Southpoint Park Planning Moving Forward on an RFP
by Dick Lutz

Southpoint Park will have a Phase One design team shortly after Labor Day, based on a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued July 10 by the Trust for Public Land.

For the project, $12 million has been set aside – $4 million each from RIOC and from New York State, and $4 million, in two chunks over two years, from the City.

The RFP requires the design team to allow for the possibility of residential or commercial development for the northern two acres of the park, saying that in a "reconciled schematic design," the team is to provide "options for development of Southpoint Park north of the [smallpox hospital] ruins, with or without residential or commercial building on the ‘City Hospital Footprint’ parcel." In an explanatory note, the RFP says, "In late 2005," the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) "issued a Request for Initial Proposals... Proposals were received for residential development of this site."

It continues, "While RIOC assumes that any building on this site is likely to be residential, there may be commercial development options. The Schematic Design for the park should accouont for the possibly [sic] that this 2.0 acre site may accommodate future residential or commercial development, or be developed as part of the park in a future Phase of construction."

In the past, resident groups have fought the taking of Island parkland for any purposes, but have lost, both in the case of Southtown and in the case of the Octagon development. In a similar current case in Brooklyn, groups are preparing a court fight to oppose the taking of a portion of a designated park for residential development. As yet, no group has raised formal opposition to commercial or residential use of Southpoint’s City Hospital footprint, though residents who responded to a TPL effort to gather information on resident preferences overwhelmingly favored reservation of the entire space for park purposes.

Respondents to TPL’s survey favored a "Wild Gardens/Green Rooms" plan, which was the least formal and least "commercial" of three prospective plans put before residents.

In introductory language, the RFP says that RIOC and TPL "seek to make Southpoint Park a publicly accessible world-class destination through the creation of new commercial, educational, recreational, tourist, and infrastructure improvements together with new waterfront and public open space development [which] capture the full potential of the unparalleled site." It goes on to describe the park vision in these terms:

• Create a dynamic park that resonates with the spectacular Island site, its ruin and landforms, as well as the ‘egalitarian and multi-cultural promise of Roosevelt Island.’

• Enhance the shoreline, the wild and natural landscape, and the ecology of the site for the communal enrichment of the Island community.

• Use the architecture and landforms of the site to create performance venues and environmental art that will attract large numbers of visitors from the rest of the world.

The future of a proposed memorial to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, designed by the late Louis Kahn, remain open. The RFP says, "Phase One plans should not compromise or limit any future Roosevelt Memorial plans." It also calls for the design team to "assess the Roosevelt Memorial plans and provide recommendations on how to use the mound for performances and proceed with Phase One while the status of the Memorial remains undertermined."

As Southpoint is presently configured, the "mound" slopes downward to the south in a landform created from the spoil of subway station excavation decades ago. It is immediately south of the Renwick Ruin, a smallpox hospital designed by James Renwick, Jr. (who also designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the lighthouse at the north end of Roosevelt Island). The RFP calls for the design team to "analyze the structural condition of the Renwick Ruin and prepare plans to stabilize it" and "make recommendations for a Phase One scope of work that will include a combination of stabilization, restoration, and adaptive reuse. Describe the structural solution that will preserve the character of the ruin, its state of decay, to stabilize the ruin, stop deterioration and allow safe pedestrian access but not necessarily restore it to plumb." Segments of the standing walls are leaning precariously.

RFP responses are due August 11, shortlist interviews will be conducted August 21-25, and the selection is to be made by September 8.