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With ‘Diller Island’ Dead, Park Faces Difficult Future

Diller Island was supposed to replace the decaying Pier 54, which was closed after it started to collapse, with a high-profile, high-design project. (The shuttered 875-foot pier was where survivors of the Titanic were brought in 1912.)Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times

The abrupt decision by the billionaire Barry Diller to withdraw funding from the high-priced performing arts pier in Hudson River Park rippled through the worlds of philanthropy, parks and environmental advocacy on Thursday.

The cost of the pier had mushroomed to $250 million from an initial $35 million. And with litigation from a small band of opponents dragging on for years, Mr. Diller decided on Tuesday that enough was enough, notifying the Hudson River Park Trust, which manages the four-mile park, that he was pulling out.

Supporters of the project — officially called Pier 55, but informally dubbed “Diller Island” — expressed dismay at the turn of events, while some longtime critics said the plan’s collapse was a boon to the Hudson River estuary. Officials of the park trust conceded that the demise of the 2.4-acre cultural island, which would have rested on piers nearly 200 feet from the shoreline, was a setback.

“We had been working on this project nearly six years, and we are not in a position right now to speculate about what will take its place,” said Madelyn Wils, president of the Trust. She stressed that other projects were moving forward, but said, “this leaves a big hole for the park to fill and deals a blow to so many in the neighborhood and the city who were looking forward to enjoying the pier.”

Like Mr. Diller, Ms. Wils blamed a “small handful of people” for their role in derailing “a project with such broad community support.”

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A rendering of Pier 55, dubbed “Diller Island.” Supporters expressed dismay that the project was canceled, while some longtime critics said the plan’s collapse was a boon to the Hudson River estuary.Credit...Pier55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said it was “incredibly disappointing” that a project with the “potential to have a positive and lasting impact on the state is not moving forward at this time.”

Hudson River Park, a series of piers and upland areas running from Chambers to West 59th Streets, was created in 1998 under Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, both Republicans, in what was hailed as an innovative city-state partnership. The idea was to transform the largely derelict Hudson River waterfront into a continuous strip of green, with a bicycle path and piers for recreation. The city and the state would finance its construction, but the park would be maintained with revenue from commercial development within its borders.

Building a park largely atop piers has proved complex and costly, however, with maintenance of existing structures a constant battle.

One of the commercial piers intended to generate revenue for the park is Pier 40, a popular athletic complex with commercial parking for 1,800 cars at the foot of Houston Street. But instead of creating revenue Pier 40 has turned into a drain on the park’s finances, with its 3,500 corroded steel pilings in need of $100 million in repairs.

After a long battle, the park won permission from the legislature to sell air rights to raise the needed money and last year, the City Council approved a plan for a five-tower residential complex across from Pier 40. The developer paid $100 million for the air rights to build a considerably larger project, and work on the pilings should begin next spring.

After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, much of the park was flooded and electricity was cut off for months in some portions.

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Hudson River Park, a series of piers and upland areas running from Chambers to West 59th Streets, was created in 1998.Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times

Diller Island promised to bring a dose of celebrity and sex appeal to the park. The idea was to replace the decaying Pier 54, which was closed after it started to collapse, with a high-profile, high-design project. (The shuttered 875-foot pier was where survivors of the Titanic were brought in 1912.)

But from the start, there were critics. In addition to the City Club of New York, a small civic group that sued to stop the project, Deborah J. Glick, the assemblywoman whose district includes part of the park, had raised concerns about the cultural island, citing both the environment and the slippery slope of privatization.

“I always thought that it was a very generous offer,” she said Thursday, referring to Mr. Diller’s gift. But, she said, “I thought that a new pier in a sensitive part of the estuary in days of climate change was very wrong headed. I was also concerned that large private money resulting in the control of design and programming was not a particularly democratic notion.”

Elsewhere in the park, construction is scheduled to begin next year on Pier 26, between North Moore and Hubert Street in TriBeCa, with lawns, native plantings, a small soccer field and two-story walkway. The trust will also create a wetland tidal pool next to the pier in the river for educational purposes.

And at Pier 57, at West 15th Street, Google has signed a lease for 250,000 square feet of space. The pier will also host a food marketplace and a rooftop park, with construction expected to begin next year.

Adrian Benepe, the former commissioner of the city’s parks department, said that the canceled gift by Mr. Diller and his wife, Diane von Furstenberg, was among the top three private gifts to parks in the United States. Mr. Benepe, now director of city park development at the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, worried about the precedent the battle had set. “Nobody is swimming in money these days in the park world,” Mr. Benepe said. “This may have a chilling effect on the willingness of private donors to contribute to the park.”

Follow Lisa Foderaro on Twitter @lisanyt

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: With ‘Diller Island’ Dead, Park’s Future Is Uncertain. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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