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April 22, 2022 • Schneps Media
LOCAL NEWS
Let’s go up on the roof!
Mayor and Governor cut ribbon on largest NYC rooftop park
BY DEAN MOSES
Mayor Eric Adams and
Governor Kathy Hochul
officially christened the
city’s largest rooftop park open
Monday afternoon.
The top city official and head
of New York State joined Hudson
River Park Trust President & CEO
Noreen Doyle and Google CFO
Ruth Porat atop the windy rooftop
park at Pier 57, which overlooks the
West Side’s Little Island. After a
decade-long renovation process, the
80,000-square-foot rooftop park
was finally declared open during a
ceremony on April 18.
The historic pier was revitalized
by a development team led by
RXR and in addition to the park
is promised to include 350,000
square feet of commercial office
space which will be used by Google,
City Winery, and others around the
pier’s perimeter.
“Renewal seems to be on everyone’s
minds these days and Hudson
River Park’s whole history is about
just that. Pier by pier section by section.
The Hudson River Park Trust
has been working to transform the
piers and outlines along the parks
for miles, and to a stunning park
changing not only the waterfront,
but how people see and experience
New York City as a whole. Today,
Pier 57 becomes part of that success
story,” Doyle said.
Plans to renovate the pier began
in 2008, converting the empty pier
into a contributing part of the community
including open public space,
food, and cultural options. Doyle
shared that these hopes are coming
into fruition with more spaces
opening in the fall.
“This is extraordinary to witness
the results of true visionaries.
People had a belief that this
could no longer be an abandoned
peer mocking future generations
of a better past. Now we can say
that our future is much brighter
because of people who never gave
up on this city,” Governor Hochul
said, thanking Doyle and the many
partners involved in revitalizing the
pier at a time when New Yorkers
crave public open spaces to once
again socialize after two years of
distancing from each other.
“I’m here to announce that we’ve
now entered the innovation age.
We innovate not just jobs and businesses,
we innovate spaces. So, no
longer anyone in New York walk
by a place like this, an abandoned
pier that was just so decrepit, and
say something magnificent can’t
happen there because we proved
it can. So, every place has the opportunity
to be reborn to something
magnificent and part of our future,”
Hochul added.
Mayor Adams also admired
the public greenery that so many
New Yorkers and tourists can
enjoy and believes that it’s a
much-needed respite after the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“As a child, I never knew this. I
never knew that there were great
parks, great places, great theaters.
We’re going to change that. As we
cycled out of COVID, we’re going
to cycle out of the place where
we’re going to end the inequalities
that left too many people behind
and I’m excited about this adventure
and I’m excited about the many
more that we’re going to do,” Mayor
Adams said.
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
Google announced that in its
plans to invest $9.5 billion
across the country, $2.3
billion will be designated for New
York in 2022.
The company has called New
York home since 2000 and purchased
its flagship in Chelsea in
2010. This year, Google plans to
further its NYC footprint with
the purchase of additional office
space for its over 12,000
employees based in the city.
“Google’s offices and data centers
provide vital anchors to our
local communities and help us
contribute to their economies.
As we embrace more flexibility in
how we work, we believe it’s more
important than ever to invest in
our campuses and that doing so
will make for better products,
a greater quality of life for our
employees, and stronger communities,”
said Sundar Pichai, CEO
of Google and Alphabet. “That’s
why we’re planning to invest approximately
$9.5 billion in U.S.
offices and data centers this
year, creating more than 12,000
Google jobs in communities
across the country.”
Earlier this year, the company
purchased the St. John’s Terminal
building, marking the largest
commercial real estate purchase
since the pandemic began. The
company also recently opened office
space at Pier 57. Both of these
spaces give Google the capacity to
grow its New York workforce to
over 14,000 in the coming years.
Last week, Google released its
2021 Economic Impact Report
for New York, which highlights
how the company helped provide
$97.49 billion of economic activity
for hundreds of thousands of
businesses, nonprofits, publishers,
creators, and developers in New
York who used Google products
last year. More than 1.26 million
New York businesses received
requests for directions, phone
calls, bookings, reviews, and
other direct connections to their
customers from Google in 2021.
One business in particular that
was showcased wasSign-Speak in
Rochester, which used Google’s
digital tools to support its communication
product for deaf and
hard of hearing individuals.
“I tell my team that we win every
time a deaf or hard of hearing
individual says that Sign-Speak
helped them move through the
world more easily,” said Yamillet
Payano, co-founder of Sign-Speak
and 2021 Google for Startups
Black Founders Fund honoree.
Google is continuing to support
New York City communities,
providing up to $100,000 to support
13 promising entrepreneurs
of color through New York City
and state through their Google for
Startups Black Founders Fund.
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul joined members of the Hudson River Park Trust and
partners in the grand opening of a rooftop park at Pier 57 on April 18.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE
Pier 57 under development.
Google to invest $2.3 billion to help
grow presence in New York this year