Barry Diller’s Pier 55 project can proceed: judge

City Club of NY had sued to stop it, citing wildlife protection

A rendering of Pier 55 on the Hudson River (Inset: Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller)
A rendering of Pier 55 on the Hudson River (Inset: Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller)

Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg’s futuristic Pier 55 park project on the Hudson River won’t harm the fish too badly, and can move ahead.

A judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the redevelopment by City Club of New York, an activist group, that said the new West 13th Street park would harm local American eel and shortnose sturgeon population, the New York Post reported.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joan Lobis disagreed, writing that Pier 55 “would not cause significant adverse impacts on the aquatic habitat.”

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The City Club’s attorney, Richard Emry, told the Post he planned to appeal the case. “It’s a major blight on the waterfront as far as we’re concerned,” he told the paper.

Construction on the 117,000-square-foot redevelopment — which is definitely not called “Barry Diller Island” — is scheduled to start later this year.

The Hudson River Park Trust approved plans for a pier to extend 186 feet into the river off 13th Street, with three theater production sites nearby. Diller has pledged $113 million to the roughly $130 million project, which will replace the weathered Pier 54. [NYP]Ariel Stulberg