Manhattan's First Public Beach Opens In Hudson River Park

CHELSEA, NY — Watch out, LA, Manhattan's coming for your crown.

The borough's first public beach opened Tuesday along the Hudson River between Gansevoort Street and Little West 12th Street— a $73 million project 25 years in the making, authorities said.

The sandy pier is dotted with bright blue beach chairs and umbrellas and sits on the edge of a newly opened 5.5-acre public space, which formerly functioned as a sanitation facility.

The beach — made of 1,200 tons of sand — offers non-motorized boats and kayaks access to the water, but there won't be any swimming on account of poor water quality, representatives said Tuesday in a news release.

"Twenty-five years ago, Hudson River Park was a big dream, and Gansevoort was an even bigger one," said Noreen Doyle, President & CEO of Hudson River Park Trust.

The massive plot also contains a sports field, two dog runs, boardwalks, picnic areas, salt marsh — and along the coast live 20 million juvenile oysters, authorities said.

Just off the new pier sits the Whitney Museum's Day's End sculpture.

"Who would've thought that we'd have a beach in Manhattan?" said City Council Member Erik Bottcher at Tuesday's ribbon cutting ceremony.