New Look Planned for Pier at South Street Seaport

Conceding the failure of the South Street Seaport pier as a
“festival marketplace” — these days, it is not much
more than a waterfront mall — its owners plan to replace it with
a mixed-use project including a 42-story, 495-foot apartment and hotel
tower, wrapped in a terra-cotta exoskeleton and rising from new pilings
in the East River.

Though other high-profile developments along the East River have foundered, most notably Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum and Santiago Calatrava’s
apartment tower of stacked cubes, the seaport plan speaks to the
undiminished allure of riverfront sites and of developers’ faith
that megaprojects can inject new life into, and create profit out of,
areas where other visions have failed.