New beach to open in Manhattan this summer

Coney Island will soon have a new competitor in the West Village.

This summer, from the same firm that brought the High Line to New Yorkers, a new waterfront resort will open on the shores of Manhattan, the first and only public beach in the area.

“People need a place to lie down and take off their shirt, and that’s what they’ll have here,” Noreen Doyle, CEO of the Hudson River Park Trust, told the Daily Beast about the city’s new Gansworth peninsula. The sunbathing spot was first announced in 2019 and was originally scheduled to open in 2022. The sandy resting place, designed by James Korner of Field Operations, will now open to the public this summer – something to look forward to in these days of winter throes. .

The Gunseworth Peninsula promises to provide visitors with a salt marsh, a public art installation called End of the Day, a sports field, a kayak and small boat launch, a tree-lined promenade, and waterfront access – but no swimming.

“The Hudson River has made tremendous progress in terms of its health since the Clean Water Act was passed in the 1970s, but it’s not meant to be bathed,” Doyle told the publication, noting that the lack of swimming was “clear from from the very beginning.”

However, those longing to plunge their mortal bodies into the dark waters that surround America’s craziest metropolis will be sure that another new beach in the works will allow them to wade – but no more.

Across the water in Williamsburg, a second beach is scheduled to open in 2028, allowing visitors to enjoy the river between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

“The goal is to bring people to the water’s edge, to enable them to interact with the East River in a way they never have before,” Dave Lombino, managing director of real estate developer Two Trees, told NY1 about Williamsburg Beach. “A couple of days ago, dolphins were swimming behind me in the East River. The trajectory of water quality over time is a very dramatic improvement.”