Though the City has celebrated the recent opening of Hudson River Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and the High Line, paying for the upkeep of these parks has been a challenge. The parks were constructed with the idea that they would be supported by public-private partnerships. However, securing private funding has been more difficult than imagined and a long-term strategy is still needed.

The remodeled nine-acre portion of Piers 62-64 at Hudson River Park is expected to open on Monday May 17th. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, designer of Brooklyn Bridge Park, landscaped this section of the park.

The Hudson River Park is facing tough financial challenges as parking spaces, which generate revenue for park maintenance, have fallen off. Park advocates have argued that the park is unable to capture other economic benefits because the New York State has limited the types of developments and leases that can be made on the property.

A representative from the Hudson River Park Trust has stated that construction is moving forward quickly and that Pier 25 will be opened by the end of 2010. Other areas south of the pier will open by next fall including a skate park and a constructed pathway.

Construction has not begun on some portions of the Hudson River Park-- funding for these sections is still in jeopardy. A segment of the Tribeca promenade reaching to Laight Street is finished, and construction continues further south, between North Moore and Chambers streets. A three block section in the middle remains unbuilt.

Community members and public officials celebrated the opening of Pier 64 on the Chelsea waterfront. The pier, which opened to the public in April 2009, is an addition to the Hudson River Park redevelopment. The construction of the pier also removed a wall which previously blocked Chelsea residents from the Hudson waterfront.

The rights to development of Pier 57 have been given by the Hudson River Park Trust to developer Youngwoo & Associates, LLC (YWA). YWA’s plan consists of a 170,000 square-foot public market, an arts and entertainments space on the roof of the pier, and a 90,000 square-foot cultural center on the bottom floor of the development.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer took away his appointee’s, former-Senator Franz Leichter, voting privileges on the Hudson River Park Trust Board of Directors after Leichter initiated a resolution asking the State Legislature to consider extending the lease for Pier 40 from 30 years to 49.

Real estate development firm Youngwoo & Associates is expected to close a deal in August to purchase AIG’s two Art Deco towers in Lower Manhattan, at 70 Pine Street and 72 Wall Street. The towers are slated to be sold for $140 million at $100 per square foot.

Community members who opposed the Related Companies’ failed proposal to turn Pier 40 into a Cirque du Soleil entertainment hub are expressing concern that such a development will reemerge as an option if the New York State Legislature votes to extend Pier 40’s 30-year lease restriction to 40 or 50 years.