Manhattan Plans to Expand its Waterfront Renaissance

While much attention has been paid to the new parks and waterfront development changing the face of Brooklyn and Queens along the East River's eastern edge, Manhattan's coast has languished. Now the plan for a new initiative, dubbed the East River Blueway, seeks to begin transforming a 3.5-mile stretch from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 38th Street by the end of this year, reports Silvestro.  

Designed by WXY Architecture + Urban Design, the East River Blueway Plan is "a community-based planning initiative named for its focus on access and connectivity on the water." With a preliminary network of waterfront activity sites identified, overcoming a host of existing challenges, including FDR Drive, superblocks of towers-in-the-park housing, poor drainage, and a mixture of active and inactive waterfront industry, will be key to the success of the plan, notes Silvestro.