By TED MANN
City officials hope a new effort to cut red tape at seven underused piers and boat landings will help lure new commercial and tourist businesses to the waterfront and bring more New Yorkers out onto the water for work and pleasure.
The Apple Industrial Development Corp. is seeking a single operator to manage the seven piers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island—marketing and renting space to businesses.
The corporation, a unit of the New York City Economic Development Corp., has issued a request for proposals to operate vessel-berthing sites at the Atlantic Basin and Brooklyn Army Terminal in Brooklyn, West Harlem Piers Park, Pier 36 and Skyport Marina in Manhattan, and Homeport in Staten Island. The city may also rent out the dock at Stuyvesant Cove in Manhattan.
The purpose of managing the landing sites through a single vendor is to eliminate the cumbersome bureaucratic process of renting space directly from the development corporation, said Seth Pinsky, the organization’s president. Some businesses may have declined to locate at the city-owned dock facilities because of the paperwork involved, he said.
“Now the goal is to start to generate activity and revenue for the city and connect New Yorkers to the waterfront,” Mr. Pinsky said.
The development effort arises from the city’s 2011 Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy, or WAVES, which is aimed at spurring recreational activities and business investment along the city’s riverfronts. Waterfront neighborhoods like the former industrial stretches of North Brooklyn and Long Island City that have only recently been rezoned to encourage residential development.
Proposals from prospective pier operators are due May 11.
A version of this article appeared Mar. 30, 2012, on page A20 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: City Floats New Plan To Boost Waterfronts.
