Chelsea Waterside Park

Chelsea Waterside Park, formerly Thomas F. Smith Park, is a public park located at West 23rd Street between 11th and 12th Avenues along the West Side Highway in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City. It was originally operated by the government of New York City under the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. As of 2023 it is part of the Chelsea section of Hudson River Park and managed by the Hudson River Park Trust. The park was originally the site of a small freight yard for the Erie Railroad. In 1906, the railroad redeveloped the site into a park, as part of the reconstruction of the adjacent ferry terminal. In 1915, the park was taken over by the Parks Department, and was named for politician Thomas Francis Smith following his death in 1923. The construction of the West Side Elevated Highway in the early 1930s split the park into two adjacent sections. Chelsea Waterside Park was designed in the late 1980s by architect Thomas Balsley. Half of the proposed park would be an expansion of the existing Smith Park, and the other half would be developed on the waterfront atop Piers 62, 63 and 64, with the two halves connected by a footbridge. The inland portion of Chelsea Waterside Park was constructed in the 1990s as a part of Hudson River Park during the redevelopment of the West Side Highway, and opened in 2000. The waterfront sections proposed for the park were completed in 2010 under a separate project.