Chelsea Piers

The Chelsea Piers have a long history with many twists and turns, much of it paralleling the other NYC waterfront piers which saw their heyday, a sordid decline and then an unexpected and greatly welcomed renaissance. In the early 20th century, the Chelsea Piers saw all of the trans-Atlantic luxury cruise liners, including the Titanic and Lusitania. In 1935, the luxury liner piers moved north; the Chelsea piers became a cargo terminal. In the 1980s there were plans for a new West Side Highway (Westway) which called for demolition of the piers. The Westway project never went through and the piers survived. The new piers, designed by Warren and Wetmore (which also designed Grand Central Terminal), began construction in 1994. The huge, 28-acre complex of 4 piers between 17th and 23rd Streets in Manhattan are a sports oriented facility with several venues: The Field House - soccer, basketball, gymnastics, baseball, dance and rock climbing; Golf Club - a four-tiered, year-round outdoor driving range); Sky Rink - twin indoor ice-skating rinks with hockey, general & figure skating, school; Sports Center Health Club; The Spa; a Bowling center and the BlueStreak Sports Training facility. Click here for the Chelsea Piers website. There is onsite parking and restaurants. A nice plus is that the center is located along the Hudson River Greenway ...

Photo Note: the photo shows the vista looking towards midtown. Click here for a second photo with a view of Gehry's IAC building (click here for posting about the Gehry building).