Last week, we noted that the East River Park rehabilitation project appears certain to miss another deadline. On the Parks Department web site, an advisory still points towards a “fall 2011” reopening of the promenade, which has now been closed for a decade. We also noticed a barge owned by the city’s beleaguered contractor, Pile Foundation Construction Company, had disappeared.
A reader left a comment saying the company had “gone into receivership” and that the new company “has to go through 10 city agencies when they need supplies.” We contacted the Parks Department press office for an update. According to a spokesman, Pile Foundation, which has been fined by state regulators on numerous occasions, has finished its part of the East River project.
The remaining work will be conducted by the city’s landscaping contractor, we were told. The spokesman added that the promenade would reopen by “the end of the year.” Incidentally, at midday today we noticed the Pile Foundation barge (which had been anchored just south of the Williamsburg Bridge for many months), several hundred feet away, near Pier 36. There was no sign, however, of any activity on the esplanade landscaping project — no work crews anywhere in sight.
they need a lot more done than landscaping…there is no fence or walkway yet
If it’s done by the end of the year, I’ll swim to Williamsburg.
A couple of months ago, I asked someone who worked there when the entire project will be finished, and he said in the spring. They actually completed some work at the park, which is installing bulkheads, at the boathouse (Of course, I have no why they are needed?), they cleaned up a major eyesore next to the prominade (A bunch of dirt and rocks that is being used for equipment), and across the street, at Corlears Hook Park they finished a Little league/Soccer Field. All that is needed is the prominade to be opened( I did see some progress there), the boathouse to be renovated (I have no idea for far they are along with that), and actually doing something with that old eyesore
I have seen progress…. Finally. The bulkheads by the boathouse, the cleaning up of an eyesore area, by the prominade (It is now being used for equipment), and the Little League Field at Corlears Hook Park (Across the bridge) are all done, so they are closing in on the prominade, boathouse, and a couple of small areas, which will end the Construction part of East River Park…. Of course, they do not have enough people to properly take care of it, but that is another issue.