Roosevelt Island is
New York City’s
Future, Today
From tech incubators to trash-free sidewalks, this thin slice of the Big Apple is designing the template for sustainable urban living—and it’s waiting with tram doors wide open.
Despite the thousands of drivers, bikers, and pedestrians that cross the Queensboro Bridge daily, few may clock that their interborough travels carry them over an entire island that’s steeped in history, rich in present-day charms, and setting the stage for tomorrow’s New York.
Let’s hop that red aerial tram to explore—and understand—the enigma that is Roosevelt Island.
In a technical sense, Roosevelt Island is obscure in being an island within an island borough: It’s the only part of Manhattan, besides Marble Hill in the Bronx, that isn’t physically attached to it. Its length spans two miles in the East River—roughly parallel from 46th Street to 85th—yet crossing its width at pedestrian speeds takes less time than a Ramones song. Beneath the streets, trash zooms through tubes faster than the speed limit. Add that the fastest way to get there is a five-minute ride through the sky on a glorified ski gondola and it’s no wonder outsiders might ask, what is this place’s deal?
Ask Corcoran agent Kaja Meade, who lives and works on the island, and the deal is quite a good one.
“I always call it a speakeasy oasis in the city,” remarks Meade, underscoring a hidden in plain sight magic that’s tough to deny. "You move here if you want to be in close proximity to the city, but want to feel like you have space, air, and green.”
This is
Roosevelt
Island
Starting on the Rocks
People often mix up Roosevelt Island with some of NYC’s other isles, slips of the tongue certainly unhelped by the island’s multiple past names. The Roosevelt moniker only debuted in 1973, preceded by over 50 years as the less-savory Welfare Island and a centuries-long run as Blackwell’s Island. New Netherlanders called it Varkens Eylandt (Hog Island), and the Lenape well before them knew it as Minnehanonck (often translated as “it’s nice to be on the island”).
Much-reported infamy came from groundbreaking investigative journalist Nellie Bly, whose 1887 exposé Ten Days in a Mad-House offered an undercover account of her time at the island’s Women’s Lunatic Asylum. Bly’s work detailing the horrors she endured was critically acclaimed and paved the way for widespread reform for the humane treatment of patients. Roosevelt Island also had a smallpox hospital, now in ruins, which kept those afflicted isolated from the rest of the city. Other notable visitors in those days included actress Mae West and disgraced New York politico Boss Tweed, who both served time in the island’s penitentiary—West for “obscenity and corrupting the morals of youth” via Broadway play, Tweed for general corruption.
The island doesn’t shy away from its imperfect past, embracing it as a testament to its change, endurance, and growth. The asylum’s historic tower, now called simply The Octagon, has been beautifully restored, overlooking a vast apartment complex on the site where Bly committed herself for the pen. At the other tip of the island, the Gothic Revival ruins of the Smallpox Hospital, designed in 1856 by James Renwick, Jr.—architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Smithsonian Castle—add a hauntingly romantic edge.
These remnants also stand as a reminder that this island has been shaped by remarkable architectural minds from the start. After all, the master plan for present-day Roosevelt Island was devised by noted modernists John Burgee and Philip Johnson. Four Freedoms Park is considered one of the final works of Louis Kahn, the celebrated architect behind imposing structures like the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. This high bar for design continues to the present-day: Cornell Tech’s campus was a collaboration of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with grounds by High Line designer James Corner Field Operations.
Simply, Roosevelt Island offers the best of both worlds: a small-town lifestyle from the confines of a Manhattan zip code.
The island became effectively deserted by 1969 when the city began soliciting proposals for its redevelopment. Burgee and Johnson won out with a master plan that removed cars and hassle from the equation while emphasizing tranquil green spaces and unprecedented views of Manhattan’s skyline. They called for one main street running north-south with the typical sidestreets replaced by pedestrian walkways. Once the first housing developments opened in 1975, Roosevelt Island’s character began to blossom far beyond its two-mile length.
