Newly Raised Wagner Park Reopens, Lower Manhattanites Rejoice!

More than two years after it was closed, in March 2023, as part of the Southern Battery Resiliency Project, a redesigned and “superstorm”-resistant Robert F. Wagner Park officially reopened on Thursday, July 29. A concert featuring Taylor Mac, the multidisciplinary MacArthur grant-winning actor and musician, followed that evening.

Whether this project was necessary isn’t a question folks want to answer on the occasion, but the project had its critics, including New York Post reporter Steve Cuozzo (“Cry Me a River: Battery Park City Flood Is All Wet” read one headline) and numerous local residents themselves.

Paradoxically, this criticism came wrapped in praise: namely, that the original design of Wagner Park, which opened in 1997, was so well conceived and executed, it didn’t need to be redone after Hurricane Sandy. The so-called “superstorm” had caused no damage there, so why ruin such a beloved and now mature landscape?

The politics of “resiliency” and the bounty of design and construction contracts that come with the term won out, however, just as they did on the Lower East Side, where nearly 1,000 trees have been cut down in the name of environmental “sustainability.”

The project’s publicity is filled with environmental buzz terms: “Integrated Flood Barrier System”; “Sustainable Materials”; “Ecological Zones”; “Native Plantings,” and so forth. Certainly, there is evidence of great care in the 3.5-acre park’s design, and if visitors learn of the 63,000-gallon subterranean cistern underneath it, all the better. Who needs more anxiety, climate doom or otherwise? (Is 63,000 gallons enough for a 1,000-year storm?!)

Happily, the now 10-feet-higher-than-sea-level truth about Wagner Park is that it may have come out better than it was before—minus the loss of the mature London plane trees that were destroyed.

Indeed, though not quite complete—the Pavilion, which will include the park’s restrooms, isn’t scheduled to open until the fall—the site impresses more than it disappoints.

A Walk Around the Park

Approaching Wagner Park from the east, leaving the construction mess and ticket-scam anarchy of Battery Park, must be described as a relief.

And while the sight of the Museum of Jewish Heritage will always elicit a mixture of pride and sorrow, the return of Wagner Park as its vivacious neighbor compels one to shout “L’chaim!”

Entering the park from the museum’s plaza, one is met by a verdant green field, with three compelling monumental metal sculptures set upon it. The pair of giant, slightly distorted bronze instruments are the work of British sculptor Tony Cragg, and titled “Resonating Bodies.” Both instruments are very textured, and can invite climbing upon by inquisitive children.

Another provocative work, which resembled a cannonball with nipples, seemed to evoke both lower Manhattan’s revolutionary past and the nurturing symbol of a mother’s breasts.

Surprisingly, this interpretation wasn’t far off, though the work by Franco-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois is titled “Eyes,” which, according to the Battery Park City Authority, “look towards the Statue of Liberty, gazing with the public at New York City’s storied past.”

Other highlights from this reporter’s recent Saturday-afternoon visit to the park, included a stroller-pushing dad and a young child playing ball; a lean, athletic woman in her 20s not just jumping rope but doing almost acrobatic rope exercises on the park’s terrace ramps; and a yarmulke-clad senior animatedly kvetching to his two younger companions about the Wagner Park’s skinny, largely shadeless trees.

Among the many encomiums to the park’s reopening are the words of Assemblyman Charles D. Fall, who’s not just one of the state legislature’s tallest members but also among its most eloquent.

“The reopening of Wagner Park reflects the kind of public investment our city needs more of,” said the assembly member whose district is split between Lower Manhattan, the north shore of Staten Island and a sliver of Brooklyn. “As we face stronger storms and rising sea levels, this park offers real protection while also creating space for people to gather, breathe, and feel connected. It keeps families safe and preserves something just as important: a sense of community and belonging. This is what it looks like when we build with care, with vision, and with people at the center.”

Council Member Christopher Marte called the reopening of the park “a major milestone in our fight to make Lower Manhattan more resilient, accessible, and welcoming for all. This park has always been a sanctuary for our community–now, it’s also a critical line of defense against the climate crisis. With native plantings, integrated flood protections, and a focus on equity and sustainability, Wagner Park shows what the future of public space in New York City can look like.”

Taking the exclamatory tone often used by Walt Whitman– the local journalist who became New York’s first bard of international stature– Rob Arnold, executive director, Poets House, declared that his organization of versifiers, both free and formal, “is thrilled to join in celebrating Wagner Park and all it represents—a poetic example of science, engineering, design, and horticulture coming together to serve the public good!”