Commercial Grade

by James Dunne - The CREative Department

Last weekend the City was anticipating a large turnout for the opening weekend of the second section of the Highline. However, it was overcast and drizzling on Saturday, which made it a perfect day to visit to avoid the crowds. The Highline was an abandoned freight rail line running along the west side of Manhattan that has now been converted into an elevated green parkway. With the opening of the new section from 20th to 30th Street, it now runs from Gavensvoort Street in the Meat Packing District up to 30th street in Chelsea. This is a shot of the new section:

I think the park is beautiful, but the question I always ask from a city planning prospective is: was the cost of the project worth it? The total cost for design and construction was $153M, most of which came from the City, plus a $20M Federal Grant and $700K from the State. The Bloomberg Administration cites that the area around the park, which has been rezoned, grew 60% from 2000 to 2010. Since 2006, when the High Line project began, 29 major private projects have been initiated that were spurred by the development, with 19 of them completed thus far. This accounts for more the $2 Billion in private investment, including 12,000 jobs, 2,558 residential units, 1,000 hotel rooms, 423K sq. ft. of office space and 85K sq. ft. of gallery space. Indeed, even on the day that I was there, the bars and restaurants around the Highline were all packed in mid-afternoon (probably filled with visitors avoiding the rain). There’s a shiny new hotel over the Highline, plus plenty of new residential buildings (as you can see in the photo above) that overlook the Highline - all mentioning the Highline in their advertising. The area, even just a few years ago was full of underutilized warehouses, now there’s new retail on many of the blocks surrounding the line. I’d say that this is a perfect example of smart and creative city planning.

by James Dunne - The CREative Department

Brooklyn Bridge Park recently opened its latest addition, Pier 6. I took a bike ride down to the park, beginning at Pier 1, to view the progress, and I have to say that it is impressive. When I arrived in Brooklyn 10 years ago, the area that is now Brooklyn Bridge Park was a largely desolate and under-utilized strip of prime New York real estate. I used to take walks in DUMBO when it was a warehouse-land with just one old bar and a Mexican restaurant - now, the Brooklyn Bride Park Conservancy, which runs the show, holds yoga classes on the waterfront, along with a host of other activities. Pier 1, where I started, now has a wine bar, a gourmet taco stand, and locally made ice-cream food cart serving the area. The landscaping has expanded since the last time I was there, as shown in the picture below:

In the background you can see the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) carved into the granite, with Brooklyn Heights and the promenade perched on top. There is a bike and jogging path that connects Pier 1 to Pier 6 that passes the other yet-to-be-developed Piers 2-5. Pier 2 is shown in this picture:

When I arrived at Pier 6, they had a sand-filled volleyball court open, plus a children’s play area with sprinklers, which was swarming with kids. I often used the service road under the BQE, which passed by this area, as short-cut when driving though Brooklyn and I would wonder if this area would ever be developed. It was still partially used as a shipping-container port back then, so I’m excited to see the area thriving, but now my short-cut is full of taxis and tour-buses.