Lendlease, the privately owned real estate and investment group which owns the India Street Pier, announced that construction to the pier has been met with delays yet again.
The company released a statement on March 15 stating that they anticipate the ferry to resume service by September 2022. Lendlease originally projected that ferry service would resume by June 2022, which they confirmed in an interview with Greenpointers last October.Â
But the presence of two different moratoriums in place currently prevents construction on the pier from occurring. The first is an in-water construction moratorium issued by NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, set to end in May 2022. Now the U.S Army Corps of Engineers recently issued an additional moratorium on pile driving, which will end in June 2022.
“On May 23, 2021, it was observed that there was a danger to the public due to shifting piles on the floating ferry landing connected to India Street Pier. Lendlease immediately initiated the closing and removal of the ferry landing for assessment. For the safety of our passengers and crews, it was clear that the ferry landing and supports needed to be rebuilt to be sustainable for the long term as well as operational as soon as possible.Â
Due to the length of the permitting process and an annual moratorium on in-water construction in place by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, construction was originally scheduled to commence late May, 2022. More recently, the US Army Core of Engineers (ACOE) issued an additional pile driving moratorium to minimize impacts to migrating anadromous fish (i.e. alewife, blueback herring), that ends in June 2022. As a result, construction cannot commence until early July 2022.”
Excerpt from Lendlease statement
The moratoriums aren’t the only factors complicating construction. Lendlease also told Greenpointers last year that a lengthy permitting process requires approval from multiple government agencies. According to the March 15 statement, the group says that process is “in progress.”
As ferry service abruptly shut down in May 2021, the new September date means that Greenpointers will be left without a ferry for over a year.Â
Is there anyone in this neighborhood advocating for cutting through all the red tape to get our ferry stop up and running by May/June 2022, as promised??? This latest “delay” is not surprising at all. I can see this dragging on and on and on … and the private party responsible would be glad for it, I’m sure. Where is the accountability, here?
this is ridiculous. people move to greenpoint because of that ferry. especially now that the subways are clearly not safe, people depend on this to get to work. someone needs to do something.
Who is the genius that made the developer, Lendlease the responsible party to maintain the ferry stop? Their waterfront project is nowhere near completion so what incentive do they have to bring back this ferry service? In fact, they are better off not completing the ferry work until their project is complete. Why would they rush to fix a ferry stop that will only benefit buildings that are already built? 100% conflict of interest here. More journalists should really look into this.
Shame on Lendlease and the city for allowing this to happen. We all know September 2022 will turn into Spring 2023 and so on!
I don’t even live in NYC and I’m pissed on your behalf. Good luck….