Youngwoo & Associates’ plan to transform Pier 57, a 900-foot Hudson River pier near the Meatpacking District, into a retail and recreation complex is entering the city’s land use approval process, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The plan, which has been received more favorably by the city than previous proposals, includes almost 300,000 square feet of markets, restaurants and other commercial space, the Journal said.

In order to proceed, Youngwoo must also sign enough commercial leases to put together a private financing package for the project, the Journal said. [WSJ] [more]

The Hudson River Park Trust unveiled detailed plans for the $210 million renovation of Pier 57, off West 15th Street, DNAinfo reported. The plan includes 375,000 square feet of space devoted to a two-floor public marketplace, a two-acre rooftop open space and a 115-slip marina designed by Handel Architects, Lot-Ek and others. The project is being developed by Youngwoo & Associates, which first earned the contract in July 2009 and hatched the current plan for the site a month later (note: correction appended). [more]

Madelyn Wils, executive vice president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, is leaving her role at EDC to become president and chief executive of Hudson River Park Trust, a body that manages public lands along the river below 59th Street, according to the New York Times.

In her new position, Wils will be charged with increasing revenue from waterfront properties to fund the continued development of piers along the river. So far, the trust has spent approximately $400 million in development costs to revive maritime buildings and convert them into recreational spaces. Its managers are regularly frustrated with community oppositions to the projects, including at Pier 57, where they were forced to scrap various proposals. [more]

Youngwoo & Associates, the development group selected to design and build the Pier 57 site at 15th Street and the Hudson River, has a tall task ahead of it. Since being awarded the project in August, Greg Carney, chief investment officer at Youngwoo, says the group has been working hard to craft a lasting development on the Far West Side, a region already crowded with popular project like the High Line. Youngwoo, which beat out the Durst Organization and Related Companies in the bidding process, currently is working to attract vendors and other businesses to work on the Pier 57 development, Carney told Black Swan Media. “We are fully geared up on the pre-development process,” Carney said. “We’re taking out the rest of the spaces to the market and trying to refine the concept and refine the design and start to fill out the rest of the space.”

Now that Youngwoo & Associates has been tapped for the Pier 57 project, new details are emerging about how that long-vacant space will be used. The $210 million project will include a rooftop garden, cafes, an auction house, art galleries and an art library. The designers’ plan favors an environmentally friendly approach to land development, incorporating recycled materials into the center, Greg Carney, a Youngwoo partner, said. He explained that the Pier 57 plan follows the cultural moves cultivated in some of Manhattan’s trendier neighborhoods. “We saw a real opportunity to extend what is happening in the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea,” Carney said. “It’s an extension essentially of 15th Street to create a city street environment in the pier structure.”

Youngwoo & Associates won development rights yesterday for Pier 57 with a plan that calls for a concert venue, galleries and an auction house in one 375,000-square-foot building at the pier. Youngwoo had been widely expected to win the contract. The developer’s two competitors, the Related Companies and the Durst Organization, had reportedly decided the project was no longer feasible because of the frozen credit markets. Under Youngwoo’s plan, the Tribeca Film Festival will establish a permanent venue at the pier, and the space will also host a 170,000-square-foot public market. [more]

The board of the Hudson River Park Trust was slated to announce today which developer it has selected for a renovation plan at Pier 57. The project aims to install cultural attractions in a 375,000-square-foot building that occupies the entire pier. One developer, Youngwoo and Associates, has garnered massive support from the community. Manhattan Community Board 4 voted in favor of Youngwoo’s proposal, which includes plans for a concert venue, galleries and an auction house.