Some residents aren’t happy that the roof of Pier 17 has become a 4,000-seat concert venue.
Residents sounded off on the events planned for Howard Hughes Corporation’s pier at a Community Board 1 meeting on Friday, the Downtown Express reported. They are concerned about noise and crowd control and feel blindsided by the rooftop’s use as a concert venue.
“For a lot of us, what is most disturbing is the pattern here of escalation of a project that started off as a moderate use of a rooftop with no canopy,” said resident Caroline Miller. “It was sold [to us] that way. Then it has, when no one is looking, morphed constantly into something bigger. Now it’s an entertainment center on steroids.”
Saul Scherl, an executive vice president at HHC, noted that the pier rooftop is still open to the public when it is not in use. On the whole, the developer’s plans for the South Street Seaport have been controversial. The developer scrapped plans for a 52-story hotel and condo project in 2015. [Downtown Express] — Kathryn Brenzel