UES Residents Still Angry Over Blockages as City Moves on East River Greenway Expansion
The NYC Economic Development Corporation has requested contractor proposals for an extension of the esplanade between E. 41st and E. 53rd Sts., which has been a priority of advocates for years. In the meantime, however, an ongoing tower construction project by the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) has disrupted the greenway further north.
| 30 Aug 2024 | 12:40
The East River Esplanade is currently blocked at E. 71st St., due to a years long construction project underway by the Hospital of Special Surgeries. The lack of a temporary pathway is reportedly frustrating to many users who walk, jog, or bike on the East Side. (
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A downtown stretch of the East River Esplanade currently terminates at E. 41 St., pictured above. On August 23, the NYEDC moved forward with a bid to close the greenway’s gap between the E. 41st St. terminus and E. 53rd St. It is not expected to be completed until sometime in 2028. (
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The East River Greenway–also known as the East River Esplanade–will finally move one step closer to completion, after the NYC Economic Development Corporation requested contractor proposals to close a lingering gap in the riverwalk between E. 41st St. and E. 53rd St.
Public space advocates have long hoped to create an unbroken loop of riverside pathway around the entirety of Manhattan. When it comes to securing their end of the greenway, some East Siders have reportedly long felt as if they’ve played second-fiddle to West Siders, although a few West Siders have had their own gripes about the Hudson River Greenway.
The August 23 request noted that proposals are due by September 25. Planning should be finished by 2026. The estimated completion date for the project is 2028, with the estimated cost currently sitting at $153 million.
Talks to fill the longtime gap initially gained steam as far back as 2011, and initially involved the U.N., which is located nearby. The city had agreed to a development deal with the international body that would’ve seen them contribute $73 million to the greenway extension, in return for receiving part of the Robert Moses Playground from the city in a land sale. The UNDC planned to build a 500 ft. office tower for its staff, known as the Consolidation Tower, on the plot.
By 2015, however, the U.N. announced that the tower plan was indefinitely paused. This means that the city will be covering the entire $153 million tab for the gap, as Crain’s Business New York initially pointed out.
However, despite the bright news about the 12-block extension for Esplanade fans, the dream of an unobstructed riverside path has run into a prominent obstacle further north. This is because E. 71st St.’s Hospital For Special Surgery, or HSS, has been working on a jutting $200 million extension called The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Tower since October 2021; upon reaching the tower’s construction site, the Esplanade now more or less terminates.
This means that greenway users have to depart the pathway and walk or bike west up E. 71st St. towards York Ave., into traffic, if they want to head back to the esplanade. They’ll then have to re-cross the FDR Drive. Some greenway regulars have been stuck with recrossing at East End Ave, which begins all the way at E. 79th St., more than a mile away. That inconvenience, not to mention the added danger of using roads meant for automobiles, has angered many users on the East Side.
As one local posted on NextDoor after the extension was announced: “With the wonderful new addition to our river path to 54th Street, we can enjoy our East River to 71st Street. Why is the Special Surgery blockade at 71st Street still there? Their own public releases state that the path should have been opened months ago.”
Completion of the tower is expected no earlier than the winter of 2025, a sign leading up to it the points out. It will expand the hospital’s capacity by 25 percent, HSS says, and will feature healthcare improvements including research facilities and state-of-the-art operating rooms.
It doesn’t appear that greenway users have much beef with what the hospital expansion will provide for patients, but are rather simply focused on how to find their way around the existing pathway blockage.
The nonprofit Friends of the East River Esplanade–which advocates for an improved greenway–includes Hospital for Special Surgery executives on its board. The board’s chair, Jennifer Ratner, is herself a career pediatrician–albeit one not affiliated with HSS.
In an interview with Straus News, Ratner was diplomatic towards her fellow board members. Yet she was also keen to emphasize that Friends of the East River Esplanade had heard possibly “hundreds” of complaints about the E. 71st St. blockade, and that she has been “imploring” HSS to create a “temporary continuous path” during construction.
Ratner added that the news of the Esplanade extension moving forward at E. 43rd St. was “phenomenal,” but that it was “unfair” that E. 71st St. remained blocked. “People are cut off and have to go up to York Ave. Psychologically, it just doesn’t work,” she said.
When reached for comment, the HSS didn’t budge on creating a temporary walkway, claiming it was “logistically infeasible.”
In a statement provided to Straus News, the Parks Department noted that it was trying to make the “detour” caused by the blockade more efficient with signage.
“We are working to expand the signage to make the detour, which runs from 71st Street to 78th Street, clearer to esplanade users,” a spokesperson for the agency said.