Battery Coastal Resilience Project Poised to Begin Second Segment of Wharf Elevation
Phase One of the Battery Coastal Resilience project, which encompasses the Lower Manhattan shoreline between the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and Pier A, is complete. This section of the initiative consisted of rebuilding and elevating (by five feet) the northern two-thirds of the wharf promenade. Originally slated for completion in October 2025, and $31 million over budget (the total price has increased from $169 million to $200 million), the overall project aims to protect the historic park from storm surges, rising sea levels, and flooding associated with climate change.
In announcing the finish of Phase One, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, “the Battery is one of the most treasured public spaces in New York City, but it is also on the front lines of the climate crisis. We cannot treat climate resilience as something we can put off until tomorrow. This project is a reminder that protecting New Yorkers requires action today. We are taking a major step toward safeguarding Lower Manhattan’s residents, workers, small businesses and public spaces from rising seas and stronger storms.”
The completion of Phase One was delayed, in part, by difficulty in procuring a new pavilion to serve as the security screening tent for ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This tent, purchased from a supplier in Germany, was initially justified by officials as a “temporary” measure in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, but has remained on the Battery’s waterfront ever since, occupying several hundred feet of scenic shoreline and blocking access to more than 10,000 square feet of parkland. This has resulted in years of complaints from local residents, and objections by elected officials.
Once the new tent was acquired, more controversy erupted in March, when the National Park Service (which manages the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island) commandeered the entirety of the reopened waterfront. This inspired a storm of criticism, which was partially quelled when the National Park Service agreed to relinquish a portion of the space it had requisitioned.
Phase Two of the Battery Coastal Resilience plan, which is expected to begin construction this summer, will raise and rehabilitate the southern and eastern third of the waterfront promenade, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. It is now expected to be finished in 2027.
Separate from the waterfront reconstruction at the Battery, the City is also planning to remake the interior of the park. Called the Southern Tie-In, this project will connect two other massive infrastructure plans: the Battery Park City Authority’s South Resiliency Project and the FiDi FORGE (Financial District: Fortifying Our Resilient Growth & Economy) project, which covers the coastline between the Battery and the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Southern Tie-In plan, slated to cost $700 million, will incorporate five flood gates (two across roadways and the rest traversing paths within the park), while protecting 60 percent of the Battery (along with all nearby subway stations) from inundation. The design will weave between several popular features of the Battery, including its Urban Farm and the SeaGlass Carousel, while avoiding subsurface infrastructure such as subway tunnels, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, and the Battery viaduct. Incorporating 10,000 square feet of bridging structures (to support anti-flood devices where they cross over underground spaces), it will require the loss of 60 to 90 trees and feature “a gently sloping landform,” covering the flood protection structures. The planned landform will rise approximately 15 feet above the existing elevation, culminating in a hilltop ridge. The northern end of this hill will cut in half the Battery’s Oval Lawn, with its far end (near the Bowling Green subway entrance) replaced by a new entry plaza. No date for the start of construction for this segment of the project has been announced.