Northside Piers: Public AccessTo New Pier Coming Soon?

OK, this is pure speculation - but that's one of our favorite pastimes.

We think the folks at Northside Piers read our December post proposing that they open their East River pier asap - and provide a new, potentially profitable landing for struggling New York Water Taxi.

The Water Taxi stop may be a long way off, but judging by the new, extra-tall consumer-friendly wood fence going up along the west side of their property, it looks like Toll Brothers intends to offer at least some consumer access to the new jetty some time in the near future.

The fence separates the parcel's East River frontage from the recently-excavated phase 2 construction area, just west of the nearly-complete phase 1 tower - connecting the sales office area to the pier, by way of a safe, tidy, temporary walkway along the water's edge. If the developer didn't intend to provide consumer access in the near term, they almost certainly would not have divided the lot that way, or would have used something more utilitarian, like cyclone fencing.

Our hunch is that they'll allow access to prospective buyers only: in recent months, the developer has created a spruced-up pedestrian walkway from Kent Avenue to the sales office - complete with paving stones, trees, and flower beds - running along the south edge of the lot. Despite a generic sidewalk sign that says "Pedestrian Walkway", when we attempted to approach the sales office last weekend, we were intercepted by an elderly security guard who told us "only folks with an appointment" could enter the property.

We're guessing they'll use the pier as exclusive-access buyer-bait, keeping the riff-raff out of the way until someone realizes that a publicly-accessible waterfront promenade is part of their zoning requirement.