Underground NYC Park Project One Step Closer To Reality
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A proposal to transform a 116-year-old abandoned trolley terminal on Manhattan's Lower East Side into the world's first underground park has moved one step closer to reality.
The city's Housing and Economic Development conditionally threw its support behind the Lowline project on Wednesday.
It calls for street-level solar collectors to filter sunlight underground, turning the dark subterranean space into a luminous, plant-filled oasis.
"You sort of feel like in a terrarium," Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen told 1010 WINS. "You're walking along a path and there's all these different amazing plants -- things you would see in a botanic garden. And there's also going to have some open spaces and an opportunity for people to picnic underground."
The one-acre space was initially used as a turnaround and storage point for the Williamsburg trolley. The space has been abandoned for around 75 years.
"We've always been re-imagining ourselves, Glen said. "And if we can take these old transportation spaces that have been laying fallow for decades and create a vibrant new public place...that's what city government should be doing."
Dan Barasch, who co-founded the nonprofit Lowline, says he's thrilled to have the city behind the project.
Over the next year, the project's developers have agreed to expand community engagement, raise $10 million and develop a complete schematic design for approval.
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