Plan To Float Arts Center In Hudson Moves Forward

CHELSEA, NY — Plans for a performing arts center in the middle of the Hudson River are moving forward, after Governor Andrew Cuomo brokered an agreement between opponents who protested the island and the philanthropist paying for it.

Pier 55, nicknamed Diller Island after the project’s benefactor Barry Diller, was first conceived in 2011. The concept developed as a capstone for the Hudson River Park, the massive public park that stretches along the west side of Manhattan from Battery Park City to Midtown. Diller, a billionaire media mogul, envisioned a massive public performance space that would sit on piles on top of the water.

The project was stymied by legal challenges from the City Club of New York, which argued that plans for the project had not been subject to proper environmental review, among other challenges. The drama behind the legal dispute was intensified when it was revealed that real estate scion Douglas Durst was backing the small group's challenges.

Initial estimates for the island projected it would cost $35 million, before eventually ballooning to a projected $250 million cost. Last month, Diller announced that he was withdrawing his financial backing of the project because of the growing controversy and legal back-and-forth, effectively ending the island's chance of becoming a reality.

In a surprise announcement on Wednesday afternoon, Diller said he would try one last time to build the park, after Cuomo brokered an agreement between him and the City Club.

“I’m going to make one last attempt to revive the plans to build the Park, so that the intended beneficiaries of our endeavor can fall in love with Pier 55 in the way all of us have,” Diller said in a statement.

Diller said he had received "letters, calls, emails, texts" and even pleas from pedestrians on the sidewalks of New York asking him to find a way to make Pier 55 happen after he announced its cancellation.

Now, as part of the agreement, Cuomo’s office has committed an undisclosed amount of money to complete the Hudson River Park and to protect the river's estuary. In exchange, the City Club has agreed to halt its legal challenges.

"On behalf of the plaintiffs City Club, Tom Fox and Rob Buchanan, the completion of Hudson River Park and the protection of the Estuary have always been of utmost importance to the entire environmental, civic and preservation community," said Richard Emery, counsel for the City Club of New York. "In that spirit, we will not litigate against Pier 55 and will work with the Governor to realize his visionary plan for completion of the Hudson River Park and for protection of the Hudson River."

Cuomo said in a statement that he had spoken to all the groups involved in the suit and that they had agreed to "work cooperatively" to allow Pier 55 to go forward.

"My goal has always been the completion of the Park and the protection of the Hudson River," Durst said in a statement. "Today's agreement is a major step in that direction."

Image credit:AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews. Photo caption: In this July 21, 2017 photo, a bicyclist riding along the Hudson River Greenway passes Pier 51 on the Hudson River in New York City. Media mogul Barry Diller and his wife, Diane von Furstenberg, want to transform the site into a futuristic island park and performance space but their project is running into opposition from real estate developer Douglas Durst.