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Pier 25's Mini-Golf and Beach Volleyball to Open in May

By Julie Shapiro | April 21, 2011 12:52pm | Updated on April 21, 2011 12:51pm

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

TRIBECA — Get ready for some fun in the sun on the new Pier 25.

The new TriBeCa pier's much-anticipated beach volleyball courts and miniature-golf course are finally set to open at the beginning of May, said Bob Townley, executive director of the downtown community nonprofit group Manhattan Youth.

"The old pier is gone, but I think Pier 25 is going to be very hot," said Townley, who ran the previous Pier 25 before the Hudson River Park Trust demolished it several years ago.

"We should have a lot of people out there. It's going to be wonderful."

Most of the 125,000-square-foot pier opened last fall with an instantly popular playground and skate park. But it took Manhattan Youth a few extra months to put the finishing touches on the plans for the three sand volleyball courts and the 18-hole mini-golf course.

Both will likely be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., Townley said. The mini-golf will cost about $5 per round for adults and $4 for children.

Townley plans to offer a mix of programs and open hours on the volleyball courts, including a Friday-night teen league and weeknight adult games.

Manhattan Youth will also move its free Friday-night jazz show out to the stargazing deck at the tip of Pier 25.

The north side of the pier will soon host three historic ships, which the organization plans to  open to the public. They are the 1907 tugboat Pegasus, 1933 steamship Lilac and Clipper City, a replica of an 1854 schooner.

The Lilac, the oldest surviving lighthouse tender, will host educational tours and programs with The River Project, along with film screenings, concerts and the boat's birthday celebration with cake on Memorial Day Weekend.

The Pegasus will also host educational programs, and Pamela Hepburn, the boat's owner and captain, will continue her work with teenagers who have dropped out of high school. Pegasus will also offer internships, a summer camp and an after-school program.

"We're tremendously excited about being here," Hepburn said at a Community Board 1 meeting this week.

The final ship, Clipper City, will do chartered voyages through its for-profit owner, Manhattan by Sail. The sail-powered boat can fit 150 passengers and has newly installed beer taps, said Thomas Berton, the company's president.

Berton also hopes to run cultural programs on the boat when it's tied up at the pier.