"Resiliency is one of the immediate priorities that’s facing Battery Park City. And we're trying to move this along as quickly as possible."

GEORGE J. TSUNIS

Chairman, Battery Park City Authority

Battery Park City Resiliency Projects

In 2012 Hurricane Sandy made landfall, leading to more than 100 fatalities and $70 billion in damages across a dozen states. In New York City alone, the storm resulted in more than fifty lives lost, millions of traumatized residents and billions of dollars in property damage, along with extensive loss of income and productivity. While Battery Park City fared better than many other affected areas of New York City, it nevertheless sustained millions of dollars of damage to Pier A Harbor House on its southern end, as well as to the BPC Ball Fields and Asphalt Green Community Center in the north as storm surge waters poured in from West Street on BPC’s eastern boundary.

Today BPCA is at work on four interrelated resiliency projects to protect Battery Park City from the threats of storm surge and sea level rise:

 

The South Battery Park City Resiliency Project contemplates creation of a continuous flood barrier from the Museum of Jewish Heritage, through Wagner Park, across Pier A Plaza, and along the northern border of Historic Battery Park.

With construction scheduled to begin in 2020 and end in 2022, Battery Park City is committed to constructing a a perimeter storm and flood protection system on its southern boundary. This structure will decrease vulnerability from storm inundation and flooding.

The BPC Ball Fields Resiliency Project envisions the design and construction of an independent flood barrier system along the eastern, northern, and southern boundaries of the BPC Ball Fields.

The BPC Ball Fields are located at a geographical low point making them particularly susceptible to the flooding experiences during Hurricane Sandy. To avoid future damage and ensure that both the Ball Fields — used by some 50,000 local youth each year — remain available year-round, flood protection systems may be implemented. The anticipated completion of this project is late 2020.

The North Battery Park City Resiliency Project will span BPC’s North Esplanade and entail a deployable barrier crossing West Street / Route 9A. This area represents one of BPC’s (and Lower Manhattan’s) most vulnerable points for storm surge inundation and flooding.

Pursuant to a competitive bidding process, in March 2019 BPCA selected AECOM to perform design services for the North BPC Resiliency Project. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021 with completion in 2023.

Finally, the Battery Park City Western Perimeter Resiliency Project will be achieved by employing garden/park walls to create a new line of flood protection along the water’s edge. A design RFP for this project will be released later this year. Design will commence in 2020, with construction running from 2021 to 2024.

More about these projects, as well as the larger plan for Lower Manhattan generally, can be found as follows:

In addition to these ongoing infrastructure initiatives, BPCA has also completed a number of recovery and resiliency initiatives since Hurricane Sandy, including:

• Flood resistant restoration of BPC Ball Fields and elevation of the electrical equipment
• Wet flood proofing rehabilitation of Pier A, incorporating resiliency elements (resulting in a 2015 New York Design Award; read more)
• Upgrade of street lights to be water resistant
• Infrastructure study, identifying all BPC flood vulnerabilities and recommending area and point flood protections
• Elevation of the Police Memorial electrical vaults above the flood zone (read more)
• Wagner Park study, creating a resiliency concept to connect with the City’s downtown resiliency measures on the eastern side of lower Manhattan
• Inventory of individual BPCA buildings’ resiliency measures
• Expanded flood insurance coverage for BPCA property and assets
• Implementation of IT disaster recovery system

More about these completed projects can be found here.

 

SUPPORTING MATERIALS

BPC Resiliency Projects: Community Updates

South Battery Park City Resiliency Project (Request for Proposals)

South Battery Park City (Other Materials)

BPC Ball Fields Resiliency Project (Request for Proposals)

North Battery Park City Resiliency Project (Request for Proposals)

Overall Battery Park City Resiliency

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