They’re being left high and dry.
A construction project meant to protect Battery Park City from the next Superstorm Sandy could wash away business for a group of charter boat captains who call the ritzy Manhattan waterfront docks their home.
North Cove Marina, the Big Apple’s most expensive harbor, will shut down this fall for the next five years as crews build a massive seawall along the coast — leaving nautical business owners floundering to find a new spot in the city’s dwindling marina spaces.
“We’ve been able to weather all the storms so far. This one is one that we obviously can’t,” said James Brooks, captain of the Ventura, a 104-year-old sailing vessel.
The Ventura has been at North Cove since the 1980s — and was part of an heroic brigade that evacuated 9/11 survivors out of Lower Manhattan after the attack on the World Trade Center.
The North/West Battery Park City Resiliency (NWBPCR) project involves integrating a coastal flood barrier management system along the Hudson River waterfront from First Place to Chambers Street to mitigate the “long-term impacts of sea level and increasingly erratic weather.”
A new seawall would prevent the effects of another storm like Hurricane Sandy, which caused roughly $310 million in damage in Battery Park City alone when it slammed the Big Apple in 2012.
Construction will kick off when the marina season ends on Oct. 31 this year — and is expected to last through 2031.
“Due to public safety considerations during active construction, and as outlined in our many public presentations, EIS documents, and over more than a year of public discussion, North Cove Marina will not be operational during the course of the [NWBPCR],” Nick Sbordone, a spokesperson for the BPCA, said.
Brooks, 38, has been searching for a new home for the Ventura for months, but has been unnerved by the dwindling marina space throughout the Big Apple.
Nearby marinas, like the 79th Street Boat Basin and the Newport Marina in New Jersey, have closed, while others, such as the Inwood Marina, are slated to undergo their own projects this year. Pier 25 does not have docks long enough to support the Ventura’s 70-foot length, and the Chelsea Piers has warned it is at capacity and has a long waiting list.
Brooks is eyeing the Brooklyn Bridge Marina on the East River, but worries the new spot will not satisfy his clientele — as much as 75% of his business comes from repeat customers, like Manhattan-based companies throwing staff parties and those who live in the neighborhood, who likely will not commute to Brooklyn for a boat ride.
“It’s really sad. I don’t have a very positive feeling right now about the future of the business and the boat right now,” said Brooks.
“It feels like we’re losing our home … We’re trying to avoid having a situation that basically dooms this piece of American history.”
Representatives from Brookfield Place, the shopping mall that oversees the marina, told The Post its marina operator had warned seasonal marina customers about the anticipated closure — but the tenants said the claim was far from the truth.
David Caporale, captain of Tribeca Sailing and resident of the waterfront buildings, said he only learned about the NWBPCR because he happened to attend a community board meeting while the “seawall project” was being discussed.
As the marina’s “unofficial mayor,” he broke the news to other tenants, who similarly had not been aware of the plan. Documents dating back to 2019 are on the BPCA website, but Caporale was quick to point out that none of the tenants would make use of the page.
“We were just an afterthought,” said Caporale, 66, a former video editor-turned-boating captain.
If the charter captain cannot find a new marina to home his beloved boat, Tara, he fears he will be forced to sell the business at a substantial discount and be forced into an early retirement.
“This was planned to be my retirement money. That all goes away with the closure of this Marina,” said Caprale.
“This was my retirement job. My retirement business plan, including 401K, was running this business until forever. Now that that’s gone, my retirement plan has changed — and for a reason which kind of makes me mad. And the way I was told makes me mad.”
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