The Delancey Street terminal and renderings of Delancey Underground
Like the hugely successful High Line, a group of entrepreneurs wants to transform out-of-use transit infrastructure into an urban green space, according to New York magazine. Unlike the High Line, the project is completely underground.
Dan Barasch, an executive at social innovation network PopTech, James Ramsey, founder of architecture firm Raad Studio, and money manager R. Boykin Curry IV, want city approval to convert two acres of Metropolitan Transportation Authority-owned space under Delancey Street that served as a trolley terminal 60 years ago into a park (note: clarification appended). They call it Delancey Underground.
Crucial to the project is a system that channels sunlight — while filtering out harmful UV and infrared rays, but keeping wavelengths that power photosynthesis –through cables, anchored by solar panels that resemble lampposts on the Delancey Street median.
The MTA has listened to the pitch but refuses to contribute any money to the project. Barasch and Curry will present the plan to Community Board 3 Wednesday. [NY Mag]