79th Street Boat Basin - History

History

The boat basin, first proposed in 1924, was constructed in 1937, during the tenure of Robert Moses as Parks Commissioner, to offer a place for boats to dock during the summer. It was built as part of a project to cover over the tracks of the New York Central Railroad's West Side Line which also included a grand architectural multi-level entry and exit from the Henry Hudson Parkway, all under the name of the "79th Street Grade Crossing Elimination Structure". The multi-level structure was designed by Gilmore David Clarke. The Works Projects Administration provided $5.1 million for the project, which created the Freedom Tunnel, an underground parking garage, a restaurant, and the marina. By the 1960s, though the restaurant was long gone, the majority of slips were occupied by year-round boaters.

In 1979, the city sought to cancel a 1977 concession agreement with Nichols Yacht Yards to operate the marina, claiming that Nichols had underreported revenue and had acted as an "absentee slumlord". Boat owners would manage the marina until a suitable operator would be found. Though Nichols obtained an injunction blocking the dismissal in December 1979, the firm's operation of the facility ended in 1982, with Nichols having spent $250,000 in legal fees to battle the city and counter a rent strike by boat owners.

In 1992, a five-year agreement was signed with boaters and the city, tying increases of nearly 25% in docking fees to improvements in facilities at the marina, such as new docks and electrical lines. By 1996, year-round residents had complained that the 18-month long project, implemented at a cost of $1.4 million, had been done in shoddy fashion.

The city stopped issuing new year-round permits in 1994, seeking to make space available for seasonal boaters among the basin's 116 slips. After complaints were received, the Parks Department agreed to an increase to 52 year-round spots, which start at a yearly fee of $5,000, based on the size of the boat. By May 2009, the Department will require that all boats be seaworthy. As of February 2008, there were 19 boats that were considered unseaworthy and that would need to made operational "in case of an emergency evacuation".

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Year-round residents have included Mad Magazine writer Dick DeBartolo who uses a boat as his office. Malcolm Forbes, Aristotle Onassis, Mario Puzo and Frank Sinatra have all used the basin to moor their boats. In the 1960s, Roy Cohn docked his 95-foot (29 m) yacht here, and used it to entertain the city's political leaders.