Workers were constructing a temporary exterior stairway to the rooftop of Pier 40 this week. According to a spokesperson for the Hudson River Park Trust, the temporary staircase is for “emergency egress only.” It will only be in place until permanent stairs, located inside the pier, are replaced. Meanwhile, Madelyn Wils, the Trust’s president, at the state-city authority’s recent board of directors meeting, announced that the decaying W. Houston St. pier is now “in liquidation mode,” and that a phased shutdown of sections of the 14.5-acre pier will start occurring over the next five years. The Trust is pushing for legislative changes to the Hudson River Park Act that would allow for a wider range of uses on the pier, such as the addition of 600 or more units of high-end residential housing.
