Marvel to design component of LaGuardia AirTrain Project: Flushing Bay Promenade

New York, NY Marvel has been awarded the design contract for the revitalization of the Flushing Bay Promenade, a major element of the LaGuardia AirTrain project. The firm will develop a comprehensive plan that reconnects the park to its adjacent neighborhoods, provides maximum waterfront access to people, and creates a healthy and resilient environment that will improve the quality of life long into the future.

Marvel will work with the Port Authority and the New York City Parks Department to create a plan that improves the green space and amenities of the Promenade. The project includes rebuilding walkways and railings, re-envisioning the landscape, creating new public activity areas, installing public art, upgrading lighting, and improving public access.

“We’re delighted to work with the Port Authority, the NYC Parks Department, and all stakeholders on the Flushing Bay Promenade project. It’s a great opportunity to build a welcoming place where New Yorkers can connect with the beauty of nature. Using our interdisciplinary approach—and our skills in architecture and landscape architecture—our team will create a transformative experience that brings great design to everyone, everywhere,” said Jonathan Marvel, founder and principal.

Marvel will assist the Port Authority in developing a concrete plan that improves the Promenade, including enhancing the full length of the Promenade, providing amenities to the local community, alleviating disruptions to park resources, and improving the Ditmars Blvd. entrances to the two pedestrian bridges located at 27^th Ave. and 31^st Dr.

Some of Marvel’s other New York City waterfront projects include St. Ann’s Warehouse and Pierhouse & 1 Hotel in Brooklyn Bridge Park, New Lab and Building 77 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Mill Pond Park and the future Bronx Point Park in the Bronx, the Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan, and Snug Harbor CPSD on Staten Island.

A Community Advisory Committee composed of more than 20 local civic, environmental, recreational, and business organizations will provide input on the project. “We look forward to collaborating with neighborhood residents to design a vibrant public space that fulfills the diverse social, cultural, and environmental needs of the community and the city at large. We hope that the Promenade will be Queens’ next great place. Through our timeless design, we will seek to bring positive impact to the local community for both the near- and long-term futures,” said Yadiel Rivera-Díaz, ASLA, PLA, partner-in-charge of the project for Marvel.

“The LaGuardia AirTrain will reduce congestion on roads and air pollution in the neighborhoods surrounding the airport,” said Rick Cotton, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. “With Marvel’s expertise in attractive, accessible, community-focused design, and with the breadth of the newly-formed Community Advisory Committee, the LaGuardia AirTrain project will also drive the top-to-bottom renovation of the Flushing Bay Promenade.”

In addition to Marvel, the Flushing Bay Promenade design team includes Dewberry (civil and environmental engineering), Domingo Gonzalez Associates (lighting design), JFK&M (electrical engineering), Being Here Design (landscape architecture), and Ellana (cost estimating and management).