Diller On The Hudson

Pier 55, which is estimated to cost $170 million, would sit 186 feet off the shoreline and contain wooded nooks and three performance venues, including an amphitheatre, according to the New York Times.

It would be primarily funded by Diller though a family foundation, with the rest coming from New York City and state funds, and the Hudson River Park Trust. Diller reportedly developed the concept with members of the trust and agreed to run and cover expenses for the 2.4-acre park for 20 years.

“I have always loved public spaces,” Diller told the Times. “It’s entirely my fault that this has become so ambitious. We will fail in our ambition, outsized or whatever it may be, if this doesn’t feel completely like a park and completely like a performance space.”

With the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, and funding provided mostly by Diller, the proposal appears to be a fait accompli, despite prior controversies over use of the Hudson River shoreline. The largest planned performance space would include seats for 1,000 and lawn space for another 2,500, in addition to an 800-seat amphitheatre and a small stage with 250 seats.

The proposal has set tongues wagging among New York City’s cultural elite, questioning control over programming and private use of a public space. Diller and his wife, fashionista Dianne von Furstenburg, have already pulled out their checkbooks for architecturally distinctive buildings in Manhattan and the city’s now-trendy Meatpacking District.

They are also major funders of the city’s High Line park, a former elevated rail lined turned into green space. Pier 55 still requires the approval of the Hudson River Trust’s full board, the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Conservation before construction could begin in 2016, according to the paper.