INWOOD — Design firms from across the city will compete for the chance to plan an outdoor classroom and boat storage facility at Sherman Creek's old boat club site.
The New York Restoration Project, the nonprofit charged with developing Sherman Creek, announced the competition in a press release this week, saying that eight firms from Brooklyn and Manhattan have been invited to submit designs.
The winning design, which will be announced in November, will turn the site into an interactive outdoor classroom where the NYRP hopes to conduct educational activities such as bird watching, wetlands exploring and oyster gardening.
"This will be a place to teach about environmental conditions in city," Deborah Marton, NYRP vice president, told DNAinfo New York. "That's the conceptual underpinning for the project."
The boat club site was a hub for club rowers and kayakers in the early 20th century. However, the site — like much of Sherman Creek — fell into disrepair over the past few decades, and the ruins of several boathouses still remain on the shoreline.
The NYRP, which has spent the much of the past decade cleaning up Sherman Creek, does not currently have funds for the project or a construction timeline. Marton said the competition was a chance to provide potential donors with a viable plan for development.
One of the requirements for the design is that it must be porous and able to withstand strong storms. The banks of Sherman Creek and nearby Swindler Cove were badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy, which uprooted trees and deposited trash along the shoreline.
Marton said the boat storage facility would most likely be leased to Row New York, an organization that provides athletic training and tutoring for high school students.
