NY looks to turn Governors Island into leisure spot
By Scott Malone
NEW YORK: With acres of greenery and a view of the Manhattan skyline, Governors Island is an oasis of calm just a few minutes from New York’s teeming financial district. But for most of the last 200 years, that oasis has been off limits to all but military personnel.
But that may change as New York officials evaluate proposals for the 172-acre island including building hotels, a museum, schools, theatres and a link to connect the island to Manhattan and Brooklyn.
“The island is nothing short of remarkable,” said Ken Fisher, chairman of the Governors Island Alliance, a watchdog group pushing for redevelopment. “It’s a very big piece of land in a very congested city ... It can be a destination cultural location, and can also serve as an economic development tool.”
For most of New York’s history, Governors Island was a military installation. But the island’s 225 buildings have been largely vacant since the Coast Guard left in 1996. In 2003, the US government sold the island for $1 to a partnership controlled by the New York city and state governments.
In February, that partnership, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp., put out a formal call for development proposals. About 100 parties have expressed interest in submitting ideas, which are due by May 10.
The deed of sale requires more than half the island, 90 acres (36 hectares), to be used for the public benefit, through parks, educational institutions or other amenities. It bans permanent housing, gambling and private cars. Allowing time for environmental review, development officials said it’s likely the first projects could break ground in 2008.
Development officials said they expect the cost of any project to top $1 billion, most of which would be paid by private developers. So far the city and state have allocated $120 million to the island’s upkeep.
Observers said any development on the island, a 10-minute ferry ride from southern Manhattan and near the Statue of Liberty, needs to capitalize on its physical isolation.
“That’s a great advantage and a great liability,” said Jeremy Soffin, vice president of public affairs at the Regional Plan Association, a non-profit group focused on development in the New York area.
“The kind of uses that benefit from a little bit of isolation — hospitality, education, recreation, arts and culture — need to be the bulk of the programme,” Soffin said.
In an effort to jump-start development, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has unveiled plans for one possible transport solution — a gondola designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, connecting the island to Manhattan and Brooklyn.
But most development officials interviewed said the bulk of people travelling to and from the island would go by water.
“The gondola idea is only one of the many that we will be looking at. It’s exciting, but it’s only one idea,” said Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., the state development agency. “Ferry service is ... going to be very important.”
The island is vacant much of the year but for the roughly 50 preservation workers who work there. But in recent summers, it’s been open for visitors to its historic sites, as well as the 2.2-mile shore promenade, baseball field, soccer pitch and other relics of its peak population of 3,500 Coast Guard personnel and families during the early 1990s.
Most development officials said they expect hotels to serve as a cornerstone of any development plan. But to attract visitors in a city that already has more than 70,000 hotel rooms, activities will be key.
“The active recreation and events are going to be critical to drawing people to the island,” said Fisher, of the Governors Island Alliance. “The more interactive it is, the more things there are to do, the more likely it is to be successful.”
