Despite pleas from anglers, North Shore residents, prime strip of NYC waterfront property remains closed

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Part of a St. George pier that provides sweeping views of New York Harbor along with prime real estate for hopeful anglers remains closed despite millions in investment, and the responsible city agency is short on answers.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) didn’t answer multiple questions about Pier 1′s closure, but spokeswoman Regina Graham said the first 300 feet of the 845-foot-long public space remains open as it has been since NYCEDC announced renovations over five years ago.

Graham said that the remainder of the pier is closed for safety reasons while NYCEDC continues to work on repairs. City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore) said she’s working with the agency to expedite the process.

“NYCEDC has notified us of partial closures due to substructure issues. We are working with them to find a solution to this issue,” she said. “My main priority is to make sure that the necessary repairs are made to keep all residents safe, which would subsequently allow for safe enjoyment of this waterfront space for all.”

These structural issues date back to at least 2017 when Hanks’ predecessor, former City Councilwoman Debi Rose, took to Facebook in July of that year to announced the pier’s closure because it was unsafe.

Five years ago, an NYCEDC spokesperson under former Mayor Bill de Blasio told the defunct news outlet dnainfo that an inspection discovered the problem, and the city was working toward a correction.

That never came to fruition, and as Rose noted in her post five years ago, some of the pier’s most important area remains closed to the general public.

“This a shared disappointment for the fishing community and all who enjoy the view and breezes along the pier,” she said at the time.

Eric Garvin, an attorney and amateur fisherman, said that on the other side of the 10-foot chainlink fence NYCEDC erected there’s a fish cleaning table and other angling amenities not dissimilar to what’s available at Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier.

He noted that while the fence keeps most people out, some are still accessing the closed part of the pier pointing out that trashcans on the other side of the fence remain overflowing. An Advance/SILive.com July 11 visit to the site saw the same conditions.

“It’s interesting to see what the city has gusto for in terms of development,” Garvin, a North Shore resident, said. “What are we doing with our resources, and what are we doing for this part of Staten Island?”

Despite its dilapidated condition, the pier, at least its publicly-accessible part, and the nearby National Lighthouse museum remain two of the few bright spots on a long-neglected stretch of Staten Island waterfront.

Former piers adjacent to Pier 1 can be seen collapsed or collapsing into the sea below, and further towards Stapleton is the site of the old Cromwell Center that permanently closed in 2010 after suffering a major collapse before being fully torn down in 2013.

Towards the end of her time in office, Rose secured funding for a new North Shore recreation center that will be built over Lyons Pool parking lot with an estimated 2025 completion date.

Issues with Pier 1 date back more than a decade. NYCEDC took over the property from the city Department of Transportation in the early 2000s, and in 2003, the Advance/SILive.com reported that the renovated pier reopened to the cost of nearly $2.5 million.

An engineering study showed its pilings had been undermined by wood-eating marine worms and were unsafe, according to reporting at the time.

Then in 2010, the Advance/SILive.com reported that some of the pier’s fishing amenities had fallen into disrepair. At the time, Hanks, then serving as executive director of the Downtown Staten Island Council, brought the issue to NYCEDC’s attention, which ultimately resolved the issue.

That year, Hanks and the Council organized a Summerfest event that the councilwoman said at the time brought over 2,500 visitors to attend a seasonal series of movies, jazz concerts and children’s programming.

All this was going on while locals continued to push for the opening of the National Lighthouse Museum — which was first voted to be on Staten Island in 1998, according to the museum’s website.

The museum eventually opened in 2015, but not without its challenges along the way.

They included a failed effort to bring the United States lightship Nantucket to be permanently docked along Pier 1 as a permanent exhibit for the museum and the theft — or the unceremonious storage — of three 250-pound brass bells that were attached to decorative buoys along the pier.

In 2016, NYCEDC announced that the pier would be added to DockNYC, the private company that is under contract with the city to manage and market berthing sites across the city for a variety of uses.

DockNYC started a series of boat tours in partnership with the National Lighthouse Museum in May that offer sightseeing tours and dinner cruises aboard a yacht called the Majestic Princess. The program will conclude with a “Haunted Halloween East River Dinner Cruise” on Oct. 28.

National Lighthouse Museum Executive Director Linda Dianto said the complete repair of the pier would allow it to be opened for its full potential.

“Due to the partial closure of this important Pier 1, tourists are unable to experience the panoramic views of the city, key Harbor lighthouses, the Verrazzano Bridge, Governor’s Island and of course our neighboring borough, Brooklyn, just across the water,” she said in an email.

In addition to the challenges of the closed pier, the museum sits adjacent to a group of dilapidated buildings that once housed the Staten Island Lighthouse Depot and in the shadow of the stalled Lighthouse Point project — a $250 million luxury apartment building to be equipped with retail, office space and a Westin Hotel.

Garvin, the attorney and amateur angler, just wants to know what the city plans to do to bring the areas potential to reality, and if NYCEDC will ever reopen the pier to full public access.

“If you’re private and you have a yacht, you can do business with EDC on that pier all day. If you’re a person on foot and you want to go for a walk or go fish or just go sightseeing like in a park, you’re prevented,” he said. “The city shouldn’t create situations like that.”