NYC's new floating park Little Island is a marvel

Publish date: 2024-06-24

It’s a floating island, a pier, and a park — but it’s a miracle more than anything else.

Little Island, the brand-new public playground off West 14th Street in the Hudson River, rises out of the water 200 feet from noisy Eleventh Avenue, but a world removed. It’s the biggest, and most creative, park opening since the High Line. The Big Apple has never seen anything like it.

When it opens Friday morning at 6 a.m., New Yorkers will finally get to explore the undulating, “floating” green space dreamed up, and mostly paid for, by the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, headed by IAC chairman and former Hollywood mogul Barry Diller.

New Yorkers would welcome the foundation’s no-strings, $235 million contribution to the park’s $265 million creation any time, but more so today. From its conception to its opening, Little Island boldly bridges the pre- and hopefully post-pandemic eras. (The city put in an additional $17 million, and the Hudson River Park Trust $4 million more).

Remarkably, Diller stood by his commitment to fund nearly the whole project even when it ended up costing more than twice the original construction estimates of $130 million.

Little Island is a floating park and botanic garden that contains 35 species of trees, 65 species of shrubs and 270 varieties of grasses, perennials, vines and bulbs. James Keivom

“We had our first meeting on it 10 years ago, and I’m kind of surprised it’s actually opening,” an ebullient Diller told The Post on Wednesday. “Watching humans right now wandering around in the park — it’s kind of a miracle,” he added.

Little Island, off West 14th Street in the Hudson River, rises out of the water 200 feet from noisy Eleventh Avenue. James Keivom

The launch will be without the ceremonial ribbon-cutting and self-glorifying speeches that mark most public-works inaugurations, because Diller wanted to keep the focus on the people who will visit and enjoy it.

First announced in 2014, the island dream overcame political and real estate issues involving the Hudson River Park to which it belongs that nearly scuttled it in 2017.

Little Island hovers like a mirage behind the ruin of a Cunard archway that greeted Titanic survivors in 1912. The roughly square park, a marvel of waterborne engineering and landscape design inspiration, slowly took shape on a platform supported by 132 concrete “tulips” — which are mounted on pilings where the old Pier 54 stood. Each tulip is uniquely shaped to support Little Island’s varying weight loads.

The “Playground” at Little Island. James Keivom
The Amph, a 700-seat waterfront amphitheater at Little Island. James Keivom
The Glade on Little Island. James Keivom
One World Trade Center from Little Island. James Keivom

Pedestrian bridges at West 13th and 14th streets connect Eleventh Avenue with the park, which fluctuates between 15 feet and  62 feet above water.

 A preview stroll with Little Island executive director Trish Santini revealed a compact, rolling wonderland that seems much larger than its mere 2.4 acres, thanks to an intense concentration of peaks, valleys and serpentine walkways that make you lose track of where you are.

Chief designer Thomas Heatherwick segmented the park into three main areas — a  “Play Ground” with snacks and beverages, a nearly 700-seat, thrust-stage amphitheater, and a Glade area for quiet contemplation. The amphitheater will host a range of live entertainment, much of it free and open to all.

Trish Santini, Executive Director of Little Island NYC, at The Playground at Little Island on May 19, 2021. James Keivom

But the most fun lies in discovering a plethora of small and large surprises as you roam the mini-island.

 Shaded romantic nooks will “probably encourage a lot of proposals,” Santini chuckled. The dizzying array of eye-pleasers also includes grassy knolls, gentle green slopes and zigzag wooden staircases, white-rose trellises, three overlook platforms for skyline and river viewing,  and mini-environments conceived by landscape architecture firm MNLA’s founding principal Signe Nielsen.

People stop to marvel at Little Island, the new floating park, in the Hudson River. James Keivom

Refreshing river breezes waft over plantings that are as artfully chosen as those on the nearby High Line Park. It boasts 114 trees in 35 species, 65 shrub species, 66,000 bulbs  and 290 varieties of grasses.

New Yorkers deserved a miracle after all we’ve been through. Little Island proves that one man’s vision can prevail against odds and that even after the darkest winter, spring will come again.

People take in views of downtown Manhattan and New Jersey (right) from Little Island. James Keivom

Little Island is open daily from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. Timed reservations required from noon-8 p.m. See www.LittleIsland.org  All admission is free.

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