Pier 17. Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

By Paul Bisceglio

After a small fire engulfed the South Street Seaport’s Pier 17 in mid-July, a representative for the pier’s owner, the Howard Hughes Corp., was on hand at a recent community meeting to address safety concerns and future development plans for the site.

Michael Piazzola, the senior general manager for Hughes Corp., told members of the Community Board 1 Seaport/Civic Center Committee that no alarm was pulled during the blaze because staff are trained to report fires to supervisors, who then report the emergency directly to FDNY. The three-story building has no electronic public address system, so warning was spread by word of mouth.
Committee members expressed concern that such notification would be insufficient in more severe incidents.

“Had this been a more extensive fire that engulfed more of the wooden decking around the pier, this could have been a lot more catastrophic,” said Committee member Paul Hovitz.

The Committee asked Piazzola to change company policy to require workers to pull a fire alarm as well as report to their supervisors in the event of a fire, and suggested that they install a PA system in the building.

Pier 17 is scheduled to undergo an extensive two-year construction project next year that will transform the current mall structure, built in 1980, into a modern glass shopping plaza. The Committee expressed enthusiasm for this project when it was revealed in March, but Hughes Corp. must still seek the approval of CB1 and three other city organizations to proceed.

Piazzola assured that the new building would meet CB1 and the Committee’s safety demands. According to Michael Levine, CB1’s director of land use and planning, though, CB1 has a “shopping list” of additional mini projects they would like the construction proposal to include that would benefit community, such as a community center. They are also asking Piazzola to produce a more detailed financial plan for the new building.

Howard Hughes Corp. will meet with CB1 in August to discuss the construction project.

Key local and state officials and prominent waterfront activists got a splash as they celebrated the fifth annual City of Water Day Festival on Governors Island this past Saturday.

The festival included a dockside press conference at South Street Seaport’s Pier 17, followed by a launch event on Manhattan by Sail’s Clipper City where Council member Margaret Chin presented a city Proclamation to the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (MWA) in honor of the festival. Many adventurous attendees chose to reach Governers Island using human-powered water vessels, like the New York City Downtown boathouse which used a series of kayaks. While others already on the island were treated to a tour of an historic tugboat and paddleboarding demonstrations.

For the past five years, the festival has drawn over 20,000 people. Past celebrations have taken place at Liberty State Park and other sites around the harbor. Organizers of the festival, MWA, would like to show residents and officials alike the potential increased uses of the harbor. The festival is also part of the growing “Blue Movement” to revitalize the waterfront so it may be accessible to all.

Council member Margaret Chin presents a representative
from the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance with a
proclamation honoring the City of Water Day festival
aboard Clipper City.The historic tugboat Urger.

FDNY fireboat Bravest.

The historic tugboat Urger.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

More than 1 million people have ridden East River ferries since the service began just over a year ago, Mayor Bloomberg announced today.

Bloomberg said this number far exceeds ridership projections, according to the Huffington Post. Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn rode the ferry from North Williamsburg to Lower Manhattan to celebrate the occasion.

The Post reports the ferries, which quickly transport people to businesses and parks, are not just for tourists. City locals are also partaking in ferry transportation.

“Using our waterways as transportation corridors makes for a greener and more livable city and knits together rapidly growing neighborhoods in new ways,” Bloomberg said in a statement. The Mayor called it an alternative for people looking for ways to get around the city, and the massive ridership supports this transportation alternative’s popularity.

“Surpassing the one-million milestone is a testament to how popular our service has been with commuters, tourists and leisure travelers in the first year,” said Paul Goodman, CEO of BillyBey Ferry Company.

On weekdays, the ferries, which accommodate 149 passengers, run from 6:45 a.m. until 8:45 p.m. in both directions. Numerous groups are working hard to acquire feedback and provide even more improvements to the ferries.

One-way fare is $4, while a monthly pass goes for $140. Scenic beauty that doesn’t involve dark, cramped tunnels is, of course, priceless.

—Alissa Fleck 

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

A fire that broke out at the South Street Seaport on Saturday was caused by faulty electrical wiring, reports the Huffington Post. 

The fire started under Pier 17 and grew to engulf about 100 square feet, but was tamed in under two hours. Pictures of the blaze show onlookers photographing and gawking at immense clouds of black smoke over Lower Manhattan.

The fire could have been building under the dock for some time, according to the New York Times.

Fire Department spokesman Jim Long called the fire an averted disaster in the tourist-heavy area—no one was hurt and no shops were damaged. The pier was opened back up to activity Saturday evening, including a planned Seaport music festival.

Fire marshals looked into any possible structural damage on Sunday, reports the Huffington Post. Parts of the pier will remain closed for some time as stability in the area is assessed.

—Alissa Fleck

“No final decision was made at the hearing,” said Lisi de Bourbon, a spokesperson for the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). “But the commissioners were favorably disposed toward the design, and they received the proposal well.”

The retail area in the South Street Seaport Historic District has a long history with New Yorkers. Twenty-seven years ago, Howard Hughes Corp. opened a large shopping mall opened on Pier 17. But despite hopes for the design’s ability to attract local shoppers and visiting tourists, they found it difficult to generate necessary profits, according to representatives at the meeting.

Now, the corporation, with SHoP Architects and the landscape design architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, wants to demolish the mall and replace it with a glass-covered building containing two 60,000-square-foot sales floors. The design is built around a “natural” plan, with wide, open-air spaces between shops and restaurants.

The company hopes to begin construction in 2013, with the pier opening in 2015.

According to LPC Chairman Bob Tierney, there is “support for the demolition…and for this design.”

In a prepared statement, Chris Curry, senior executive vice president of development for Howard Hughes, said the company’s design “balances the pier’s iconic waterfront location with its unique ability to provide a much-needed community hub for the rapidly growing residential population in Lower Manhattan.”

Nevertheless, concerns were raised at the meeting. These included fears that retail signage would block views of the Brooklyn Bridge and obstruct the glass façade of the proposed structure.

“The commission was actually concerned with the transparency of the new structure,” de Bourbon said. “The commission worried that the way the interior was arranged, and the design of the glass structure, would block the new building from sight.”

As it stands, another public meeting will have to take place before final decisions can be made, for which Howard Hughes and SHoP Architects will come up with an updated design. De Bourbon noted the meeting could take place within the next few months, and hoped the concerns would be addressed at that time.

De Bourbon said the commission wants “to get a clearer sense from [Howard Hughes] about their plans for dealing with these problems in future meetings with the Commission.”

Certain preservationists also expressed concerns. In a prepared statement, Jane Thompson of the Historic Districts Council, a preservation advocacy group, proposed that the mall at Pier 17 be renovated, not demolished and redesigned entirely. Thompson and her husband, Benjamin C. Thompson, took part in the original Pier 17 design in 1987.

Still, Tierney was supportive of the possibility of changes to Pier 17, saying that the Hughes Corporation’s plans signaled “an appropriate first step.”

By Courtney M. Holbrook