'Amazing': Cuomo Celebrates Hell's Kitchen Tow Pound Departure

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo hailed the city's pledge to push the NYPD out of the Pier 76 tow pound, telling reporters Friday that the move would clear the way for "a great public space."

Since 1977, New Yorkers have trudged to the Hell's Kitchen pier to retrieve their towed cars, even after a law passed in 1998 encouraged the city to move the pound to allow for the expansion of Hudson River Park.

Weeks before the city was due to face a multimillion-dollar fine from the state, city officials said on Dec. 31 that the NYPD would leave Pier 76 by the end of January and find a new space for the tow pound.

"This is going to be a magnificent asset for the West Side," Cuomo said Friday during his daily news conference.

After the city transfers ownership of the pier to the state, the state, in turn, will transfer it to the Hudson River Park Trust, which operates a network of pier-based parks along the West Side of Manhattan.

Cuomo called the pier "a phenomenally amazing site," given its proximity to Midtown and the city views it offers.

In November, the Park Trust told a neighborhood community board that it would seek to find an interim use for the pier as an outdoor space, after the tow pound is gone but before it has been redeveloped into a full-fledged park.

Possibilities included outdoor concert or theater venues, food festival spaces, public art, roller rinks and more.

Cuomo said the state would begin soliciting design proposals this month.

Related tow pound coverage:

• NYPD To Vacate Hell's Kitchen Tow Pound, City Says
• What Does The Future Hold For Hell's Kitchen's Pier 76?
• Midtown Tow Pound To Close By End Of 2020, Gov Says