Robert Moses Playground is a  playground and park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located in the Murray Hill neighborhood on First Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets, immediately south of the headquarters of the United Nations. The park is named for New York's "master builder" Robert Moses, the former head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (which constructed the playground as part of the construction of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel), who later advocated to save the park when a skyscraper was proposed on the site in the early 1980s.

History

The block the park is located on was originally obtained from Consolidated Edison in 1937 as part of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel construction. Land for public park purposes was subsequently donated to the city in exchange for the taking of a portion of St. Gabriel's Park (now named St. Vartan Park) for an approach roadway providing access to the tunnel. The Park itself was completed in 1941 and shares the block with the large ventilation building for the tunnel. It was named for Moses in 1982.

The asphalt playground on the west side of the park was often used for roller hockey, and the East End Hockey Association had been organizing games at the site since 1972. This asphalt playground was replaced by a synthetic turf field in July 2021 to improve existing parks due to the temporary loss of park space during construction of the city's East Side Coastal Resiliency project. A renovation of the playground on the eastern side of the park was completed in 1998 and included the addition of Art Deco silhouettes of a dozen of Moses' projects along the fence.

Land reclamation
There have been at least three attempts to take the park's land for building projects.

In 1979, a proposal was made by the city to swap the western portion of the park's land with private parks in Tudor City, enabling Harry Helmsley to construct a skyscraper on the site in exchange for converting the private parks in Tudor City into public parks (which Helmsley had planned to develop with buildings). The land swap was approved by the City Planning Commission but was opposed by a number of groups, including the East End Hockey Association, which had gained the support of Robert Moses in their fight to save the park. Although the proposal was initially supported by Mayor Ed Koch, he changed his mind when appraisals showed that the public parkland was more valuable than the private parks in Tudor City. The land swap proposal was vetoed by the Board of Estimate in 1981 and the City Council voted to name the park after Moses in 1982.

In 2002, a proposal was made by the city to allow for the United Nations to construct a skyscraper on the western portion of the park's land that would be connected to its existing campus via a tunnel under 42nd Street. The new building would have been used as swing space during renovation of the Secretariat Building and would have subsequently been used by the United Nations as additional office space. The loss of parkland was proposed to be offset by the construction of a new park in the form of an expansion of the East River Greenway alongside the United Nations campus. This proposal was rejected by the New York State Legislature in 2005.

The most recent proposal to take the park's land for a building was raised by the United Nations in June 2010. Under this deal, the city would then expand the nearby East River Greenway to compensate for the loss of this park. On December 8, 2010, Manhattan Community Board 6 gave their support to this plan, providing that the esplanade was expanded. In March 2011, the city gave approval to move ahead with a feasibility study for this project as part of Mayor Bloomberg's Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan.

If agreed by the city and the heads of both houses of the New York State Legislature, the United Nations Development Corporation could begin preliminary planning for a new office tower, which could be no taller than the  tall Secretariat Building. The UN would pay the city at least $65 million for the park. The plan is opposed by some residents of Tudor City, which is across the street from the park.

On October 5, 2011, the city and state reached an agreement to use the western portion of Robert Moses Playground for an expansion of the United Nations campus.  In exchange, the United Nations Development Corporation would pay $73 million to fund the development of the East River esplanade between 38th and 60th streets. To make up for the loss of parkland, the City will convert Asser Levy Place into parkland.

References

External links 

 NYC Parks: Robert Moses Playground

Parks in Manhattan
Murray Hill, Manhattan
Headquarters of the United Nations
1941 establishments in New York City