Here’s something positive that came out of the Super Bowl. For the event, the Garment District BID had to clear out all of their planters along Broadway to make way for Super Bowl Boulevard. Along the way, they donated 25 of them to Dyer Triangle, helping make a much better barrier against the traffic:
Catching up on some old news…as one of Bloomberg’s final acts as mayor, on December 30th the Hudson Yards/Hell’s Kitchen BID (Business Improvement District) was signed into effect. The new district will run from W 30th St up to W 42nd, from 9th Ave to 11th Ave. Over 450 businesses will be covered by the new district, which aims to be fully operational by the middle of the year. The area lines up with the existing Fashion Center BID, and the territory covered by the 34th St Partnership. Here’s a map.
Among the many things the group aims to do for the area will be Hudson Park– a 2-acre park filling a strip between W 33rd& W 36th St between the new boulevards created as part of Husdon Yards:
That’s just phase one, which is scheduled to open piece-by-piece throughout this year. They’re also aiming to continue the park all the way up to 39th St –6 blocks total! – but haven’t secured funding for that yet.
Other than the park, they’ll also provide street improvements – like bike racks and better lighting – awareness campaigns, sanitation services, and more.
Catching up on some news from the past few weeks, Curbed is reporting on new details have been released about Manhattan West, the next megadevelopment we can look forward to after we move on from Hudson Yards.
The development, which will bring two 65-story office towers, along with a 60-story residential tower – all giant walls of glass, of course… – to the area between W 31nd&33rd St from 9th to Dyer Aves, have announced the latest information on the open space. Manhattan West’s plaza will be 2.11 acres– almost double the required amount by the city and a big step up from their initially-announced 1.5 acres – which will connect the various streets surrounding the development.
While most of the plaza looks like it’ll be paved, there’s fortunately a decent amount of greenery spread throughout it from the renderings. It’ll also probably be filled with your usual cafés, stores, etc…
Anyway, still years to go on the development, but it’s good to see a lot more open space coming to an area overflowing post offices, trains, and stadiums. Head over to Curbed for more on the development.
All the action seems to be happening up around 51st-53rd between 11th&12th, with three new parks aiming to be finished there by 2015. All these gardens will be keyed, so you’ll need to apply for one (which will work across all the parks). Usually there’s only a one-time $10 fee or so for it, and it seems to do a good job of making sure the only people in the parks actually look after them, outside the public open hours.
Tomorrow afternoon the newest park in the neighborhood officially opens. Teresa’s Park fills a neglected patch of greenery on W 39th St west of 9th Ave, formerly known as Bird Park. Earlier this year Cultivate HKNY ran a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the park, bringing in $1400 for the project. DNAinfo had a piece back in June about the son of the woman the park is being named after, with details on the project too.
The ribbon cutting ceremony begins tomorrow at 2:30pm. Given that the park in on W 39th St, it should prove popular on weekends with the flea market visitors.
As promised, we stopped by the Night Out Against Crime at Hell’s Kitchen Park tonight. It was very much a family event, with lots of activities on for children, and free pizza. Dozens of NYPD officers were there, as well as a number of community groups.
Tomorrow night, a collection of community groups are running a free “Night Out Against Crime” at Hell’s Kitchen Park.
Here’s the details from the announcement flyer:
Across the country residents are gathering with their local police officers to take back their neighborhoods. Hell’s Kitchen residents and police officers are celebrating this event in Hell’s Kitchen Park. We’ll have games, refreshments and pizza! Crime prevention material will be available. The Midtown Community Court will be on hand to answer your questions and more!
There’s also going to be face painting for children at 5:30pm, as well as a “moonwalk for kids”?
Have a look at the full flyer if you want to see all the details (and don’t mind Comic Sans). We’ll stop by to check it out tomorrow, but it sounds like it’s going to be a pretty big event.
CultivateHKNY are crowdsourcing funding for revitalizing the park on 39th St formerly known as Bird Park, and funding for the renovation closes tomorrow night. They’ve easily passed the low goal they set of $500, but need more to help turn the park into their vision.
DNAInfo have a piece from June on Mario Mattia, the son of Teresa who the park will be named in memory of, as well as more details on the plans for the park.
The park is currently extremely run down, and desperately in need of these renovations:
On a lower key than the other thing that was on tonight, the Oasis Community Garden on 52nd St held their “Make Music” summer solstice celebration this evening, and a small crowd gathered to watch the various performances:
