Waterside Plaza

About

Waterside Plaza is a residential and business complex located between the FDR Drive and the East River from 25th to 30th streets in the Kips Bay section of Manhattan, New York City. It was formerly a Mitchell-Lama Housing Program-funded rental project. The apartment buildings, as well as the neighboring United Nations International School, were constructed on top of platforms over the East River.

Waterside Plaza was constructed alongside a segment of the FDR Drive that was built on landfill brought to the United States from England. Developed by Richard Ravitch, the first apartment buildings opened in 1973 and the complex was completed the following year. The housing development received the Construction Achievement Project of the Year Award from the Metropolitan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1974. There were plans to build additional above-water apartments, offices, and a hotel to the south of the site in the 1980s, but these were canceled, and Stuyvesant Cove Park was developed there instead.