NYC PARKS OPENS PUBLIC NATURE PRESERVE ALONG ROCKAWAY WATERFRONT

Guests exploring the 35-acre preserve can experience five distinct ecosystems thanks to pathways carefully integrated into the natural landscape

The new preserve represents phase one of the ambitious, net-zero Arverne East development project, which will transform over 100 acres of underutilized space on the Rockaway Peninsula

NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue yesterday joined New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr., Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, New York State Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson, New York City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, Managing Director of L+M Development Partners LLC Sara Levenson, and members of the community to celebrate the opening of the new Arverne East Nature Preserve and welcome center.

The new nature preserve hosts five different maritime ecosystems, providing a safe home for diverse local flora and fauna. Pedestrian pathways weave through the preserve, offering New Yorkers a new way to observe and appreciate these natural environments, including accessible connections to the Rockaway boardwalk and beach. A new welcome center was also constructed as part of this project, which houses a community meeting space, office space for Urban Park Rangers, crew headquarters for Parks maintenance staff, and public restrooms.

"By establishing the new Arverne East Nature Preserve, we're not only protecting our natural environment but also providing fresh opportunities for New Yorkers to engage with the rich diversity of plant and animal life that enriches our city," said NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue. "As custodians of over 10,000 acres of natural areas across the five boroughs, Parks is committed to maintaining strong, ecologically vibrant public spaces, helping local wildlife thrive while making our city more beautiful, resilient, and livable. Together with the new welcome center, local farm, and native plant nursery, this new nature preserve is a great resource for the Rockaway community."

"Amid the hustle and bustle of urban life, the Arverne East Nature Preserve will stand out as a rare green sanctuary providing safe harbor for essential biodiversity to thrive, just in time for Earth Week," said HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión, Jr. "As we look ahead, we're excited to push forward our plans to create 1,650 units of permanent housing, over 1,300 of which will be made deeply affordable, allowing native Queens families and all New Yorkers to thrive amidst this unique greenscape."

"The Rockaway renaissance takes another historic step forward today. What was once a vacant, overgrown illegal dumping ground for decades is now a stunning hub of wildlife and a successful example of what community-centered sustainability work looks like," said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. "I could not be prouder of this project or of the Arverne East development as a whole, which represents transformational change for a community that had previously been ignored for generations. Thank you to all of our public and private partners for making this day a reality, and I look forward to spending many summer days spent enjoying this peaceful preserve with my family."

The Arverne East Nature Preserve is a 35-acre natural area preserve designed by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects. There are five ecological communities within the preserve: Maritime Grassland, Maritime Dunes, Maritime Shrubland, Maritime Forest, and Maritime Swale. Visitors to the preserve may see different shorebirds using the swale and migrating songbirds using the forest and shrublands. In the fall, seaside goldenrod will fill the site with color, and visitors can catch monarch butterflies filling up on the plant's juicy nectar before flying south. Locally sensitive plants such as beach sedge and Gray's flatsedge will also call the nature preserve home, underscoring the importance of the preserve in protecting local flora and fauna.

Pathways, designed with sensitivity to the existing habitats in mind, traverse the site and allow visitors to experience the diverse flora and fauna these habitats support.

The nature preserve also features an approximately 6,000 square foot welcome center, designed by WXY, with a community meeting room and adjacent oceanview terrace, offices for Urban Park Rangers, storage space for Parks maintenance equipment, and public restrooms.

To the east of the welcome center, local non-profit organization RISE will operate a native plant nursery, raising locally-adapted native plant seedlings and saplings to support ongoing revegetation of the nature preserve, dunes, and other natural areas around the coast. Nearby, an urban farm operated by the Campaign Against Hunger will provide nutritious local produce.

The welcome center, like all of Arverne East, is fossil fuel-free. A closed-loop, geothermal system provides heating and cooling, while a rooftop solar array generates power to supply the building and eventually provide additional energy to low-income residents in the neighborhood. A parking lot with approximately 30 spaces has been constructed with a permeable asphalt system and bioswales for stormwater.

"Cutting the ribbon on the Arverne East Nature Preserve is a victory for our community. An area that was once a dumping ground is now home to a beautiful 35-acre natural area and a community center where residents can take in the nature of the peninsula. I am excited that community organizations like RISE and The Campaign Against Hunger will be operating at the preserve and showing our youth on the peninsula that they can have a career in agriculture and other green jobs. Thank you to L+M Development Partners for recognizing the need for community space in Rockaway and ensuring this was the first piece of the project to be completed," said New York State Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato.

