![Lowline Tech Demo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Lowline_Tech_Demo.jpg)
The Lowline, formerly known as the Delancey Underground,
is a stalled construction project that would have become the world's first underground park in the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. It is located under the eastbound roadway of
Delancey Street
__NOTOC__
Delancey Street is one of the main thoroughfares of New York City's Lower East Side in Manhattan, running from the street's western terminus at the Bowery to its eastern end at FDR Drive, connecting to the Williamsburg Bridge and Bro ...
on the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
, in the former
Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal
The Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal, also called the Essex Street Trolley Terminal or Delancey Street Trolley Terminal, was a trolley terminal located underground adjacent to the Essex Street subway station in the Lower East Side of Manhat ...
adjacent to the
Essex Street
Essex Street is a north-south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, the ...
station () and to the
Essex Crossing
Essex Crossing is an under-construction mixed-use development in New York City's Lower East Side, at the intersection of Delancey Street and Essex Street just north of Seward Park. Essex Crossing will comprise nearly of space on and will cos ...
complex. Construction of the Lowline began in 2019, but was put on hold in 2020 due to lack of funds.
The name "Lowline" is a reference to the
High Line
The High Line is a elevated park, elevated linear park, greenway (landscape), greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the West Side (Manhattan), west side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's ...
, an elevated park converted from an abandoned railway.
Site description
Co-founders James Ramsey and Dan Barasch
have suggested natural light would be directed below ground using a system that has been described in the proposed plan as "
remote skylights", providing an area in which trees and grass could be grown beneath city streets. Light collectors would be placed at ground level or on surrounding rooftops, with suggested locations, including the median on Delancey Street. Artificial lighting would be used to supplement the redirected sunlight on cloudy days and at night. The area, with ceilings high, extends three blocks east from
Essex Street
Essex Street is a north-south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, the ...
to
Clinton Street and was used until 1948 as a station and
balloon loop
A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop ( North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains.
Bal ...
for
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s crossing the
Williamsburg Bridge
The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway ...
to and from
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
[Foderaro, Lisa W]
"Inspired by High Line, Park Is Envisioned With Sights Set Low"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', November 21, 2011. Accessed November 21, 2011.
History
The
large trolley terminal that is the site has sat unused for more than 60 years.
[ James Ramsey, an architectural designer who founded RAAD Studio, was inspired by the High Line to conceive of the project in 2009, and began working out the technological aspects of the park's development with Dan Barasch, who was becoming disillusioned with his work at ]Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
.[Nevins, Jake]
"The upside down: inside Manhattan’s Lowline subterranean park"
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', April 6, 2019. The project was first publicly proposed in 2011 and quickly generated widespread media attention.
In 2012, the project raised over $150,000 from 3,300 backers on Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
to create a full-scale exhibition of the solar lighting technology. The project was named by Mashable
Mashable is a digital media platform, news website and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005.
History
Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Early iterations of the site were a ...
as one of the top Kickstarter projects of that year. In September 2012 an installation was opened on the Lower East Side to promote the project; titled "Imagining the Lowline," it consisted of a 30-foot (9m) wide aluminum solar canopy distributing natural sunlight onto a live cultivated landscape "park." The exhibit saw over 11,000 visitors and featured design talks, school visits, weekend street fairs and a political event. The executive producer of the exhibit was Robyn Shapiro and the industrial designer
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactur ...
was Ed Jacobs with support from Brandt Graves. Initial patent work in the associated technologies by David D. Winters, Winters Patent Law of Tennessee.
Support
The project was endorsed by politicians and organizations such as U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of Re ...
, former NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
Sheldon Silver (February 13, 1944 – January 24, 2022) was an American Democratic Party politician, attorney, and convicted felon from New York City who served as speaker of the New York State Assembly from 1994 to 2015. A native of Manhattan' ...
, Manhattan Community Board 3
The Manhattan Community Board 3 is a New York City community board encompassing the Manhattan neighborhoods of Alphabet City, the East Village, the Lower East Side, Two Bridges, and a large portion of Chinatown. It is delimited by the East Riv ...
, and the Lower East Side business improvement district. Barasch and Ramsey worked with HR&A Advisors and Arup to complete a feasibility study outlining the cost to build the park, long-term business model and community benefits. The findings were released to various news outlets such as the ''Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''. and ''New York'' magazine.[ The Lowline was shown in Time magazine's 25 best inventions of 2015 (Dec7 issue).
]
Lowline Lab
The Lowline Lab was opened in October 2015 as a working prototype to determine the long-term feasibility of the Delancey Underground project. Located several blocks away from the proposed site, the Lab offered a glimpse of what the eventual Lowline could become, employing the same technology that will be used in the permanent space to bring sunlight into a simulated underground environment. The Lab featured over 70 species of plants and more than 3,000 plants in total operating off of a combination of natural sunlight and artificial supplements. The Lab closed to the public on February 26, 2017.
Approval and postponement
The underground area borders the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, for which the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has issued a proposal request (the Lowline site was not included in the request as it was owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...
or MTA). The EDC later conducted a public bidding process won by the project to develop the terminal. The property will be purchased by the city from the MTA and the design coordinated with the neighboring Essex Crossing
Essex Crossing is an under-construction mixed-use development in New York City's Lower East Side, at the intersection of Delancey Street and Essex Street just north of Seward Park. Essex Crossing will comprise nearly of space on and will cos ...
development (part of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area). Construction will depend on private fundraising by the project, public subsidies, and Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) is a process mandated by the 1975 revision of the New York City Charter that is invoked when a proposed development will affect certain legal protections afforded to the existing area and/or its inhabitan ...
approvals for specific components.
As of 2019, the park was under construction and was expected to open in 2021.[ However, in February 2020, the planners announced it was on hold due to lack of success in fundraising.]
References
External links
Project:
*
(Exclusive) Here’s Your First Look at the Lowline Underground Park Proposal
(includes full 154-page plan from 2016)
Article on project with pictures
A Look Inside the Lowline, New York City’s First Underground Park
Bloomberg Business 2015
The Lowline Lab from Google Maps Street View
Existing space:
Pictures
Track map of site
{{Lower East Side
Lower East Side
Parks in Manhattan
Urban public parks
Urban planning in New York City
Kickstarter-funded public works
Proposed buildings and structures in New York City
Delancey Street–Essex Street (New York City Subway)