Freedom Plaza

This large, open plot of land between East 38th and 41st Streets once powered much of Manhattan. For over a century, the site was dominated by the massive New York Edison Waterside Station, a coal-burning power plant that stood as a titan of industrial architecture along the East River. By the time the plant was decommissioned and demolished in the early two thousands, the ground beneath it had become heavily contaminated from its long years of industrial use. The current project occupying this space has invested nearly one hundred million dollars to cleanse the soil, turning a former brownfield into a cleared, open canvas.