Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront: At Least the Parks Will Look Nice

The rendering above, if you didn't catch it yesterday on Daily Intel, is of the New Look Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfont. This vision was presented by the city this week and has gotten relatively good reviews, apparently, from local groups, according to DI. Apparently, developers of three projects turned the open space over to the city, which did the design. The plan, according to Daily Intel, includes "boat launches, picnic grounds, wetland preserves, which are all things — like a more natural-looking waterfront, a bit of which is shown in the rendering above — community groups have been asking for.

The plan "integrates Greenpoint Terminal Market artifacts — like old ropes and bricks — into the park's design." The plan has been developed by Donna Walcavage Landscape Architecture + Urban Design and Weisz + Yoes Studio Architecture + Urban Design. Ms. Walcavage has been working extensively on Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront planning and made an detailed presentation last year on general outlines for the Greenpoint waterfront, the Bushwick Inlet park and a possible park between the inlet and the East River State park, some of which would be on land that would need to be extensively remediated. One part of that possible park parcel is the site of a former Manfactured Gas Plant. MGPs, as they are called, leave behind exceptionally toxic sites, full of things like coal tar and other goodies. (The "Public Place" site in Gowanus is an example.)

We are uncertain whether the towers that accompany the parks will be recieved as warmly by residents. Jasper Goldman of the Municipal Arts Society remarked that early renderings of the condo towers "looked like San Diego."