Pier55 Can Restart Construction for Two Months Before Ruling

A New York State appeals court ruled Monday to allow Pier55 to continue a small portion of its construction before it hears the case against the public park along the Hudson River by a civic group in September.

A spokesperson for Pier55 said Tuesday the court decided to "lift a temporary injunction" against the planned 2.7-acre park funded by media mogul Barry Diller, allegedly allowing it to continue construction as planned.

"Now that both state and federal courts have denied its demand for an injunction, the City Club should take this cue to finally end its absurd crusade against the wishes of the community," the spokesperson said.

The court ruling says the injunction is "modified solely to the extent of permitting respondents to drive the first 9 piles to support the platform for the 'balcony' part of the project which extends over the river, and otherwise denied. That portion of the motion seeking a calendar preference is also granted and the appeal is to be heard on September 6, 2016."

Robert Emery, attorney for the City Club of New York who's suing the park, said the Pier55 statement was a "distortion of what the court ruled," and that the court had simply narrowed the injunction to allow Pier55 to haul nine piles to the site to support the pier's balcony over the river. According to Emery, that's just nine piles out of an eventual 550.

"It's much ado about nothing," he said. "They go to some substantial expense, and they risk that expense if they lose.

"As long as that's not public money, it's Barry Diller's money, that's fine."

A spokesperson for Pier55 said the nine piles out of 550 should be put into the context of how long construction will take in general, and that it means construction has definitively started again, and there was absolutely no grey area where a court could ever "narrow" an injunction.

The City Club sued Pier55 in June 2015 for plans to harm the environment and lack of transparency in planning for the park. A lower court ruled against City Club in April 2016, and the group appealed. Justices in the appellate court ruled at the end of June that Pier55 needed to halt construction until the case is heard on Sept. 6.

Image by Heatherwick Studio