You live in an apartment in the Financial District. Or a luxury rental on the Lower East Side. Or are browsing East Village rental listings. Congratulations: you have good taste, both in Manhattan neighborhoods and in NYC real estate listings sites. Let's continue. You're looking for a Manhattan rental apartment that offers more than, you know, an apartment and a fistful of amenities. You'd like some green space in your neighborhood. Check. You like to jog. Check. You play basketball, say, soccer. Check. You enjoy lounging, or fishing, just taking in some river views. Check, check, check please. There is a park near your apartment where you can do all these things. Check... almost. Yes, work on the long-awaited East River Park is almost done.
Once a favorite respite for those living on the East River side of lower Manhattan, the sprawling East River Park -- which runs from East 14th Street in the East Village all the way down to Cherry Street in the Financial District -- was closed in 2005 for a series of ambitious renovations. About six years and $84 million later, the work is nearly done, The Villager reports. Which means that East River Park's two-mile promenade is fully redone, a series of 65-year-old sewers have been replaced, and the new East River Park's new 6,600-foot riverfront walkway is almost complete. Also new are two embayment bridges, built with East River anglers in mind. Some modified, faintly Central Park-ian landscaping promises to add some newly rustic aesthetics to what was, before the overhaul, one of the city's less verdant parks.
There is, of course, the little matter of all this snow. Sooner or later, though, that will melt -- at which point Joggers, walkers, dogwalkers, skateboarders, fisherfolk, and just about anyone living on the eastern edges of the East Village, Lower East Side and the Financial District will find themselves with a green new neighbor to the east -- and one more reason to be happy they're living on the East River.
