Finally: East Midtown Greenway Set To Open Dec. 19
The much-anticipated project is confirmed to be ready for walks, stolls, sits and bike rides on a beautiful mid-week December day. The $100 million East Midtown Greenway is set to open its long-held December opening date on Dec. 19, according to a report from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYEDC). The project connects the East River Esplanade to a new walk and bike path above it. While there are no official plans for the big day, it is expected that a ribbon-cutting will take place. Work on the project began in 2019 and it will cost about $38 million to implement any of the ideas Community Board 8 had for the space under Andrew Haswell Green Park.
Published : 5 months ago by Peter Senzamici in Environment
While a classic maxim for guaranteeing customer satisfaction, it could have been also been the motivation behind a decision to tell a Community Board 8 Parks Committee last month that the wait for the much anticipated opening of the $100 million East Midtown Greenway would be suddenly extend until early next year. Now, an official from the New York City Economic Development Corporation tells Patch that the opening is back on its long-held December opening date, with a confirmed grand opening on Dec. 19.
The project connects the East River Esplanade to a new walk and bike path above the East River. (Peter Senzamici/Patch) While there is no officially announced plans for the big day, it is anticipated that a ribbon-cutting will take place for the much-awaited opening of new parkspace for the park-starved Upper East Side and Sutton Place.
New Yorkers eager to venture out on the new southward extension of the East River Esplanade were already making plans for a jaunt when the date, then unconfirmed, was discovered by an enterprising StreetsblogNYC reporter last week who reportedly spoke with a site security guard.
In November at a Community Board 8 Parks Committee meeting,members were thrilled to learn more about the project's progress and how their feedback had been integrated into design decisions. "We're getting a really beautiful park and greenway and I think the community is going to love it," said Community Board 8 Park Committee co-chair Judith Schneider at the meeting.
But when pressed by committee members about an opening date, EDC officials were reluctant to commit to one, except to say that they would most likely blow past their December estimated opening, a deadline long listed on the project's timeline, and anticipate the opening to be sometime after the new year. "It could be earlier," said NYC Parks project administrator Michael Bradley at the meeting, "but we can't promise it today."
A tram's-eye view of the Alice Aycock Pavilion in July — the final phase of the project. (Peter Senzamici/Patch) Work on the $100 million project began in 2019 and it extends the East River Esplanade 1.1 miles from Andrew Haswell Green to Clara Coffey Park on East 54th Street in Sutton Place began in 2019.
In 2020, the pandemic put the project on pause for several months, and in 2022, NYCEDC first announced their December 2023 opening date, a delay from a previously announce fall 2023 opening. And after Dec. 19, more work will be on the way — once the project can find about $38 million. That's how much it's going to cost to enact any of the ideas Community Board 8 had for the space under Andrew Haswell Green Park, according to Bradley. Those ideas pitched in 2018 included a bathroom or a cafe as well as a new ADA compliant ramp.