Meade notes that selling a Roosevelt Island home to a prospective buyer often starts with first selling them on the island itself. “It’s so misunderstood,” she explains. “But this place really changes how you live city life.”
Indeed, stop for a moment anywhere on the island, and you’ll notice that you hear, well, absolutely nothing. That soul-cleansing silence is a scarce commodity in Metropolis. Simply, Roosevelt Island offers the best of both worlds: a small-town lifestyle from the confines of a Manhattan zip code.
From end to end, the landscapes Burgee and Johnson envisioned are thriving, be they public parks, ball fields, or monuments. Down on the island’s southern tip is the picturesque Four Freedoms Park, a memorial to island namesake Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A more recent addition is way up north: The Girl Puzzle in Lighthouse Park honors Nellie Bly and all women who have persevered through hardship. Initiatives like community gardens and a composting program empower residents to keep their home beautiful and hospitable. Plus, with everything you’d possibly need (a supermarket, emergency services) and some things that are just nice to have (tennis courts, art galleries), one needn’t leave for the “mainland” if they don’t want. There’s Wednesday night trivia at Granny Annie’s Bar & Kitchen and springtime cherry blossoms on the western waterfront. Or, to get oddly specific, there’s leaning back in a riverside lounge chair and enjoying the blissful views along with a custom-made sandwich purchased from the Café at Cornell Tech for $7, North Fork chips included—a steal in this town.
When a Plan Comes Together
Though car travel from Queens is possible via the Roosevelt Island Bridge, and the F train and NYC Ferry provide much-needed transport alternatives from all over the city, the best way to reach Roosevelt Island is a singular experience. The Roosevelt Island Tramway first took to the skies from 59th Street and Second Avenue in 1976 as a temporary solution until the subway’s eventual expansion. As these things tend to go, Roosevelt Island’s F station wouldn’t open until 1989. By that point, the tram’s notoriety had grown beyond just the city “putting up rides for us,” as Jerry Seinfeld once joked. Reliability, handicap accessibility, and general novelty made NYC’s only high-wire transit act beloved by riders. Today it remains as quaint as public transit gets in the city and is the perfect way to one-up someone—oh, you rode your bike over a bridge to get here? How provincial. I took a ride suspended 250 feet above the East River.
Travel on Roosevelt Island itself is handled by the Red Bus, which follows a loop route around the isle—from Southpoint Park to The Octagon and back again—and costs nothing to ride. Given the always-looming specter of MTA fare increases, there’s nothing wrong with a little free public transit.
Another quirky aspect of Roosevelt Island feels like something ripped from the pages of a science-fiction future: Pneumatic garbage tubes. This high-tech trash transport network, modeled after a Swedish system, has been here since the residential redevelopment. As you would in most highrises, you still throw your bags down the chute. However, they never see the sidewalk: Instead of steeping overnight to be swiftly chucked into sanitation trucks, refuse is sucked 24/7 through a subterranean web of pipes at over 60 miles per hour, collecting in a central facility. And since the tubes are completely sealed, they’re protected from flooding or urban wildlife seeking to snack on a half-consumed dollar slice.
More than a novelty, the environmental impact is monumental. No trash on the streets means less risk of it spilling out, going down storm draws, or even sailing into the East River. Less reliance on trucks means less greenhouse gas emissions. Considering this forward-thinking technology was implemented back in 1974, it’s no wonder Roosevelt Island continues to be the role model for the city’s sustainable tomorrow.
Transforming Travel and Trash
by JEREMY KLEIN
Verdant plazas and promenades may spread in all directions—Meade likens it to living in a park—but it’s Roosevelt Island’s buildings taking the idea of “green” to the next level. Notably, the Cornell Tech campus proves one needn’t sacrifice design aesthetics for energy efficiency or vice versa. When the Bloomberg Center opened in 2017, the campus’ academic hub became the city’s first net-zero energy building, only using the power it creates on its own. Among other features, there’s a solar panel array on the roof, geothermal wells that draw heat from the ground, and a 40,000-gallon rainwater tank responsible for all non-potable water. As an extra flex, the Bloomberg Center also achieved Platinum LEED certification.
