the issues of growing cities in the future in terms of environment, economy, and housing demands. And we used New York as a model with its issues and initiatives like rising waters, building performance, and PlaNYC 2030,” said team member Luc Wilson, an architecture student.

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Left to right: Manhattan's borders have been growing since settlement began; the Lo-Lo Ma proposal would be developed in phases as new land is created by dredge; the final plan connects Governors Island with Manhattan.

Developed by real state students Leigh D’Ambra and Scott Hayner with architecture students Wilson and Muchan Park, the project started with research on marine ecology and the discovery that the Army Corps of Engineers must pay to remove and ship out vast amounts of dredged materials from New York’s waterways. And so their proposal asks, why not use the muck to grow a new sixth borough off the southern tip of Manhattan and around Governors Island? Call it Lo-Lo Ma. Mindful that housing is not allowed on Governors Island, the team began phasing in buildable land by locating barrier reefs around the island. Then, based on examples in Norway, they propose sinking prefabricated subway tunnels to the riverbed and covering them with more landfill. Voila, the Number 1 line can go to sea and arrive at Governors Island for much less than it has taken to get the Second Avenue subway not to open and the Number 7 to inch its way across the West Side. With Governors Island as the new borough’s green lungs—perhaps with a campus of some sort added—the remaining dredges would continue to fill in the gaps until reaching mainland and connecting to the street grid; however, all the Lo-Lo Ma streets would be oriented to maximize solar gain.

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Increasingly ambitious infrastructure improvements are made possible at higher densities.

And then it gets innovative. Using CATIA software explored in an earlier studio, the team was able to project flexible ranges for development through to 2035. According to the proposal, “Depending on the density of development, the value of the new land created in Lo-Lo Ma would pay for the costs of developing this new neighborhood, while also allowing for investment in other infrastructural projects.”

Thus a build-out with a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of six could pay for a subway extension to the island, while a FAR-10 would make a bridge from Red Hook not only possible but desirable in light of the increased density. Things like 40 percent affordable housing, a waste-to-energy plant, even a field of wind turbines could be achieved in the same way. Even the worst-case scenarios are under consideration with streets and boulevards transforming into either permeable gutters or Venetian-style channels depending on storm severity. “We prepared for disaster in an optimistic way,” Wilson said.

According to The Present Future, Lo-Lo Ma could provide about 88 to 100 million square feet of developable land as compared to the 44 million square feet on offer at Hudson Yards. The PowerPoint images of Lo-Lo Ma—that Chakrabarti has shown at a 50th-anniversary Zoning Conference sponsored by the Planning Commission as well as on WNET—as a shimmery sun-catching cluster of towers, turbines, and oyster-rich soft edges have an Oz-like resonance and appeal. In late January, the students will begin presenting Lo-Lo Ma to city officials, engineers, experts, and the public to ascertain its feasibility.

http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=5838