Waterfront Park to (finally) Be Built for Residents of Murray Hill Apartments

After decades of neglect and sad decline, New York City’s riverfront has enjoyed an astonishing renaissance in the past dozen years or so, with neighborhood after neighborhood receiving the great gift of waterfront access for recreation and relaxation. Now, it’s the residents of Murray Hill apartments who are next in line for their own waterfront park.

While those living in Murray Hill and Midtown East have watched from afar, NY apartment residents all along the west side of Manhattan, for example, have been treated to such great public spaces as Pier 70 (picture below) and it’s accompanying Cafe just south of Riverside Park; the Hudson River Park, including Pier 84 and Clinton Cove in Midtown, and, new this summer, Pier 25 in Tribeca, featuring mini-golf!

Meanwhile, residents of Brooklyn apartments near the water are enjoying the new, beautifully designed Brooklyn Bridge Park: Pier 1 park near DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, and Brooklyn Bridge Park: Pier 6 (picture below), with its spectacular playgrounds (highlighted by the cool Swing Jungle and massive Sandbox Village) and equally appreciated snacks from the likes of Bark Hot Dogs and Blue Marble Ice Cream. Pier 6 is located at the western end of Atlantic Avenue, and is also where you can get the free ferry to Governors Island.

Anyway, for a number of reasons (many having to do with the FDR Drive), the east side of midtown Manhattan has gotten the short shrift in terms of recent waterfront park development. The Upper East Side has the well-handled redesign of the John Jay Playground, hard by the river on 77th Street. And the Lower East Side has the recently renovated East River Park. But Midtown East residents have been left out of the waterfront renaissance.

Midtown East residents’ luck is about to change, however, with the $13 million gut renovation and complete rebuilding of Murray Hill’s Waterfront Pier. The crucial first step of rehabilitating the old pier will begin immediately, and the site, on the East River between 38th and 41st Streets, will one day be a 34,000 square-foot public park, a key section of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s long-term Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy of giving East Side residents a continuous esplanade all up and down the East River.

Murray Hill rental apartments have for many years been among the best bargains in the prime areas of Manhattan, even in such luxury rental buildings as Paramount Tower, The Montrose, and Archstone Murray Hill. With the addition of a huge, presumably well-designed (the recent track record for NYC riverfront parks has been excellent) Waterfront Pier park, Murray Hill will in a few years be an even more attractive neighborhood for young professionals and families looking for a NY apartment for rent.

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