New York City’s newest park, “Little Island,” opened just in time for a steaming weekend, drawing thousands of grateful visitors to the 2.4-acre refugꦺe floating on the Hudson at the site of the old Pier 55. Thank fashion legend Diane von Furstenberg and her Hollywood mogul hubby, Barry Diller, for this gift — and for persevering over a handful of well-funded cranks who sued to stop it.
The power couple announced their plan to fund the Thomas Heatherwick-designed gem as the latest addition to the Hudꦬson River Park in 2014.
But what was originally a $130 million project got mired in legal harassment and repeated pauses, as the letterhead organization The City Club of New York sued repeatedly, with the backing of real estate gia🌳nt Douglas Durst, who reportedly resents the Hudson River Park Trust.
But justice (and regular New Yorkers) triumphed 🔯in the end, and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation supplied $235 million of the final $265 million construction cost.
Call it The Little Island That Could.
