StuyTown's Riverfront Points North, and the Way South Belongs to a Later Contract

How far south can you walk along the East River from Stuyvesant Town this winter? Only to the south end of Stuyvesant Cove Park. The East River Greenway has been closed around the clock between Montgomery Street and Stuyvesant Cove Park since September 8, 2025. To get to the reopened southern parts of East River Park, you have to cross on the Delancey Street or Corlears Hook bridges.

Many neighbors may expect the closure to end when East River Park's northern section reopens. The city's latest timeline points to a longer wait. On October 15, 2026, the East Side Coastal Resiliency team presented a schedule to the Community Board 3 Parks Committee. It puts the waterside connection at 14th Street on a separate contract. That contract is expected to start in early 2028 and finish in 2030. For the next several years, StuyTown's riverfront runs north from 18th Street, and it is already built.

What the October 15 update settled

In the October presentation, the city ruled out reopening the northern park in phases. The slide says:

"No intermediate amenity openings anticipated at this time, but we continue to evaluate opportunities for earlier openings."

The track and track building are listed as opening "by end of project," with no separate date. The end of the project has already moved once. In a December 11, 2025 update, the city said it now anticipates finishing Project Area 1, the stretch that includes East River Park, in late 2027. EV Grieve reported at the time that the new date replaced the earlier expectation of the end of 2026, roughly a one-year slip.

The same slides say the shared use path through the park will stay closed until the project is finished, because crews use it as a construction road. Every date on these pages is labeled "subject to change."

The construction is visible from the street. In April 2026, EV Grieve ran a reader's photo of the northern park site and described the scene as "No grass. No trees. No life." The post repeated the end-of-2027 outlook.

The connection StuyTown needs comes after the park reopens

When the northern park reopens, it still won't connect to Stuyvesant Town along the water. That link is the East River Greenway 14th Street Connector, which the city lists as a separate contract expected to begin in early 2028 and conclude in 2030.

The Connector contract also covers more than the path. The October slides assign the north basketball courts and portions of the esplanade to it, so those pieces are expected to finish under that timeline, not with the rest of the park in late 2027. The E. 10th Street public restroom building is listed as not expected to be affected by the Connector work.

That leaves two dates for anyone south of 23rd Street. Under the current schedule, the park's northern section returns with the end of the project. The riverside connection to it from 14th Street is scheduled about two years after that.

The E. 10th Street bridge, in order

Until the Connector is built, a rebuilt pedestrian bridge over the FDR Drive will be the closest way into the northern park. The old E. 10th Street bridge was taken down in July 2025 during an overnight closure of the FDR Drive. The October presentation estimates 12 to 14 months of total construction for the new one and lays out the steps:

1. Mobilizing the work and staging area, which is complete.
2. Installing ramp and abutment piles during the day, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The city calls this the stage with the biggest noise and vibration impact and expects it to continue into November.
3. Assembling the bridge on E. 10th Street, which takes about two months.
4. Placing the bridge in a single night, expected in spring 2027.
5. Building the ramps, which takes about six to seven months.

The city's slides say the new bridge will be fully accessible and ADA-compliant. They also say the bridge will "open by end of project," the same wording used for the track. If ramp work starts after a spring placement, the steps above would end around late 2027. That is a reading of the schedule, not a date the city has published.

The city's two-week look-ahead through November 14 lists pile installation for the bridge, preparation for overnight floodwall work at E. 13th Street, and nighttime esplanade and floodwall construction from the E. 6th Street Bridge to E. 15th Street. The city's notices page describes the overnight work between E. Houston and E. 14th Streets as ongoing until further notice, with partial closures of the FDR Drive and its service road.

Getting to the southern lawns now

The reopened part of East River Park is real and well equipped, but you reach it by going inland. The city's October status snapshot lists these access points:

• Open: Delancey Street bridge, Corlears Hook bridge, the Pier 42 connection
• Closed: the E. Houston Street entry, the E. 6th Street bridge, the E. 10th Street bridge
• Open park area: East River Park between Pier 42 and the tennis courts, plus Corlears Hook Park
• Closed park area: everything north of the tennis courts

The south end has been reopening since spring 2025. In May 2025, the city reopened six tennis courts, the multiuse turf, two basketball courts, the picnic and barbecue areas, the Delancey Street lawn, a nature exploration area and water play. In September 2025, six more tennis courts, the East River Park amphitheater and the flagpole area at Corlears Hook Park reopened, along with access through the Corlears Hook Bridge and the esplanade at Pier 42.

All of it sits below Delancey Street, though, so for most of StuyTown, getting to the water and its open spaces means heading north.

The finished shoreline starts at 18th and 20th Streets

The part of the project closest to StuyTown is already done. Project Area 2 runs from E. 15th to E. 25th Street and includes Stuyvesant Cove Park and Asser Levy Playground. It reached substantial completion in October 2024. The city's October snapshot shows Stuyvesant Cove Park open with all entrances open, including E. 18th Street at Avenue C and E. 20th Street at Avenue C.

Solar One manages Stuyvesant Cove with NYCEDC. It describes the site as the city's first and only all-native-plant park, planted to support wildlife habitat. At the park's north end, Solar One's Environmental Education Center opened on September 9, 2025, at 800 FDR Drive Service Road East, at 23rd Street. It is a two-story, 6,400-square-foot building with classrooms for STEM education, workshops and community events. It runs on solar power and has battery storage and flood protection.

Its newest programming centers on the water itself. In August 2026, Solar One announced upcoming K–12 field trips and water-ecology investigations, and said Enterococcus testing in a water-quality lab will become part of its educational programming. The center marked its first anniversary on October 22 with a free Halloween event that included trick-or-treating in the park and hands-on STEM activities.

North of the cove, Asser Levy Recreation Center is at 392 Asser Levy Place, at E. 23rd Street and the FDR Drive. NYC Parks lists it as a limited-access center with building hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. The adjacent Asser Levy Playground runs between E. 23rd and E. 25th Streets along the FDR. NYC Parks describes the site as a year-round recreation complex with an indoor pool, outdoor sports and play facilities, and a free outdoor pool in season. Farther up, NYC Ferry's East River route stops at East 34th Street.

None of these places depend on the 2027 or 2030 dates. The cove, the education center and the Asser Levy complex make up the finished riverfront closest to StuyTown, and they will hold that role until the Connector is built.

On the Oval through early December

Closer in, the property's own calendar keeps going through the fall. The StuyTown Greenmarket sets up on the Oval Lawn on Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with produce, flowers, meat, fish, bread and baked goods. The StuyTown events calendar lists these dates after publication day:

The Greenmarket's listed season ends December 6. The next dates that would change the riverfront are on the city's schedule: placement of the E. 10th Street bridge in spring 2027, the end of the project, and then the Connector work set to start in early 2028.

At The Bracha Group, we follow schedules like this one because the timing of public projects shapes daily life on a block well before it shows up in any price. If you want to understand how the East River timeline relates to a decision you're weighing in Stuyvesant Town or nearby, we're glad to go through it with you. Work With Us.