BPC Ball Fields Interim Flood Barriers
About 800 linear feet of flood barrier along the ball fields' Warren Street, West Street, and Murray Street edges, protecting the playing surface and the adjacent community center, with permanent storm-water drainage improvements. Built as a stopgap for up to ten years until the permanent North/West system arrives, a hand-off that has since slipped from the middle of the decade to late 2030.
$4.5M
first public estimate, Aug 2019
$7M
reported cost, May 2021, +56%
Aug 2020
completion promised at announcement
Oct 2021
actual completion, 1 year late
The budget over time
Each point is a public statement of the project's estimated cost, from the agency or from official documents and press coverage of them.
View this data as a table
| Date | Estimate | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2019 | $4,500,000 | Estimated at $4M to $5M when the interim approach was chosen | tribecatrib.com |
| May 2021 | $7,000,000 | BPCA press release at construction start; Rebuild by Design later listed $8.5M | bpca.ny.gov |
The schedule
The construction window announced when the project was unveiled, against what actually happened.
Promised versus delivered
What was promised
- Interim flood protection in place by August 2020, for $4M to $5M
- No substantial disruption to the youth sports seasons played by roughly 50,000 kids a year
- A roughly ten-year service life, bridging to permanent neighborhood protection by the middle of the 2020s
What happened
- keptThe 800-foot barrier and community-center flood-proofing were built, and league play continued through construction
- changedScheduled to finish in October 2021, about a year past the promised August 2020, and reported complete by 2022, at $7M against the $4M to $5M estimate
- changedThe BPCA said in 2021 the barrier would protect the fields for up to 10 years and stay until permanent protection arrived by the middle of the decade; the North/West system that replaces it is now scheduled to finish in late 2030, about nine years into that window
Friction and open questions
Disputes, community objections, and unresolved issues on the public record.
- Public figures for the final cost disagree: the BPCA's own release says $7M, while Rebuild by Design's update lists $8.5M. We use the agency's figure and note the conflict.
Sources
- Official project page
- BPCA implements flood protection measures at BPC Ball Fields
- Protecting the BPC ball fields, work on flood barriers to begin early 2020, Tribeca Trib
- Ball fields and community center resilience, STV project page
- Battery Park City Resilience projects ten-year update, Rebuild by Design
- BPCA release PR03-21, May 27, 2021: protection for up to 10 years, until permanent measures by the middle of the decade
- BPCA resiliency update to CB1's Executive Committee, August 17, 2021: ball fields construction completion October 2021