"I look forward to the completion of Arverne East Nature Preserve, especially as the nearby Arverne East continues development. The community can have affordable housing and environmental sustainability while enjoying local flora and fauna," said New York StateAssemblymember Khaleel M. Anderson. "The welcome center will be a fitting centerpiece of this relationship our neighbors will share with the environment. I hope this model of the first net-zero community in New York City will be an example emulated by others."

"The completion of the nature preserve and welcome center at Arverne East marks an exciting milestone in this innovative project that will support sustainability, resiliency, and health and wellness on the Rockaway Peninsula," said Sara Levenson, managing director at L+M Development Partners. "In line with our commitment to protect and honor the local habitat, the nature preserve will offer visitors a new way to explore and learn about the area's unique ecosystem while the welcome center will serve as a community anchor, providing important space for park operations and public facilities. Thank you to all of our partners and community organizations for helping us reach this moment. We look forward to continuing our work together on Arverne East."

This project represents phase one of Arverne East, a socially and economically transformative project that will revitalize a vacant 116-acre oceanfront site on the Rockaway Peninsula and will set a new standard for resilient and energy-efficient development in coastal areas. Led by HPD, the project team includes L+M Development Partners, The Bluestone Organization, Triangle Equities, Mega Contracting Group, and Urbane.

The overall Arverne East development will include 1,650 units of housing - 80 percent affordable serving low-income to middle-income individuals and families and 20 percent market-rate. It will also include diverse non-residential spaces including community facilities and neighborhood retail, as well as numerous outdoor public open spaces programmed for both passive and active recreational uses. This development will go a long way in addressing the housing crisis in the borough and provide much-needed relief for those seeking affordable, permanent housing.

With its elevated topography to buildings that produce more renewable energy than they consume, Arverne East will be the first net-zero community in the city. The project plans to achieve this status through passive house construction and, when coupled with a district geothermal system, will create buildings that are highly insulated and airtight while also bringing in fresh, filtered air through new energy efficient mechanical systems.

"Arverne East represents a unique and innovative path forward for the Rockaways - one rooted in honoring local knowledge, collective power, and an ongoing practice of community stewardship," says WXY Founding Principal Claire Weisz. "The sustainable and resilient architecture creates an inviting, accessible porch to connect to nature- a promontory for everyone from beachgoers to community organizers to Parks Department staff."

"As we engaged with the community early in the project, we realized that the project would be prototyping a new urban resource: an urban nature preserve," said Laura Starr, partner at Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners. "Not a park which is a thoroughly human-centric space, nor yet an untouched, un-stewarded protected habitat, which ignores the realities of human behavior in the vicinity of a dense population, the urban nature preserve is a unique landscape typology that supports biodiversity and restores habitat for native species while being adapted to exist next to, and serve as a resource for, the city."

"Citi is proud to serve in a supporting role on the transformative Arverne East development project," said Jim Bendernagel, vice president at Citi Community Capital. "We celebrate the most recent milestone, the completion of the Nature Preserve, which will be enjoyed by New Yorkers for generations to come."

"The Bluestone Organization is excited to partner with The City of New York and its co-developers and be part of the ribbon cutting for this first phase of Arverne East," said Eric Bluestone, partner at The Bluestone Organization. "Providing a community asset and educational opportunity for the Rockaway Peninsula is an extension of our mission to promote sustainable and environmentally conscious development strategies for the mutual benefit of the communities we serve."

"This project furthers Triangle's commitment to constructing responsible developments throughout New York City," said Evan Petracca, Chief Operating Officer, Triangle Equities. "We are proud of the work and results of the Nature Preserve and community building. This designated parkland brings new public and accessible community space to the Arverne and Rockaway communities thanks to the combined efforts of the development team and our city partners."

Originally approved in 1968, the Arverne Urban Renewal Plan was adopted to facilitate the removal of structurally substandard housing for development of new low- and moderate-income housing. In the early 1970s, the city acquired and cleared most of the Urban Renewal Area for redevelopment. Since this clearing, the site has sat predominately vacant and underutilized for approximately 50 years. The project received Uniform Land Use Review Procedure approval in 2003, and construction on the nature preserve and welcome center began in Spring 2021 following an Urban Development Action Area Program designation.