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PHOTOS: Pier A Finally Opens After $57M in Repairs

By Irene Plagianos | November 17, 2014 1:42pm
 The landmarked, 128-year-old pier at Lower Manhattan's tip has reopened, after years of delays.
Pier A Opens
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FINANCIAL DISTRICT — The newly overhauled Pier A has finally reopened to the public, after years of delays and millions of dollars of cost overruns.

The landmarked, 128-year-old pier at Lower Manhattan's tip has been transformed into Harbor House, with three floors of bars, restaurants and a catering hall. The space, which began opening this weekend, will also eventually include a visitors center and a small coffee shop.

The first floor of the building, which is the most casual, is called Long Hall and soft-opened over the weekend. A long bar offers a selection of on-tap brews, including its very own Brooklyn Brewery-made beer, called the Brooklyn Long Hall Lager. The bar’s two featured cocktails, a Dark and Stormy and a Pimm’s Cup, both priced at $11, are also available on tap.

The seafood-centric menu features oysters and raw bar selections, along with some pricey items like a $120 "seafood tower," $48 lobster bake, $60 king crab and other fish. There’s also more typical pub fare, like wings and burgers.

The expansive space opens at 11 a.m. and will eventually stay open until 4 a.m., though it closes based on whether or not there are customers, a spokeswoman for the restaurant said.

Pier A originally opened in 1886 and once housed the New York Harbor Police, before later serving as an FDNY fireboat station.

The building and its surrounding plaza fell into disrepair and sat empty for more than two decades.

The Battery Park City Authority and the city spent $37 million to overhaul the rotting building and pier over the past several years.

The Poulakakos family, which owns numerous Downtown restaurants and is now running Pier A, then poured in about $20 million to finish developing the space, a spokeswoman said.

Peter Poulakakos told DNAinfo New York that he hopes to open Pier A's second floor, which will feature a fine dining restaurant and more intimate bars, by January.

The third floor, a catering hall, is now taking reservations for holiday parties and events. Second-floor spaces will be open for private holiday events as well.