Ferry Point Park

The Daily Plant : Thursday, October 24, 2013

Ferry Point Golf Course Construction Completed

Photo by Malcolm Pinckney

The course was designed by Nicklaus Design and overseen by Sanford Golf Design, with construction managed by NYC Parks. The golf course will be operated by the Trump Organization, under a 20-year concession agreement, and is scheduled to open for youth programming in the summer of 2014 and fully open in the spring of 2015, allowing for time for the grass to grow in completely. When it opens, the 7,365-yard, links-style course will include a practice facility, as well as a rain shelter, comfort station and snack bar constructed by the Department of Design and Construction.

The 7,365-yard layout provides two “returning nines” that meander through grass dunes reminiscent of the links courses of Scotland and Ireland. The course’s dunes are designed to frame views and funnel steady breezes to challenge any player. All of the golf holes require a balance of strategy and power, and while each hole will be unique, they all maintain a unified look and feel. Multiple tees will allow golfers of all levels to enjoy an unforgettable experience, yet the course is still designed to provide a great challenge to advanced players.

Reflecting the City’s commitment to green infrastructure, the golf course was sustainably designed and responsibly constructed. The course’s contours were largely shaped with recycled schist rock, excavated as part of the 2nd Avenue Subway and East Side Access projects. The course uses a state-of-the-art irrigation system that also can be used to distribute fertilizer. Its drainage areas feed back into the course and its roughs are planted with native, drought-tolerant fescue grasses, reducing its overall water consumption to approximately one-quarter of that of an average course. With the site’s former use as a landfill, construction was completed under a permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and with the aid of an independent environmental consultant. A vent trench around the site’s perimeter was constructed to allow landfill gasses to harmlessly dissipate, with monitoring wells to allow regular readings of sub-surface conditions.

The course will be operated and maintained by the Trump Organization, selected though a 2010 request for proposals. As part of their agreement with the City, Trump will be spending a minimum of $10 million constructing a new publicly-owned clubhouse for the course, in addition to their concession fees. Construction on the clubhouse is expected to start early next year.

At 222 acres, the eastern portion of Ferry Point Park is one of the largest pieces of undeveloped parkland in New York City. As part of the development of the park, the City is also constructing two new parks – a 10-acre community playground and park, and a 19.5-acre waterfront park. The community playground and park, which opened in phases in 2011 and 2012, include ball fields, basketball courts and playground equipment. Visitors to the site can walk along paths that circumnavigate the park’s ponds and through areas planted with wildflowers and native grasses. A new comfort station is currently being built. The building will house public restrooms and includes planted green walls that will provide shade and reduce heating and cooling needs. The 19.5-acre waterfront park project, which will include the creation of new tidal wetland to provide wildlife habitat and stormwater capture, is currently being designed.

Ferry Point Golf Course will host free, youth golf instruction through the City Parks Foundation (CPF). First offered in 1999, the CPF golf program offers free lessons in driving, pitching and putting to kids of all abilities, and in 2013, the program reached nearly 4,000 kids citywide. More information about the City Parks Foundation’s work and partnership with NYC Parks can be found at cityparksfoundation.org.

The land on which Ferry Point Park was built was part of the Throgmorton Grant of 1642, and was farmed by a series of families through the next two centuries. In 1850 the land was purchased by shipping magnate Augustus diZerega and tobacco manufacturer Jacob Lorillard. It was acquired by the City in 1937. The property took its name from the ferries that traveled though the area during the early 20th century. In 1948, an additional 72 acres were acquired by condemnation. Over the next eighteen years, the Department of Sanitation used Ferry Point Park as a municipal waste importation site. Fill operations ceased at Ferry Point East in the 1960s, and the site was covered and left to naturalize. The City’s long history of providing public golf courses began in July of 1895, with the opening of the country’s first municipal golf course in Van Cortlandt Park. Ferry Point is the New York City’s 14th public golf course, and its first tournament-quality course.