Manhattan unveils its first public beach

A former abandoned area along the Hudson River has been transformed into New York's largest park after Central Park. It features a riverfront sandbar and other amenities.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA. Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA. Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA. Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA. Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.

New York City has seen the opening of a new public park as a part of the Hudson River Park, the “Gansevoort Peninsula,” an area of more than two hectares that directly overlooks the river and houses playgrounds, sports equipment, lawns and Manhattan's first public beach, reserved for non-motorized watercraft, such as kayaks.

Located near Little Island and the High Line, and facing the Whitney Museum on Gansevoort Street and along the Hudson Greenway River, the peninsula housed a Department of Sanitation depot and was abandoned for a long time.

Governor Kathy Hochul, at the opening of the park, said that places like this remind the inhabitants who they are, and what are the values of the city. The project – whose construction lasted four years – was highly anticipated. The redevelopment of the waterfront of the West Side of Manhattan from the eighties to today appears to many a kind of incredible magic, which improves the lives of all.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA.

Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA.

Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA.

Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.

Gansevoort Peninsula. New York City, USA.

Image courtesy of Hudson River Park.