Manhattan Lowline Update

(Garth Johnston / Gothamist)

Manhattan

The Lowline, which currently exists as a former trolley terminal below Delancey Street but could eventually be transformed into the city's (and world's) first subterranean park, is slowly coming together, according to gothamist. 

Metric tons of bureaucratic red tape surround the process of transferring the space from the MTA to the city, but Dan Barasch, one of the project's masterminds, said he's slowly bushwhacking his way through it.

"Right now we're fighting for legal access to the site, and building a larger base of supporters," he told us. "Every day we get another big endorsement or level of support or good news."

The latest endorsement was a big one—Senator Kirsten Gillibrand recently became the highest-ranking politician to sign off on the park, meaning it's won support at several levels of government, from the community board on up. The mayoral race is on the horizon, but Barasch said he's not interested in over-politicizing the project just yet. 

"We don’t think the Lowline needs to be an election issue right now," he said. "We're not looking to put anybody on the spot."

For now, Barasch said his focus is on two things: Working with the MTA to transfer the land out of its lease—a process that, while cumbersome, should be relatively uncontroversial—and garnering community support. While much of the heavy-lifting has taken place behind the scenes, the Lowline project is preparing to debut a series of LES-based fundraisers, starting this very night with a benefit at the Box.

The evening will feature the "Lowline Super Group," comprised of Miike Snow's Andrew Wyatt and touring members of MGMT and Kuroma, performing covers "dedicated to the spirit of downtown New York City," as well as a set from Williamsburg's Au Revoir Simone. General admission tickets are $200 (it is, after all, a benefit) and include an "Absolut Lowline cocktail." For a cool $1,200, generous patrons get a table, five tickets and Absolut bottle service. Click here for tickets.

Last year, the Lowline scored more than $150,000 through a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, meaning that at least financially, the project is on the right track. Barasch said he's optimistic that the lease will be transferred to the city by the end of the year, and hopes construction can begin on the innovative site, which will use fiber optic cables to project solar energy below ground, within five years.

"We don’t have multimillion dollar endowment, but we do have a very strong base of donors who are supporting us," he said. "We really have a fantastic shot of making it happen."

Read More:

What's Up With The Lowline These Days?

gothamist -  May 30, 2013 -  By Lauren Evans

Manhattan's Low Line Park Gets Addtional Funding

A Walk In The Park - August 29, 2012 

Underground Delancey Street Park Proposed - Another Low Line?

A Walk In The Park - September 18, 2011

Manhattan's Low Line Park Gets Addtional Funding

A rendering of Delancey Underground, with sunlight streaming through remote skylights. Fiber optic technology would be used to light and power the space. An above ground collector dish would reflect and gather light, then direct it via fiber optic cable underground, where a distributor dish would spread it throughout the space. The system would transmit the wavelengths necessary for photosynthesis, enabling trees, plants and grass to grow. The project has raised $150,000. Part of the funding will be used to build a model of the park. (Rendering: Courtesy of Raad Studio)

Manhattan

In the 11 months since the plans for a Low Line under Delancey Street on the Lower East Side were first made public, the project has garnered a ton of press and overwhelming support from the community and city politicians, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Now, the project also has an additional $150,000 to its name, according to the Real Deal.

The group behind Delancey Underground said yesterday it was successful in raising $75,000 in 75 days and triggered a matching donation from an unidentified donor, Bowery Boogie reported. Part of the funding will be used to build a model of the park in the vacant Essex Street Market building south of Delancey Street, which should be open to the public by the one-year anniversary of the project’s launch last September.

The project calls for green space on two acres of Metropolitan Transportation Authority owned-space underneath Delancey Street that served as a trolley terminal 60 years ago. Bowery Boogie noted Delancey Underground is one of two major construction projects in the area, as the Seward Park redevelopment plan was just approved. [Bowery Boogie] – Adam Fusfeld

Read More:

With funding in tow, Low Line park pushes ahead

The Real Deal - August 28, 2012

Lowline Generates Excitement, Despite Lingering Concerns About Cost

Huffington Post - July 24, 2012 - By Johanna Barr

Underground Delancey Street Park Proposed - Another Low Line?

A Walk In The Park - September 18, 2011

Underground Delancey Street Park Proposed - Another Low Line?

A rendering of Delancey Underground, with sunlight streaming through Ramsey’s “remote skylights.” Community Board 3 will be getting its first look at the plan on September 21st. (Rendering: Courtesy of Raad Studio/NY Magazine)

The abandoned Delancy Street trolley terminal as it looks today. (Photo: Courtesy of Danny Fuchs/NY Magazine)

Mott Haven resident Wally Nash points to the The Low Line near St. Mary's Park in the Bronx. While some proponents of the Delancey Street project have already termed it The Low Line - they may have some competition for that subterranean moniker from some northern neighbors on mainland USA. For years residents of the Mott Haven section of the Bronx have pressed officials to convert an abandoned freight railroad into a greenway they have dubbed The Low Line. The line runs from Bruckner Boulevard and E. 142nd Street to St. Mary’s Street, under St. Mary’s Park to E. 149th Street. The project gained attention in 2009 when officials had to drain more than 150,000 gallons of stagnent water into the sewer system. (Photo by Robert Benimoff) - Geoffrey Croft

Manhattan

Land for parks is so scarce in Manhattan that the city’s most generous new green space, the High Line, occupies an elevated railway. Now three urbanist entrepreneurs—James Ramsey, a satellite engineer turned architect; Dan Barasch, an executive at the technology think tank PopTech; and the pedigreed money manager R. Boykin Curry IV—hope to mine roughly two acres of green space under the city streets, according to New York Magazine.

Much as Joshua David and Robert Hammond transformed an old freight line into an attractive strip of greenery, this trio wants to convert the vast and dank trolley terminal that has sat disused on the Lower East Side for six decades into a park that they are calling Delancey Underground but will inevitably be known as the Low Line.

“Technology enables us to create an appealing green space in an underserved neighborhood,” says Ramsey. The key, he says, is the “remote skylight,” a system that channels sunlight along fiber-optic cables, filtering out harmful ultraviolet and infrared light but keeping the wavelengths used in photosynthesis. “We’re channeling sunlight the way they did in ancient Egyptian tombs, but in a supermodern way.” Ramsey envisions a stand of dozens of lamppostlike solar collectors on the Delancey Street median, feeding a system of fixtures down below.

The MTA controls the terminal, where trolleys plying the Williamsburg Bridge looped back toward Brooklyn; Ramsey says the agency has been willing to listen to his pitch, though it won’t contribute any funds. The next task is to sell the neighborhood on a park with walls and a ceiling supported by I beams. Community Board 3 gets its first look at the plan on September 21, giving residents the chance to start imagining what it might feel like to loll on a subterranean sheep meadow or ride an escalator to a bower in a burrow.

Read More:

The Low Line

A plan for a new park banks on subterranean photosynthesis

New York Magazine - September 16, 2011 - By Justin Davidson

City drains Mott Haven swamp 150,000 gallons of stagnant water removed

YourNabe - August 27, 2011 - by Daniel Beekman