Manhattan’s first public beach overlooking the Hudson River opened on October 2 on the Gansevoort Peninsula — but don’t even think about taking a dip!
Although there are beautiful views of the Lower Manhattan skyline, the beach in the Meatpacking District has banned visitors from swimming and only allows sunbathing.
The beach has been in the works for 25 years and is now covered with 1,200 tons of sand, blue Adirondack chairs and umbrellas.
The $70 million beach is 5.5 acres and is officially the largest recreational space in Hudson River Park.
“It’s not a California beach in the city, it’s not a Hamptons beach in the city, it’s not the Jersey Shore in the city. It really is a great sandy area,” said Noreen Doyle, president and CEO of the Hudson River Park Trust Los Angeles Times.
The $70 million beach is 5.5 hectares in size and is officially the largest recreational space in Hudson River Park
A total of 1,200 tons of ‘pristine’ and ‘new’ sand was brought to the beach from New Jersey
The new attraction, across from the Whitney Museum of American Art, can also serve as an access point for kayaking and non-motorized boats.
The beach, which has been named Gansevoort Peninsula Sand Bluff, has a sunbathing area, a sports field, a dog park, a picnic area and there is also fitness equipment in the area.
“This is how we do things in New York. We see beauty and potential, we roll up our sleeves and get to work,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Hochul went on to say that the construction of the beach, located near Little Island, was a team effort between New York City and New York State that will “check a lot of boxes,” including “climate change mitigation.”
Decades ago, the area was once a strip of neglected piers that had aged with post-industrial New York City.
The water quality of the Hudson River also affected the pier’s appeal as pollution took over.
The New York State Department has said water quality in the Hudson has improved in recent years.
The beach, which has been named Gansevoort Peninsula Sand Bluff, has a sunbathing lawn, sports field, dog park, picnic area and fitness equipment can also be found in the area
The pier in the 1970s-80s before it was renovated. People used to swim in the Hudson River, but pollution caused the waters to be deemed unsafe
Many people swam in the Hudson River between the 1960s and 1980s, but pollution quickly made the waters unsafe.
In 1998, a law was passed that helped create Hudson River Park from Battery Park City to West 59th Street in Hell’s Kitchen.
Former Gov. George Pataki, who served from 1995 to 2006, promised a beach at Gansevoort that was once home to the Department of Sanitation.
It wasn’t until 2019 that steps to create the long-awaited beach began, when the Hudson River Park Trust announced it had selected an architectural firm to turn the once concrete site into a sand oasis.
The site was soon demolished and problems began to arise. Because the Hudson River is regulated, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had to approve the plans before anything could happen.
Once that happened, the concept of the beach itself had its own problems.
Sanjukta Sen, who led the Field Operations design and project team, said the “idea of water hitting sand” quickly became an unrealistic possibility for the beach.
One factor that has determined this is that the ferries that go in and out of the city daily have created rocky waters that could disturb the sand and swimmers.
A new plan was then implemented to raise the beach higher, away from direct water, so that the sand did not wash away.
The beach was originally intended to be a typical beach, but due to the rough waters the sand had to be separated from it to keep it intact
Located in the Meatpacking District, the new beach offers stunning views of the Lower Manhattan skyline
Severe weather has also played a role, as New York City has seen more flash flooding in recent years that would not fare well on a typical man-made beach.
The tons of sand were shipped in from New Jersey, which Doyle said is “pristine, new, not-used-for-recreation-for-sand.”
Sen said the beach is “a bit of an ongoing experiment” that will be tested as extreme weather approaches.
“We haven’t seen the full spectrum of it yet. It’s so new,” Sen said.
Officials revealed that future revitalization efforts will take place with the upcoming opening of Pier 97 in Hell’s Kitchen.