Astoria's Hallets Cove Waterfront Is Cleaned Up After Years Of Waiting

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A stretch of the Astoria waterfront that for years was strewn with garbage and the remnants of a defunct radio tower has been cleaned up thanks to a $5 million project.

Officials gathered Wednesday morning to unveil the new Hallets Cove, an inlet off the East River on Vernon Boulevard near 30th Road. The ribbon-cutting came just seven months after work began on the project — though its planning dates back to 2015, as the Queens Eagle reported.

"We’re here to celebrate making the Astoria waterfront healthy and beautiful," Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said.

Claudia Coger, a longtime resident of the adjacent NYCHA Astoria Houses, said Hallets Cove had been in good condition when she arrived 68 years ago. But it deteriorated over the years: by 2021, it was covered with abandoned shopping carts, invasive plants, and a crumbling pier where a 200-foot high radio tower operated between 1952 and 1967, according to a history compiled by the city's Economic Development Corporation.

"This is history, it's more than just a site for us who live here," Coger said at Wednesday's ceremony. "It's a history to our lives, and we want it to on for generations to generations."

Having cleaned up the rubbish, the cove is now home to new wetland vegetation that helps restore the area's tidal flats, infant trees, and a new fence along Vernon Boulevard. The work was carried out by EDC.

The beach will not be open to the public, although the Parks Department is working to restore access to an adjacent walkway that runs toward the NYC Ferry stop, which is fenced off as it undergoes renovations, Councilmember Tiffany Cabán said.

Initial plans called for the renovated cove to feature a kayak launching area and a floating dock that would run from the street into the river. But those plans were scrapped in 2019 after talks with the community, because kayaking was deemed unsafe once the ferry stop was placed nearby, according to an EDC spokesperson.

Funding for the renovations consisted of $1 million from former Councilmember Costa Constantinides's office, $1 million from the mayor's office, and $3 million from former Queens Borough President Melissa Katz's office.