After Hurricane Sandy, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg differed on their preferred infrastructure responses, with Cuomo favoring a storm barrier to protect the entire estuary, and Bloomberg localized protection for Lower Manhattan inspired by Battery Park City. Several studies have been commissioned since, including the BIG U from Bjarke Ingels Group for a semi-circle of berms that would allow small-scale controlled floods,[2] in contrast with the more ambitious seawall proposals.[3] Their 2014 plan largely involved constructing a series of berms in Lower Manhattan, inland from the shoreline.[4][5][6] but has been deemed inadequate in parts and too costly to maintain.[7][8]
Bloomberg's 2013 concept of "Seaport City"[9] has been replaced by the Financial District and Seaport Climate Resilience Plan,[10] as part of the wider LMCR initiative by the De Blasio administration. It updates the BIG U with more substantial land reclamation that could be funded and finished, avoiding the occasional temporary flooding of the earlier plan and its maintenance costs.[11][12]
Project components
The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency project is divided into multiple components, including:[13]
Brooklyn Bridge-Montgomery Coastal Resilience
Seaport Coastal Resilience
Battery Coastal Resilience
South Battery Park City Resiliency Project - involved reconstruction of Wagner Park in Battery Park City, starting in early 2023 and the park reopened in July 2025.
North/West Battery Park City Resiliency Project - involves building coastal flood barriers along the waterfront in Battery Park City, from the South Cove (north of Wagner Park) to the north esplanade next to Stuyvesant High School and extending some distance north along the West Side Highway in Tribeca. The project commenced in late 2025, with site preparation work, and is expected to be completed in 2031.[14]
Extending north along the East River, is the East Side Coastal Resiliency project, which extends from Montgomery Street to East 25th Street, and involves the reconstruction and elevation of East River Park. Construction for the East Side Coastal Resiliency began in 2020. Project completion is expected in 2026, with sections of the East River Park re-opened in 2025.[15][16]
There also are separate project proposals for redeveloping parts of the Brooklyn waterfront, including around Red Hook to add housing and improve flood resiliency.[17]
Construction
Initial plans focused on landfilling and building up East River Park,[18][19] where construction began in 2022.[20]
In 2022, the Battery Park City Authority announced plans to demolish and rebuild Wagner Park in Battery Park City, as part of the South Battery Park City Resiliency project.[21][22][23] Wagner Park reopened in July 2025, with an elevated lawn area and terraced stepped seating and paths that lead down to the esplanade level. The park also includes a new pavilion building, set to open in 2026.[24][25]
A groundbreaking for a LMCR barrier at Battery Park took place in May 2024.[26][27]
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