November 18, 2014

Couple offers $100M to build park in NYC

AP Photo/Heatherwick Studio via Risa Heller Communications [enlarge]

Pier 55 in the Hudson River would be built on an undulating platform jutting about 180-feet into the river.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City riverfront park and open-air performance space is being planned with funding from media mogul Barry Diller and his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.

Diller, chairman of the New York-based media company IAC/Inter-ActiveCorp, and von Furstenberg, have agreed to provide over $100 million to build the 2.7-acre park on a West 14th Street pier through a family foundation.

The $130 million project will be called Pier55 and will replace the crumbling Pier 54. Construction is slated to begin in 2016. It will be designed by the British architect Thomas Heatherwick and New York landscape architect Mathews Nielsen.

Diller and the city-state Hudson River Park Trust made the announcement Monday.

The city will provide $17 million for the project while the state will offer $18 million for construction of an adjacent esplanade.

The park will be run by the trust and Pier55, Inc., a new nonprofit created by the couple that will also oversee all of the park's programming.

The park will be built on an undulating platform jutting about 180-feet into the river. It will have lawns, pathways and an open-air amphitheater and plaza that could be used for music, dance and theater performances, public art and community events.

“The revitalization and transformation of this pier into a vibrant arts and community space will bring new energy and new visitors to our waterfront,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.