Pier 42

A vacant stretch of shoreline between the two bridges that took nearly forty years to become a park.

Pier 42 sits between the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, at the foot of Montgomery Street. It was Manhattan's last working cargo pier, handling break-bulk freight — famously, for years, bananas — until it closed in 1987.

After that it sat. The shed remained, the asphalt remained, and for the better part of three decades one of the largest pieces of undeveloped waterfront in Manhattan was fenced off from the neighbourhood immediately behind it, which is among the most park-poor in the city.

The long interim

From roughly 2013 the site was opened seasonally for temporary use while the permanent park was planned and funded — a period in which local residents, artists and community organisations ran public events and installations on the asphalt, well before there was any park to speak of.

This was a deliberate strategy: demonstrate demand, keep the site in public consciousness, and build the constituency that eventually secured the funding. It is also, incidentally, the origin of this domain, which belonged to one of those projects.

The park

Construction on the permanent park began in late 2017, and the completed Pier 42 park opened to the public in July 2024.

The design keeps a portion of the pier's structure and adds lawn, planting, a wetland edge and seating, with the shed footprint partially retained. It connects into the wider East River waterfront and the greenway, closing a gap that had existed since the pier stopped working.

Using it

It is a quiet park rather than an active one — grass, water, bridges overhead, and a view across to Brooklyn. There is no ferry landing on the pier itself and no concession of note. Bring what you need.

The Corlears Hook NYC Ferry landing is a short walk north-east along the shore.

As with all of this waterfront, check whether the section you want is open — construction along the shore has been continuous for years and closures shift.