East River Esplanade Extension Moving Ahead, City Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The city is making progress in its push to extend the East River Esplanade past its current terminus on the Upper East Side, with the $100 million project on pace to be done by late 2023, city officials said this week.

In a Thursday presentation, members of a Community Board 8 committee were also shown new renderings of the East Midtown Greenway project, which will construct a new pedestrian walkway over the East River from East 61st Street down to East 53rd Street.

It also includes revamps of Andrew Haswell Green Park, and the Alice Aycock Pavilion, plus a pedestrian bridge over the F.D.R. Drive near East 54th Street.

Work on that bridge will start in April. Clara Coffey Park, which has been closed during construction, is set to reopen this fall, representatives from the New York City Economic Development Corporation said.

Work at Andrew Haswell Green, meanwhile, will be done around the same time as the entire greenway: fall 2023, according to Yvi McEvilly, an NYC EDC vice president.

Board members reacted warmly to the project, which resumed in October after a pandemic pause. But some worried that the construction did not provide any irrigation for the lawn under the Alice Aycock Pavilion near East 60th Street.

"Having watched Alice Aycock Pavilion go from a very luxuriant green lawn to being a bare-bones, hard-packed dirt playing field, basically, I am concerned about what those hills are going to look like in a couple of years," said Susan Price Blackwell, who gardens in the area.

A new park entrance at East 60th Street, which will be ADA inaccessible due to its steep slope, also came under question by board member Craig Lader. In response, EDC Vice President Wil Fisher said the project had been approved by the city's Office for People with Disabilities, and noted that the pedestrian ramp at 54th Street was accessible.

Completing the greenway will bring the city closer to its long-held goal of creating a continuous, 32-mile loop around Manhattan. Another nearby gap will still exist between 41st and 54th streets, however, and no funding exists for a greenway extension there.

Previous coverage:

• Work Set To Resume On East River Esplanade Extension
• City Breaks Ground To Fill 8-Block East River Esplanade Gap
• Sutton Place Preservationists Sue To Block Esplanade Expansion