Underwater passageways connecting New York and New Jersey still remain damaged after Superstorm Sandy, but The Hudson River Tunnel Project could get them back on track. The project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement was approved this week by the United State Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Transit Administration, a crucial prerequisite for federal funding.
As the city begins to open up and recover, one new attraction that is sure to draw people to its unique architectural design and green space is Thomas Heatherwick‘s Little Island, which just opened to the public this morning at Pier 55 in Chelsea. The 2.4-acre park sits over the Hudson River and features landscape design by MNLA. Hudson River Park Trust is managing the park, which was inspired by a leaf floating on water and utilizes a total of 132 funnel-shaped concrete “pots”that elegantly undulate to form hills, open lawns, winding paths, and even a spot for an amphitheater. Arup served as the project engineers for Little Island, which is located just off of West 14th Street, a short distance from Renzo Piano’s Whitney Museum and Chelsea Market. The cost of the project is around $250 million.
This Monday, the City Planning Commission certified a major initiative to rezone Manhattan’s Soho and Noho Historic Districts. The goal of the initiative is to expand allowable residential density for multifamily buildings, spur the construction of income-restricted and permanently affordable housing, and increase available community facilities.
A new 153,000-square-foot e-commerce distribution center will soon take shape in Hawthorne, a sparsely populated village within Mount Pleasant, Westchester County. The project is located at 211 Saw Mill River Road and is expected to create 1,000 construction jobs, as well as 100 full-time and part-time positions when completed.
Development milestones were met on three major adaptive-reuse commercial projects in Ulster County, amounting to over 500,000 square feet of renewed commercial space two hours north of New York City.
