Anable Basin
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Anable Basin (also known as Eleventh Street Basin) is a artificial inlet of the
East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
located in the Long Island City neighborhood of
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. It was carved in 1868 to serve the large concentrations of industrial firms in the neighborhood. A public walkway along the southwest side of the basin was constructed as part of the
Queens West Queens West is a district and redevelopment project along the East River in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. The project, located on Hunter's Point south of the Anable Basin, is a joint project sponsored by the Port Authority of New Y ...
development in 2012. The basin contains several private vessels, the former Water's Edge restaurant, a former
Prudence Island Prudence Island is the third-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island and part of the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, United States. It is located near the geographic center of the bay. It is defined by the United Sta ...
ferry boat, and a floating dock owned by Long Island City Community Boathouse, used for its kayaking programs. In November 2018 it was announced that
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
would be building its large Amazon HQ2 campus on the land surrounding the basin. However, these plans have since been canceled.


Etymology

The basin's namesake is Henry Sheldon Anable, who was also the basin's financier. Anable was a prominent figure in local business and politics in 1860s, the time of the basin's creation. He was the nephew-in-law of then-president of
Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...
,
Eliphalet Nott Eliphalet Nott (June 25, 1773January 25, 1866), was a famed Presbyterian minister, inventor, educational pioneer, and long-term president of Union College, Schenectady, New York. Early life Nott was born at Ashford, Connecticut, on June 25, 1 ...
, who owned much of the land around Hunter's Point. Anable's ancestors were among the early
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
settlers of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, arriving in 1623. He is a descendant of Anthony Annable who was a passenger of ''the Anne'', which was the third ship to arrive in the
Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...
.


History

The inlet was carved in 1868 at a time when Long Island City was home to numerous oil refineries and factories. At the time of the canal's creation, a
mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...
bone was found on the site of the basin. For much of the 20th century, the major industrial property on the basin was
Pepsi-Cola Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...
, which had its bottling plant at the point where Anable Basin meets the East River. In 1937 the prolific advertising firm Artkraft-Strauss Sign Corporation installed the cursive ruby-colored neon-on-metal
Pepsi-Cola sign The Pepsi-Cola sign is a neon sign at Gantry Plaza State Park in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The sign, visible from Manhattan and the East River, was built in 1940 and originally installed atop PepsiCo (previo ...
atop the bottling plant and it became an instant point of reference for Manhattan residents and passing ships. When the bottling plant was demolished in 1999, the iconic 120-foot-long sign was dismantled and reassembled at a nearby site by Rockrose Development Corporation. The sign is an official city landmark and part of
Gantry Plaza State Park Gantry Plaza State Park is a state park on the East River in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City, in the New York City borough of Queens. The park is located in a former dockyard and manufacturing district, and includes remnants of f ...
, which lines the shore of East River between Anable Basin and Hunters Point. In 1980, ''Water's Edge'', a waterfront restaurant specializing in wedding venue, opened on the north side of the basin. It operated for over 30 years, until the then-owner was indicted for bribery and fraud charges. A new eatery, ''Anable Basin Sailing Bar & Grill'', has since opened across the street. The eatery offers mooring for vessels, picnic tables by the waterfront and a mixture of American and ethnic dishes including
ćevapi Ćevapi (, ), ćevapčići (formal: diminutive; , ) is a grilled dish of minced meat found traditionally in the countries of southeast Europe (the Balkans). It is considered a national dish of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also common ...
, a Bosnian sausage.


Redevelopment

In 2017, local real estate firms TF Cornerstone and Plaxall separately submitted proposals to the city to rezone the area around Anable Basin for development. TF Cornerstone's plan for 1,000 apartments and a light manufacturing complex was submitted in July, while Plaxall submitted its plan for a tower in December. The following year, the northern end of the Basin became part of the planned Amazon HQ2 Long Island City campus. Due to community opposition, Amazon withdrew its plans to build the Amazon HQ2 campus in February 2019. According to '' The City'', following Amazon's decision to not try to build a second headquarters near Anable Basin, the New York City Council invited three property developers to prepare plans for future development of the neighborhood. The three developers were TF Cornerstone, Simon Baron Development, and L&L Mag. A spokesman for city council explained ''“''One of the main problems we had with Amazon’s proposal was the lack of community engagement. We’re happy that these stakeholders are being proactive, we look forward to being active participants in the process.”'''' The Justice For All Coalition has called for any future development to be solely not-for-profit enterprises, and to restrict future commercial development. The group Your LIC, which was composed of TF Cornerstone, Plaxall, Simon Baron Development, and L&L Mag, announced in May 2020 that they wanted to develop up to of space on a area composed of their individual holdings around Anable Basin. The plan would include up to 15 towers of between , as well as of open space, three schools, and of arts and culture space; half of the total new development space would be commercially zoned. The plan would require that the property be rezoned, and environmental scoping and land-use review would have to be conducted over the next year.


Art and culture

In October 2007, artist
Chico MacMurtrie Chico MacMurtrie was born in New Mexico in 1961. He has been awarded four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for Interdisciplinary Artists. In 1990 he received the San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award. In 1992 MacMurtrie formed ...
introduced the sculpture ''A Tree for Anable Basin'' in the basin. The 24-foot-high aluminum tree was set atop a floating island planted with native grass species. MacMurtrie is the founder of the Brooklyn-based workshop Amorphic Robot Works. In August 2012, to showcase sustainable agriculture,
Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
architecture student Karim Ahmed designed a hydroponic garden atop a 20-foot raft that was launched in the Anable Basin. ''Waterpod'', as the project was called, grew sunflowers, kale, corn, and a baby nectarine tree. The project was inspired by the
chinampa Chinampa ( nah, chināmitl ) is a technique used in Mesoamerican agriculture which relies on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico. They are built up on wetlands of a lake o ...
floating farms used in Aztec society. Ahmed's raft was moored at the northwest corner of the basin where Anable Basin Sailing Bar & Grill is located. In October 2016, The Plaxall Gallery was opened by LIC Artists Inc., a 12,000-square-foot converted waterfront warehouse donated by Plaxall Inc. and is home to three art galleries, a 90-seat theatre, outdoor event space and is located on the Anable Basin in Long Island City and over the years has become an important institution for the surrounding artistic community. In April 2020 the space was taken over by Culture Lab LIC, a new nonprofit arts and community organization. In June 2017, local art curator Brandon Stosuy in collaboration with
Matthew Barney Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...
and a group of other artists installed a Trump countdown clock at the entrance of Anable Basin, visible from Manhattan. The art piece counts down the days and hours remaining in U.S. president
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's
presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
.


See also

*
Queens West Queens West is a district and redevelopment project along the East River in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. The project, located on Hunter's Point south of the Anable Basin, is a joint project sponsored by the Port Authority of New Y ...


References

{{New York City waterways East River Bodies of water of Queens, New York Inlets of New York (state) Long Island City