Extending Manhattan

Manhattan is notorious for turning its back on its own waterfront. Not only is the island festooned with seedy, rat-infested piers; the waterfront itself is cut off by a rim of superdrives. Planners and architects have long dreamed of extending the island with marinas, heliports and apartment houses on stilts, but all plans so far have foundered in oceans of red tape, difficulties of finance, and massive indifference, from the mayor's office on down.

Thus it was news last week when a project aimed at making creative use of the river front got both active city backing and financial support. The plan, drawn up by Architects Lewis Davis and Sam Brody, will create a $42 million residential complex to be built out on piers set in the East River, between Manhattan's 25th and 30th streets. Just to the south will be a United Nations school. "We want to bring back the life of the waterfront," says Brody. "This will be a window on the water."

The new development, to be called Waterside, has for five years been trying to make headway, has encountered every imaginable obstacle in the process. "This has been dead a hundred times," says Architect Davis. What made the difference was backing from the top; both Housing and Development Administrator Jason Nathan and Mayor John Lindsay decided that it was time to get Waterside under way.

What particularly interests planners is that Waterside will combine 48 twin-duplex town houses with four apartment towers, 30 to 35 stories tall. It will also mix income groups. Rents will range as low as $18 and up to $60 a room, with city and federal rent subsidies making up the difference and allowing all the families to have relatively similar rooms, varying only in minor appointments, such as bathroom fixtures and kitchen appliances.

Waterside will be a mixing place in yet another sense. Not only will the large central plaza, planned to descend in terraces to boat landings at the river's edge, include shops, a restaurant and theater; it will also be tied to Manhattan by an overhead pedestrian bridge and two vehicular underpasses beneath the F.D.R. Memorial Drive. A parking area for 740 cars will be provided on a second level under the plaza. "We want to make the area a 24-hour sort of place," says Brody, who expects that the plaza will become a rendezvous for people from adjacent housing projects as well. "We want to create a very active life along the river."

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