Concerns Raised about Proposal for Winter Pavilion Atop Pier 17
Both Community Board 1 (CB1) and the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) are challenging plans by the Seaport Entertainment Group to erect a large, glass-enclosed structure on the rooftop of Pier 17 to facilitate winter concert events. At 150 by 140 feet feet, the structure will enclose 21,000 square feet, while reaching a height of 50 feet.
At the June 12 meeting of CB1’s Landmarks Preservation Committee (which, like LPC, is considering this proposal because Pier 17 falls within the legally protected South Street Seaport Historic District), members raised concerns about what they characterized as a poor relationship between the Seaport Entertainment Group and the Lower Manhattan community. “Every time we as the community go up there, we are completely denied access,” CB1 member Vicky Cameron said. “The security are really aggressive, telling us, ‘go, before you are arrested.’”
This was a reference to the de facto privatization of the rooftop of Pier 17, after it had originally (in the early 2010s) been promised to community leaders as a park space and public amenity, when City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) was attempting to build support for redevelopment of the South Street Seaport. But as Paul Goldstein, chair of the CB1’s Waterfront, Parks, and Cultural Committee recalled, at a 2018 meeting “EDC came back and said, ‘everything has changed and we’ve given your park away for concerts.’” That was the origin of the outdoor performance venue that now sits atop Pier 17, where the average ticket (according online ticket marketplace, Vivid Seats) is priced at approximately $130.
At CB1’s June 25 monthly meeting, member Pat Moore recalled more history of promises to the community, saying, “one of the issues in the very, very beginning when this project was proposed, was that the bathrooms were supposed to be public. And now, since I don’t know when, the bathrooms are closed whenever there’s a concert. If this is now going be a 365-day-a-year place, the public bathrooms are going to be closed. So, I’m opposed to that. I want the bathrooms to be public bathrooms.”
CB1 member Laura Starr predicted that the shed “will take away views of the Brooklyn Bridge, which is a major community asset. So, I think it’s problematic.” She added, “if this is something that we are going to have to live with, I think we should insist on other benefits for the community, like bathrooms and roof access.”
Lucy Fato, the general counsel of the Seaport Entertainment Group, replied that the company’s predecessor (Howard Hughes Corporation, which divested its South Street Seaport properties last year), “has invested one billion dollars in the Seaport over the last decade,” pointedly enunciating the “b” in billion and the “d” in dollars.
“For their own benefit,” Ms. Moore shot back.
“And you can’t give us public toilets?” Ms. Cameron asked sharply.
CB1 chair Tammy Meltzer said, “public bathrooms were promised to the public. They are not open to the public whenever you have a concert. That is a change that was made when the concerts started and the activation on the roof happened.”
CB1 member Joe Lerner said, “this is an organization you cannot trust. Initially, the community was to get much more space on the roof, and they kept taking away space. As far as the bathrooms, they’re going close them and open them up as they please.”
Ms. Fato suggested that CB1 take up the matter of public bathrooms with City government, and said, “let’s just put this nonsense to one side.”
Ms. Meltzer replied, “let’s not get into a pissing match.”
At the end of this discussion, CB1 enacted a resolution offering a qualified endorsement to the Seaport Entertainment Group’s plan for a rooftop shed on Pier 17, voicing reservations that the planned color (black) is not appropriate, that the structure will block views, and that the design is not harmonious with the surrounding community.
The plan was next considered by the LPC on July 15, where Commission member Michael Goldblum said, “this is not an appropriate proposal. From an historic preservation perspective, I can’t see a way to approve it. The scale of the existing building was set to resemble and echo the scale of peer buildings. But this will increase it by almost two-thirds. To paint it black and hope that it that nobody sees it is not a good solution.”
The LPC deferred a decision on whether to allow the plan for a rooftop shed on Pier 17, instead inviting the Seaport Entertainment Group to return with a modified proposal. That noted, the company appears to view the plan as a fait accompli, with its website boasting, “the Rooftop at Pier 17, New York City’s most scenic stage, is set to evolve into a year-round live performance venue with the debut of a custom-designed glass structure for winter concerts starting in late 2025.”