New Lower East Side Parks May Be More Than Just Green Spaces

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Plans for one new park in the Lower East Side have gone underground with a futuristic twist, while a second will live in plain sight on a busy Houston Street intersection.

A below-ground former trolley terminal near the Delancey Street subway station in the Lower East Side may become a subterranean park, with natural light for plants beamed in using fiber-optic technology. Inspired by the innovation shown by the creators of Chelsea’s High Line Park, the planned park’s promoters are already calling it “the Low Line.” A huge cavelike structure with 20-foot ceilings, the space takes up about three blocks under Delancey Street between Essex Street and the Williamsburg Bridge. One of the two partners behind the project, Architect James Ramsey calls the project, “a little perverse, a little like science fiction,” referring to the technology, which he developed, that would allow grass and trees to grow underground. The site was discussed for a mixed-use project earlier this year (NYTimes).

Back in the sunshine, the once-again vacant lot at Houston Street and Second Avenue—the site of last summer’s BMW Guggenheim Lab—will be reborn as a community park. Neighborhood volunteer group First Street Green are the ones to thank for the newest development. The new park will host dance, music, art, performance, film and more, with a kickoff party happening on December 10 (Gothamist).

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New Lower East Side Parks May Be More Than Just Green Spaces

DECEMBER 5, 2011

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