Best of 2005 Awards

Hudson River Park - Clinton Cove Park and Pier 96 Boathouse

Award of Merit: Park-Site-Landscaping

The May completion of Clinton Cove Park and the Pier 96 Boathouse in Manhattan's Hudson River Park added another new feature to New York's greening riverfront.

Occupying the former site of a city-owned concrete plant west of Midtown, Clinton Cove is slightly more than two acres of grass, trees, piers, and a granite esplanade.

"It's just a great small park addition," one Best of 2005 judge said. "It's a great piece in a corner of the city that did not have good parks."

Named for 19th Century New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton, Clinton Cove runs from West 54th to West 57th Street, anchoring the northern end of the 550-acre Hudson River Park, which upon its completion will stretch south all the way to Battery Park City.

Clinton Cove Park's centerpiece is a wide lawn, bordered by trees, shrubs, and planting areas. At the edge of the open space, a dramatic, 30-ft.-long steel and bronze wine bottle by Malcolm Cochran marks the first permanent public sculpture in all of Hudson River Park.

The project team on the $3.7 million effort installed utilities and a complete irrigation system beneath the park's lawn bowl. Along the water, the team installed a new granite esplanade with decorative railings and ornamental light poles designed to evoke the early 1900s.

advertisement

The team also installed lighted bollards to help connect the shore to the water, as well as a "get-down" - a platform floating in the river and connected to the esplanade by a few steps. That unique feature offers park visitors intimate access to the river.

Nearby, the project team constructed a 6,400-sq.-ft. public boathouse on Pier 96 for nonmotorized watercraft. It has a floating dock, which rises and falls with the tides to allow easier access to the water.

The boathouse will also serve as a riverside classroom for schools and other community groups.

Beyond the execution of the construction and landscaping, the judges were impressed with the multifaceted project team. It featured New York-based Dattner Architects and Miceli Kulik Williams & Associates of Rutherford, N.J., as the joint-venture designer, as well as a construction manager partnership between the New York offices of Skanska USA Building and McKissack & McKissack, a woman-owned firm. One judge saluted "the collaboration between a large national contractor and a small woman-owned business."

"It turned out to be a successful job for both firms, and an overall good-looking project," the judge added.

Key Players

Owner: Hudson River Park Trust

Architect: Dattner Architects

Construction Manager: Skanska USA and McKissack & McKissack

Civil Engineer: Muñoz Engineering

Structural Consultant: Ysrael A. Seinuk

Landscape Architect: Miceli Kulik Williams & Associates

Marine, Geotechnical Engineer: DMJM Harris

Mechanical Consultant: Lakhani & Jordan Engineers

Landscape Contractor: Torsilieri Inc.

Sitework/Foundation: Conti of New York

Boathouse: Citnalta Construction