Island in New York Harbor due for a facelift

By Daniel Trotta

GOVERNORS ISLAND, New York (Reuters) - In typical New York bravado, it is billed as the Park at the Center of the World, though it is still on the drawing board.

Governors Island -- a largely abandoned 172-acre

former military and Coast Guard post in the middle of New York Harbor -- is due for a renovation in which designers envision a playground for New Yorkers and another tourist attraction.

Five finalists in a design competition recently unveiled sketches of what may become of a largely ignored piece of real estate some 800 yards from Manhattan's Financial District and with excellent views of the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

New York state Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will choose a winning design team this summer, with the idea that construction will start in 2009.

The five competing visions offer a range of proposals including reshaping the topography to create an estuary, providing free access to bicycles, and a number of sports and recreation facilities such as artificial beaches and pools. Sketches of their ideas are on display for public comment.

The island is divided into its historic northern end, where military forts date to 1810 and 52 buildings with some 1.4 million square feet of floor space must be preserved, and the more open southern end ringed by a promenade.

The island is surrounded by several large public projects on the Manhattan and Brooklyn shores that are redirecting New Yorkers to the waterfront after years of industrial use, pollution and neglect.

"Notice how silent it is. It's hard to imagine that just a few minutes ago we were in the city," said Leslie Koch, president of a public panel entrusted with preserving the island. "It almost feels like we're on a boat."

For now, the island is accessible only by boat, with it only open to the public on weekends during the summer.

A separate proposal under review calls for an elaborate aerial gondola system designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava that would transport people from Governors Island to Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is undergoing a feasibility study.