By Josh Williams
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — Lower Manhattan residents will soon have a new place to enjoy the outdoors along the East River now that Community Board 1 has unanimously approved the Pier 15 esplanade project.
Pier 15, located between Wall Street and the South Street Seaport, is currently a barren, undeveloped pier, but developers plan to change that by giving the area an expensive $148 million makeover.
"There was a lot of hard work in this," Community Board 1 member Robert Townley said after the project was approved last week. "It's a good design and will be great when it's completed."
The new esplanade design allows for the docking of historic ships for tours and calls for a cafe to be built to accommodate visitors.
SHoP architect firm, which recently designed the West Side Highway pedestrian bridge, based its design on information gathered from over 70 public meetings.
While the project is expensive, most of the financing will come from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with a small portion coming from New York State Department of Transportation.
“We received $148 million in 2004 after going through a master planning process," senior architect Cathy Jones said. "This came out of the mayor’s vision to redevelop Lower Manhattan after 9/11.”
The projected is scheduled to be completed in 2011.
