Manhattan's first ever public beach is now open in the Meatpacking District
Come next summer (or this week, given the unseasonably warm days we're dealing with), Manhattanites won't have to travel too far to visit one of the best beaches near NYC.
In fact, earlier this week, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams unveiled Gansevoort Peninsula, a 5.5-acre park that is home to the first-ever public beachfront in Manhattan.
The $73 million project boasts a ton of exciting aspects, starting with the actual beach, which features 1,200 tons of sand, beach umbrellas, Adirondack-style chairs and a super-cool misting area that will help you rinse off sand or just cool off (remember how hot it gets in the summer?). To be clear, though, the destination is a sunbathing beach and swimming will not be permitted on site.
Recreational features abound as well: kayakers and other non-motorized boaters now have direct water point access while exercise aficionados will delight in the large sports field that has been built. There are also two dog runs on site, one for bigger pets and the other for smaller ones, and all owners will get to socialize alongside their puppies in a small dedicated area.
A ton of boardwalks and promenades round out the destination as well, which includes a large picnic area with benches and tables overlooking the Hudson River and offering stunning views of lower Manhattan.
Speaking of location: Gansevoort Peninsula is right across the street from the Whitney Museum of American Art and you can expect the latter institution to play a big role in the look of the beachfront property. The museum actually donated a new site-specific sculpture by artist David Hammons to the park. Named "Day's End," the permanent public art installation is an open structure inspired by an eponymous one by Gordon Matta-Clark that was installed on site back in 1975. You can find it along the southern edge of the park.
Lest you think planners to have thrown caution to the wind, you should know that the new beachfront area is also home to an ecological salt marsh and 20 million juvenile oysters in the water—all meant to positively contribute to the environmental footprint of the destination.
"Twenty-five years ago, Hudson River Park was a big dream, and Gansevoort was an even bigger one," said Noreen Doyle, the president and CEO of Hudson River Park Trust, in an official statement. "Converting this former Sanitation facility into the sparkling public open space it is today has been a decades-long endeavor. Beyond adding 5.5 new acres of extraordinary park to New York’s open space network, Gansevoort also connects communities to their Hudson River, completing a gap in the Park’s four-mile footprint, and making it infinitely more pleasurable to travel between our surrounding west side neighborhoods."
The last project of this magnitude that elicited this sort of response was probably Little Island, the west-side "floating park" that opened back in 2021. Cheers to the new Gansevoort Peninsula and whatever comes next!
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