New waterfront esplanade under construction in Tompkinsville, Staten Island as part of $400 million North Shore Action Plan for revitalization. Project aims to create public space, housing, jobs, and economic impact in the borough by late 2027. Other projects include Stapleton waterfront park and Lighthouse Point redevelopment.
NYCEDC render
A render of the proposed St. George Esplanade.
New York City is in the process of revitalizing State Island's North Shore, with construction now under way on a new waterfront esplanade located near the borough's busiest transit hub.
Recently, a reporter from the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com was given an exclusive tour of the new Tompkinsville Esplanade construction site, a previously under-used half-mile stretch of land that will be transformed into 2 acres of public waterfront open space connecting the Stapleton waterfront to Lighthouse Point and the St. George Ferry Terminal.
The new esplanade is just one component of New York City's $400 million North Shore Action Plan, which will not only create new open space on the waterfront, but 2,400 housing units and business opportunities that officials say could bring more than 7,500 new jobs and $3.8 billion in economic impact to the borough.
"This is part of a big project that's part of an even bigger project and strategy," said Andrew Kimball, president and CEO of New York City's Economic Development Corp. (EDC). "At the heart of that strategy is the North Shore of Staten Island should have a public esplanade with green space, with waterfront access, [and be] on par with Hudson River Park or Brooklyn Bridge Park or other great waterfront communities."
As part of the 2019 Bay Street Rezoning, the city committed to the creation of the new esplanade along the Tompkinsville waterfront, which will be completed using $160 million in city capital and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding.
Construction of the esplanade began in April 2025, with contractors currently working to demolish the old, dilapidated platform, install a new bulkhead and platform with trees and plantings and rehabilitate the asphalt roadway with the addition of a half-mile bike path.
"The Esplanade is a part of a broader vision to reclaim and revitalize the waterfront," said New York City Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, who represents the North Shore of Staten Island and was instrumental in implementing the North Shore Action Plan. "It's turning this previously inaccessible shoreline into a space for community recreation and mobility."
EDC officials told Advance/SILive.com that Staten Islanders can expect the esplanade to be completed by late 2027 or early 2028.
North Shore's Revitalization to Include Several Projects
The North Shore Action Plan, which was first announced by New York Mayor Eric Adams in September 2023, stretches from the edge of New Brighton through to Stapleton's waterfront, with the EDC dividing the plan into three neighborhoods: St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton.
It includes more than a dozen projects with varying start dates, some of which are already under way, like the new Tompkinsville Esplanade and 12 acres of open space that will connect the Stapleton waterfront esplanade, which broke ground last fall, to the rest of the project area.
"It was really about that unique partnership with the administration and New York City EDC," Hanks told the Advance/SILive.com news source. "Without that, we could not have moved as we have. We would not have been making as much progress as we have, and the progress has been incredible.
"We're just setting the stage, and we're seeing the momentum now," she said. "The construction is a tangible sign that these promises are being fulfilled, and these investments are being made where they matter."
When completed along with other work in the area, the Stapleton project that began in September 2024 will effectively be a waterfront park surrounding several mixed-use residential and commercial developments, including the existing Urby complex, and a 600-seat public school that is part of the Stapleton Beacon project first announced by former North Shore Councilmember Debi Rose.
That development also will bring 360 affordable homes, an all-inclusive health and social program for seniors, new medical space for Richmond University Medical Center and a YMCA counseling center.
Other building projects listed in the North Shore Action Plan include St. George's Lighthouse Point, a redevelopment of what was once the New York Wheel site and the Mary Cali Dalton Center, for which Adams broke ground in February 2024.
"We believe that these kinds of investments on the waterfront will leverage the private sector to finally take advantage of rezonings that have already happened and start to build out more housing and commercial space," Kimball said.
While the plan focuses on the neighborhoods closest to the St. George Ferry Terminal, it shares a future vision that would transform most of Staten Island's North Shore.
Through neighborhood rezonings and future projects in areas beyond Stapleton, Tompkinsville and St. George, the city's EDC hopes to build a unified waterfront that connects neighborhoods from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to the Bayonne Bridge, according to Staten Island Advance/SILive.com.
Today's top stories
