The Lowline: Team Creates First Underground Park In Manhattan « CBS New York

The Lowline: Team Creates First Underground Park In Manhattan « CBS New York:

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — With new buildings rising into theclouds in Manhattan, how about a recreational space below?

As CBS2’s Sonia Rincon reported, the city’s first underground park is in the works on the Lower East Side. On Saturday, the Lowline Lab will open to explain how the future park will bring sunlight underground.

The High Line made a park out of old train tracks above the street in Chelsea in the Meatpacking District. The Lowline will turn abandoned underground train tracks into a park below Delancey Street.

The space was once a massive trolley terminal at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge — built in 1908. It is about the size of a football field.

“For many decades, it’s been entirely unused, and all of the old architectural details are still there — the cobblestones and rail lines are all still around,” said Lowline co-founder Dan Barasch. “And what we’re hoping to do is to fuse that amazing history right below our street that’s hidden in plain sight with this futuristic vision of an underground park.”

The ambitious plan would bring life to the old structures with hundreds of plants — and deliver the sunlight they need.