An article in today's edition of The Broadsheet Daily, which is distributed in Battery Park City, TriBeCa and the Financial District, said that more than 50 people attended an informational meeting held last Friday by the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority on its Request for Qualifications for leasing and operating Pier A.
The authority is working with the city's Economic Development Corporation on the $30 million renovation of the city-owned pier that dates to 1886 and is the last of the piers that once lined the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan.
The three-story structure has a handsome tower at its west end and for many years the pier was used by the city's glorious fireboats whose multi-colored sprays heralded the arrival of major new ships in the harbor.
The RFQ process will identify applicants with sufficient experience and resources to develop the pier. There will be a second information session on Jan. 7, 2010, at 10 a.m. in the 24th floor conference room of the World Financial Center.
Pier A was part of the Battery Park City footprint when the Authority was created in 1969. In addition to serving as a gateway for visitors to New York City, it was where soldiers returning from World War I disembarked and were welcomed home. The pier was also home to the Fire Battalion as well as to other port offices. It has been unoccupied for several decades.
The Battery Park City Authority has already completed underwater repairs to the pier's foundation and has started to replace the pier's deck. Architect Hugh Hardy is responsible for the plans for the pier's restoration, which is expected to be completed with the building available to a selected tenant by March 31, 2011.
For a copy of the RFQ, go to www.batteryparkcity.org and click on "Opportunities." Responses are due no later than 4 p.m. on January. 29, 2010.
The document detailing the RFQ states that "through its restoration and adaptive reuse, it is anticipated that a revitalized Pier A, which is a designated New York City landmark, will become a focal point of new activity in Lower Manhattan that will serve as a catalyst for future economic development in the neighborhood.
Respondents should anticipate having exclusive use of the 38.785 square feet or so of indoor space with the pier and specific use concepts may be enhanced through the utilization of some portions of the 34,000 square public Plaza and the 12,550-square-foot public Promenade that surrounds the building on three sides.
The Battery Park City Authority's announcement said that it "reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to identify a short list of qualified Respondents who will be invited to respond to a subsequent RFP for the lease and operation of Pier A or to restrict the right to respond to any future RFP for the Pier A site to only those parties who respond to this RFQ."
The pier has been unoccupied since 1993, and, until recently, has been in a state of disrepair. In late 2008, the authority began working to rehabilitate the Pier to ensure its structural soundness. Rehablitation work includes the repair of the sub-piers, the installation of a new deck and the restoration of the core and shell to standards applicable to historic buildings. The authority leases it from the city under a 49-year term ground lease that extends through October 6, 2057 and it has the right to extend the ground lease for five additional 10-year periods. It is anticipated that the authority's rehabilitation work on the pier will be completed by March 13, 2011.
The authority said it is seeking innovative concepts for programming with the goal of enhancing waterfront access and additional use concepts should accommodate inclusion of a visitors' center, and could act as a hub for ferry service.
The authority is working with the city's Economic Development Corporation on the $30 million renovation of the city-owned pier that dates to 1886 and is the last of the piers that once lined the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan.
The three-story structure has a handsome tower at its west end and for many years the pier was used by the city's glorious fireboats whose multi-colored sprays heralded the arrival of major new ships in the harbor.
The RFQ process will identify applicants with sufficient experience and resources to develop the pier. There will be a second information session on Jan. 7, 2010, at 10 a.m. in the 24th floor conference room of the World Financial Center.
Pier A was part of the Battery Park City footprint when the Authority was created in 1969. In addition to serving as a gateway for visitors to New York City, it was where soldiers returning from World War I disembarked and were welcomed home. The pier was also home to the Fire Battalion as well as to other port offices. It has been unoccupied for several decades.
The Battery Park City Authority has already completed underwater repairs to the pier's foundation and has started to replace the pier's deck. Architect Hugh Hardy is responsible for the plans for the pier's restoration, which is expected to be completed with the building available to a selected tenant by March 31, 2011.
For a copy of the RFQ, go to www.batteryparkcity.org and click on "Opportunities." Responses are due no later than 4 p.m. on January. 29, 2010.
The document detailing the RFQ states that "through its restoration and adaptive reuse, it is anticipated that a revitalized Pier A, which is a designated New York City landmark, will become a focal point of new activity in Lower Manhattan that will serve as a catalyst for future economic development in the neighborhood.
Respondents should anticipate having exclusive use of the 38.785 square feet or so of indoor space with the pier and specific use concepts may be enhanced through the utilization of some portions of the 34,000 square public Plaza and the 12,550-square-foot public Promenade that surrounds the building on three sides.
The Battery Park City Authority's announcement said that it "reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to identify a short list of qualified Respondents who will be invited to respond to a subsequent RFP for the lease and operation of Pier A or to restrict the right to respond to any future RFP for the Pier A site to only those parties who respond to this RFQ."
The pier has been unoccupied since 1993, and, until recently, has been in a state of disrepair. In late 2008, the authority began working to rehabilitate the Pier to ensure its structural soundness. Rehablitation work includes the repair of the sub-piers, the installation of a new deck and the restoration of the core and shell to standards applicable to historic buildings. The authority leases it from the city under a 49-year term ground lease that extends through October 6, 2057 and it has the right to extend the ground lease for five additional 10-year periods. It is anticipated that the authority's rehabilitation work on the pier will be completed by March 13, 2011.
The authority said it is seeking innovative concepts for programming with the goal of enhancing waterfront access and additional use concepts should accommodate inclusion of a visitors' center, and could act as a hub for ferry service.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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