Here’s an update on the troubled project to build a new recreational area at Pier 35. In March, the city’s Economic Development Corp. announced it was curtailing a multi-million dollar contract with the construction firm responsible for building the park, located near Rutgers Slip. Now a Request for Proposals (RFP) has gone out for a new construction manager.
The RFP, published on August 3, seeks applications for what’s known as “Package 4″ on the larger East River Waterfront Esplanade & Piers Project.” The delays have mostly been attributed to difficulties building a screenwall meant to separate a sanitation facility to the north from the recreational area. Trocom Construction was previously overseeing the project. According to the RFP, the EDC is:
…looking for the Construction Manager to advise on the most appropriate way to procure the Pier 35 park and the screenwall work given the complexity and uniqueness of both areas of work. The Construction Manager shall also advise on the constructability of the screenwall and any potential VE options for the structure.
At a community board meeting last month, EDC Vice President Lusheena Warner said there are other complications regarding the Pier 35 initiative. The agency has been going back and forth for many months with the Department of Environmental Protection regarding the upgrade of a water main running along the East River. “We don’t have final approval,” she explained, for that part of the project.
Bids are due at the end of this month.
The city calls Pier 35 a “destination pier with landscaped open space and an innovative ecohabitat restoration project called the EcoPark.” A 1,000 foot recreational area directly south of the pier – featuring exercise equipment, plantings and seating – opened in the spring of 2014.
