Esplanade Overhaul Starting at East 94th Street Hits Funding Snag

An overhaul of the East River Esplanade starting on East 94th Street has apparently run into money problems, forcing a triage of priorities, as representatives of the project made clear to members of Community Board 11 earlier this month.

The restoration of the Bobby Wagner Walk—which is being overseen by the New York Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the NYC Parks Department—was allocated a budget of $294 million four years ago.

The overhaul was originally supposed to cover the restoration of a stretch of the Esplanade extending from East 94th Street to East 107th Street, including the reopening of the East 107th Street Pier and the remediation of sinkholes, as well as work on a stretch between East 117th Street to East 124th Street.

Now, that pot of funds will be prioritized towards cover in the East 117th Street to East 124th Street stretch of the project, sinkhole repair work between East 105th Street and East 107th Street, and the restoration of the pier—which has been closed since 2018.

Yet the stretch between East 94th St. and East 105th Streets will no longer see a serious overhaul, outside of sinkhole repairs, and there will be no bathrooms installed at the pier.

A total of $284 million going towards the project is funded by the city, with the remaining $10 million funded by the state. The Bobby Wagner Walk is named after Robert Ferdinand Wagner III, a former deputy mayor and president of the NYC Board of Education who passed away in 1993.

“What was half a mile that was not funded...now appears to be a mile,” CB11 Chair Adam Brija said at a July 16 meeting, noting that he was “not very happy that we have this on the agenda.”

“You all know the West Side [boardwalk] is complete,” one representative said at the meeting. “Over here we have lots of jurisdictional challenges, bridges, and various things going on...so there’s a big commitment to fill in these gaps along the river.”

Another speaker clarified that contractors had raised a “couple of hurdles” that “put pressure on the budget” as time passed, including the “proximity” of planned construction on the Esplanade to the FDR Drive (the walkway is positioned between the FDR Drive and the East River).

Specifically, the DOT would only reportedly allow work that would close one lane of the FDR on nights and weekends, the project representative continued.

This meant that work had to be diverted to the “water”—or East River—side of the Esplanade, which could have simplified things tremendously. Instead, new problems reportedly arose: “What made it especially difficult here is that the water level, or the mud line, is very high. So, the water is very shallow. We can’t get a barge in, in order to bring cranes and materials and things like that.”

“So, what’s going to have to happen is that we actually have to build a temporary platform outside of the waterfront, so that the contractors can go and build,” the project representative added. “That’s an added cost added timeline there.”

Further concerns arose around damaging the FDR Drive itself, as well as coming into compliance with updated engineering standards related to the surrounding historic neighborhood.

Hence, the shrinking of the project’s scope has been decided on, although project managers will reportedly “continue to explore all options” when it comes to restoring the newly announced gaps in the project.

Community advocates are not pleased, to say the least, nor were a few members of Community Board 11. Jose Altamirano, who pointed out it took four years for project planners to figure out that they had a funding shortfall, called the announcement of revised plans “mind-boggling” and “insulting.”

Jennifer Ratner, the board chair of Friends of the East River Esplanade, told Our Town that she had heard from “angry” community members who felt “left out” by project planners.

“This was supposed to be a general reinvention of the waterfront to make it ‘world class’ and climate resilient. We advocated for a decade for sufficient funding to do it right, and now they say: ‘Well, it’s much more expensive than we anticipated.’”