US News

EAST RIVER PARK OK’D

Park-starved lower Manhattan will get a new swath of green space along the East River now that the city’s plan for a pier with a park and maritime center won a key approval yesterday from the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Pier 15 – a long-ago shipping terminal that’s now just a collection of old pilings – will be rebuilt by 2011 to include a two-deck structure with a park on top and a maritime-education center and cafes below.

The project, located at the foot of Pine Street in the South Street Historic District, is part of an ambitious, $148 million plan to create a two-mile river esplanade from the Whitehall ferry terminal north to East River Park.

Funding for the city project comes almost entirely from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.’s 9/11 federal rebuilding grants.

The pier’s proposed design came under fire by some preservationists, but Landmarks officials mostly agreed that the modern design balanced history with the need for public recreation on the long-neglected riverfront.