Mayor Eric Adams. Photo Credit: facebook.com/NYCMayor
On September 13, 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the ground breaking for the New Stapleton Waterfront, part of the City’s Staten Island North Shore Action Plan. The Staten Island North Shore Action Plan is a four-year plan that was announced in September 2023 by Mayor Adams and New York City Councilmember Kamillah Hanks. This $400 million investment aims to provide Staten Island’s North Shore with over 20 acres of public space, more than 7,500 family-sustaining jobs, and $3.8 billion in economic impact over 30 years.
The Staten Island North Shore Action Plan will transform a 35-acre former United States naval base into a new mixed-use community on the New Stapleton Waterfront, set within a framework of open space and esplanades. The New Stapleton Waterfront would bring over 2,100 mixed-income residential units, ground floor retail, a 600-seat public school,12 acres of interconnected public open space to Staten Island’s North Shore, and additional community facilities. The Staten Island North Shore Action Plan includes improving roadway realignment, adding new roadside lighting, separating pedestrian and cycling paths, adding roadside planters featuring native plants, and providing additional pedestrian crosswalks.
In addition to announcement regarding the Staten Island North Shore Action, progress was shared on other City projects. In September 2023, the Tompkinsville Esplanade received Uniform Land Use Review Process approval from the New York City Council. In November 2023, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development released its Requests for Proposals to redevelop the Jersey Street sanitation garage to include new housing and community amenities. The New York City Economic Development Corporation released a Requests for Proposals for the former New York Wheel site, now known as the North Shore Entertainment and Amusement site, which will deliver a premier recreational destination for the region with entertainment, amusement, and retail uses along with over seven acres of public open space. In January, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Department of Transportation released a Requests for Proposals for a concession operator aboard the Staten Island Ferry. In February, New York City Mayor Adams and the New York City Parks Department made headway on the Mary Cali Dalton Recreation Center in Tompkinsville project. This past spring, the New York City Economic Development Corporation released a Requests for Proposals to redevelop two parcels of vacant land to create more than 500 market rate and affordable housing units.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “We’ve made it clear: In our administration, Staten Island is no longer the forgotten borough. We’ve made tremendous progress on our North Shore Action Plan in the 12 months since we announced our $400 million investment in new housing, jobs, education, and open space on Staten Island, and by breaking ground on 12 acres of new public space on the New Stapleton Waterfront, we are making clear that we won’t stop until we deliver on all our promises to this community.”
Deputy Mayor of Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer said, “This administration is committed to finding underutilized public land and activating that land for the public good. The North Shore Action Plan is doing just that, turning two miles of vacant, inaccessible coastline into thousands of homes and jobs and over 20 acres of public open space. In just a year since announcing this plan, major progress has been made on every component and in every neighborhood. I want to thank the NYCEDC team for their tireless efforts on this project, as well as Councilmember Kamillah Hanks for her steadfast support.”
By: Chelsea Ramjeawan (Chelsea is the CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2025.)