Tags: north park update

On a balmy day in January (40 degrees and sunny) several Freshkills Park staff visited North Park Phase 1 to observe the progress and watch the erection of the bird tower.  Thanks to one amateur photographer, we can bring you behind the construction in the video below. 

Join us for a special tour of the construction at North Park Phase 1, the first Freshkills Park project to be built within the former Fresh Kills Landfill boundary. See the progress on building the bird tower and the wetland observation deck as well as the spectacular views of Main Creek.

The construction at North Park Phase 1 requires the import of about 150,000 cubic yards of soil. About half of that material, referred to as “general fill”, will be used to cover the existing soil and create new topography for the park paths, picnic areas, seed farm and planted areas. 

North Park Phase 1 has a new completion date.  Construction slowed over the last year as the contractor worked to find sources of fill material that meet the stringent standards established for the new park by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

NYC Parks broke ground on the North Park project in 2017 and the construction continues. When complete, pathways and observation areas will invite visitors to walk, hike and bike in the first open section of Freshkills Park inside the landfill boundary.

Phase one of North Park will be the first section inside the Fresh Kills Landfill boundaries to open to the public, connecting visitors to spectacular views of the site’s hills and waterways. NYC Parks and NYC Sanitation broke ground on the project in July 2017.

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, joined Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Staten Island Deputy Borough President Ed Burke and Assembly Member Michael Cusick to break ground on phase one of North Park—a 21-acre section of the former Fresh Kills landfill, which is currently undergoing the largest landfill-to-park transformation in the world.

We are excited to announce that construction on Freshkills Park’s North Park is now underway! This milestone 21-acre project will be the first section inside the Fresh Kills Landfill boundaries to become public parkland. NYC Parks completed the design for the project in March 2016, and the procurement phase ended in June 2017.

Exciting progress is being made on the first interior park project at Freshkills Park, known as North Park Phase 1. This landmark 20-acre project will connect visitors to views of the park’s hills and waterways.

Freshkills Park has been opening gradually since 2012.

This summer marks the one-year anniversary since the restoration of salt marsh wetlands along Main Creek in North Park. During the spring of 2013, a crew that specializes in ecological restoration completed construction in an area formerly dominated by Phragmites into a successional wetland.