Frustration Mounts Over Another Pier 35 Delay and Incomplete ‘Rutgers Pavilion’

The fact that Pier 35 and the adjacent Package 4 of the waterfront are not complete at this juncture is a total joke. Both components of the overall waterfront plan are way past due date, angering locals who are tired of constant setbacks and pitfalls. The new, revised, updated, pushed-back date is now pegged for Fall 2018, as revealed at the recent Parks subcommittee meeting of Community Board 3.

The most progress to date is Pier 35, whose screenwall is currently ascending to mask the adjacent Sanitation shed. It’s conceivable, according to the Parks Department, that the job is completed before the aforementioned date.

The so-called Rutgers Pavilion is still a sore spot, though. Said construction was last planned, according to the 2015 Request for Proposals, to include some 2,400 square-feet divided between a community space, maintenance storage, and public restrooms. Initial excavation on the waterfront structure did happen a couple years ago, yet it’s now just a semi-permanent hole in the ground. And a dangerous one at that.

The unbuilt Rutgers Pavilion in 2016

The big word floated was “equity,” as subcommittee chair Trever Holland pointed out how plans regarding the pavilion kept changing over the years. How the Lower East Side waterfront project was initially conceived with four such kiosks, and that it’s since been whittled down to maybe one. South Street Seaport, meanwhile, boasts two.

Already running several years behind schedule, meanwhile, the initial Package 4 proposal as it was conceived in 2012 remains largely intact. Design elements include swing seating (aka “gliders”), riverside balconies over the water (“Fish Outs”), exercise equipment, and enclosed turf play area. Amenities nixed from the plan were the skate park, some tables and chairs, and terraced seating. Hunter Roberts is managing the project, the same crew behind Pier 35 just up the coast.