The proposed redesign of Park Avenue could bring back lush green spaces to the iconic corridor’s medians. The city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) unveiled two potential plans to overhaul an 11-block stretch from East 46th to East 57th Streets, both of which would widen the medians and remove one traffic lane in each direction to create pedestrian space. Renderings released on Wednesday show expanded sidewalks, additional trees, benches, and bike lanes in one of the proposals. To gain feedback from New Yorkers, DOT released an online survey seeking public feedback for both design concepts.
The city is gathering comments from the public on the two design concepts and potential elements, like plantings, seating, and pedestrian and bicycling spaces. You can find the survey here.
“With this new redesign, we are putting the ‘Park’ back into Park Avenue and upgrading Midtown Manhattan by providing residents and visitors alike with more usable public space,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
“Our city’s public spaces must better serve the public, and my administration has made this a priority through bold infrastructure investments and street redesigns,” he added. “Working together with our partners across the City and State, we will ensure that NYC’s streets are the envy of the world.”
This iconic portion of Park Avenue sits above the Grand Central Terminal train shed, which is currently undergoing a major capital rehabilitation led by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Metro-North Railroad and requires the removal of the existing medians.
While the medians are already heavily planted, they are narrow and offer limited space for people to linger. Many may also be surprised that the redesign is not entirely new, but instead would return the avenue to an earlier configuration that featured more pedestrian space and less room for vehicles. In fact, the original park along the median gave the avenue its name, according to the New York Times.
The proposed redesigns were shaped by community engagement, including public surveys, stakeholder interviews, workshops, and meetings with community boards and local organizations. Throughout the process, participants expressed support for expanded public space, improved accessibility, and a more pedestrian-centric streetscape.
Park Avenue’s redesign effort began in 2018 with a competition sponsored by the Fisher Brothers to reimagine the corridor’s medians. Participants submitted ideas ranging from an aquarium to a High Line-style walkway. The winner, “Park Park,” envisioned a series of raised platforms designed to host concerts, art galleries, a restaurant, and more, as 6sqft previously reported.
In January 2022, City Council Member Keith Powers announced new plans to revitalize Park Avenue’s medians. The initiative aimed to gradually transform the avenue’s malls into “new, world-class, active open space” over a 20-year period as Metro-North continues work on the train shed.
In August 2024, DOT released a request for proposals (RFP) seeking designs to transform the traffic medians on Park Avenue between East 46th and East 57th Streets with more green space and pedestrian-friendly areas.
Last June, the DOT selected landscape architecture firm Starr Whitehouse to lead the project.
Additionally, the agency will host public events over the coming weeks to gather feedback. The first meeting was held on April 29, and the next meeting will be on May 2 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church.
The DOT will also hold a virtual meeting with Manhattan Community Board 6 on May 4 at 7 p.m., followed by another session on May 28, with additional details to be announced.
The project is part of a broader effort to expand public space in Midtown, launched under former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. Another major initiative underway is a plan to revamp Fifth Avenue from Bryant Park to Central Park.
Poised to be the first major alteration to the famed retail corridor in its 200-year history, city officials have described the vision for the boulevard as a grand shopping street similar to the Champs-Élysées in Paris and Ginza in Tokyo, as 6sqft previously reported.
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