Elsewhere, the House—on-campus housing for students and faculty—stakes the claim as the first high-rise passive house. An airtight design dramatically cuts energy use, saving hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide and thousands of dollars in utility bills per year. Temperatures stay regulated thanks to ample insulation and warm natural light, so much so that thermostats only go between 68 and 75 degrees.
Cornell Tech’s campus is still growing, expected to encompass over 12 acres, leaving even further potential for sustainable innovation. Not to be left out, however, older buildings are also leaning green. Following the Octagon’s restoration, solar panels and a fuel cell were installed in 2011 to power the tower and its attached apartment complex with clean energy. As a result, the Octagon would become the first residential building in the city energized by a fuel cell, receiving Silver LEED certification. Poetically, decades after giving its home one reputation, the Octagon helped lay the groundwork for Roosevelt Island to develop a new one.
Architectural Greenery
This two-bedroom at Main Street's Rivercross offers a balcony, stellar amenities, and commanding views of its breathtaking surroundings.
Typical of modern planning, Roosevelt Island’s residential inventory is entirely vertical, with a plethora of co-ops and condo inventory as well as rental buildings. Not only practical, they further highlight among the island’s greatest selling points: the views.
The oldest buildings you’ll find go back to the sixties, augmented with amenity-loaded constructions still rising as we write. At Island House, a 400-unit co-op, units range from $650,000 for a one-bedroom to $1.25 million for a three. At Manhattan Park, a modern three-building complex of oversized 1-3 bedroom residences, advertised rents start at $2,500. The latter sports among the rarest amenities to be found anywhere in the city: An outdoor, in-ground pool.
Manhattan Park’s Pool Club is, in fact, a community treasure, adding color to the landscape in more ways than one. Each season, the club offers itself as a canvas to local artists, transforming the entire space into a vibrant mural. Past painters include Alex Proba in 2020 and Melissa Dadourian in 2021. Brooklyn-based Hratch Arbach is on deck for 2022s.
According to Danielle Higgins, the Leasing Director at Manhattan Park, this tradition began as a happy accident. “I don’t think we had any idea of how much attention it would bring us,” Higgins says, recounting the surge in attention after artist HOT TEA became the inaugural deck painter in 2015. “And we really didn’t think we would do it year after year.”
Island Life
Explore Roosevelt Island for yourself.
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But what started as a way to breathe a little more life into the pool area has turned into a highly anticipated annual event—not to mention excellent marketing for the property—with folks anxiously awaiting each design reveal. “They love it,” says Higgins of the community’s response to the rejuvenated pool in their backyard, which is open to the public and discounted for all Roosevelt Island residents. “Instead of going away or renting a summer home, they’ll sign up for the pool and spend as much time here as possible.”
Getting out has gotten great, too. On the 18th floor of the Graduate Hotel—the island’s first and only—the Panorama Room rooftop bar delivers on its name’s promise. The Sunset Swizzle—mezcal, pineapple, poblano verde, bitters—pairs wonderfully with stepping out onto the roof deck to stare starstruck at Manhattan and Queens (and Brooklyn if you look hard enough) unfolding before your eyes. Just make sure you don’t let the wind blow your straw away as you toast the Chrysler Building while “Benny and the Jets” plays from inside.
When it comes down to it, Meade reiterates that the island’s views are everything—even from the comforts of home. Describing finding her family’s first Roosevelt Island residence in 2012, she joyfully recalls seeing the sights. “Floor to ceiling, my view in every bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen was Long Island City, all of the Queensboro Bridge, and the entire skyline of Manhattan. I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll take this—this is where I live now.’”
Manhattan Park's color-splashed 2021 pool mural, by Melissa Dadourian. The rental community welcomes a different local artist to paint the deck each year.
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