Lower East Side Public Housing Awarded Storm Protection

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the winning design for a project to protect part of the Lower East Side from future floods.
Lower East Side Public Housing Awarded Storm Protection
A rendering of the bridging berm in East River Park on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. Courtesy of HUD.gov
Ivan Pentchoukov
Updated:

NEW YORK—The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the winning design for a project to protect part of the Lower East Side from future floods.

The winning design was the biggest of four projects awarded by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Mayor Bill de Blasio Monday. The other projects will be built in Hunts Point in the Bronx, Tottenville on Staten Island, and in Nassau County.

The federal investment for the four projects totals $540 million. The winning designs beat out more than a hundred entries in a competition started last summer. New York’s need for resilient infrastructure has become a multibillion industry, and as a result some of the world’s leading firms submitted proposals.

The biggest project, worth $335 million, was awarded to BIG, a Dutch design and architecture firm. BIG will construct a multipurpose berm in the East River Park on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. The berm will function as a floodwall, public green space, and a natural filter.

“We are who we are because we’re the ultimate coastal city. We wouldn’t trade that in for anything in the world,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the Jacob Riis Houses Monday. “But it requires of us a new level of preparation and resiliency.”

The East River Park lies between the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive, a highway, and the East River. Superstorm Sandy knocked out electricity, water, and gas at nearby Jacob Riis Houses for nearly a week.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio at the announcement for the Rebuild by Design, in Manhattan on June 2, 2014. (Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times)
Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio at the announcement for the Rebuild by Design, in Manhattan on June 2, 2014. Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times
Ivan Pentchoukov
Ivan Pentchoukov
Author
Ivan is the national editor of The Epoch Times. He has reported for The Epoch Times on a variety of topics since 2011.
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