The initial public offering from the East River Waterfront Esplanade project may be small, but its value is already evident; it’s clear that the city’s waterfront enjoyment stock is on the way up.

July 2011 saw the opening of the first 600-foot section of one of the city’s most ambitious developments, the $165.9 million East River Waterfront Esplanade. As the first bit of what will be a continuous walking/cycling path connecting to the Manhattan Greenway on the West Side, the newly-minted park, designed in part by SHoP Architects, only stretches for two blocks—from Wall Street to Maiden Lane. Visitors may be surprised to find trees, benches, cafe seats, slatted wood lounge seats and higher bar-stool seats that are great for looking out over the water. In front of the high stools is a flat wooden platform that does double duty as a railing and a perfect place to park a cup of coffee or a laptop. There are also step-down lookouts that allow visitors to walk safely down to water level, and a new 4,750 square-foot dog park that the The New Yorker referred to as a “modernist adventure park for dogs,” all tucked into the tiny space between the FDR Highway and the river. The newly-opened public park also connects to the newly launched East River Ferry stop at Pier 11 downtown. The park is open daily from 6 a.m. to midnight.

The esplanade, when complete, will extend for two miles from the Battery Maritime Building south to Montgomery Street at the north. There will be new lighting, landscape and seating, new sections of esplanade will be created, and several piers will be renovated and redeveloped. Two half basketball courts and a bocce/petanque area will joint the aforementioned dog run, and there will be an open, elevated exercise area with publicly-available equipment. Bicyclists will get two-way bike lanes that will be will be lit 24-7 via the FDR Drive.

Read more from NYTimes, The New Yorker.
Video tour from New York Magazine via Huffington Post.