Neighbors Greet New Pier With Grudging Accolades

Despite the clouds yesterday and a faint mist that colored everything a pale gray, most visitors to Manhattan's newest pier said they were impressed with the setting and the vista it offered.

No one doubted that the pier, on the Hudson River near 70th Street, was well done, or that the public space it offered was aesthetically pleasing. But this particular promenade was part of the $3 billion development known as Trump Place, so it was bound to inspire some sharp words in addition to accolades.

The pier and an adjacent promenade and park with baseball and soccer fields and a basketball court, are called Riverside South, the original name given to the entire development. The outdoor space abuts the south end of Riverside Park, and, like the entire development, occupies land once part of the old Penn Central rail yards.

The pier and park opened quietly a week ago, built as part of an agreement between the city and the project's developers, Donald J. Trump and a group of Hong Kong investors. The project, which has led to protests and lawsuits over the past several years, is to include 16 residential towers with 5,700 apartments, and one commercial building.

''I don't especially like Donald Trump or what he does, but I have to say I am impressed by this walk,'' said Jed Golden, 64, an Upper West Side resident who was enjoying the sunset with a friend on the pier yesterday. ''I've got to give them credit; it's very lovely.''

The 21.5-acre, $14 million space is to have an official opening in March at the first sign of crocuses, said Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern. Yesterday, though, it offered a bit of respite to those who happened upon it by chance, like Mr. Golden and an Australian tourist, Dung Huynh, as well as area residents like Joani Rentz and her terrier, Amos, who had been eagerly awaiting permission to enter for weeks.

''It's such a nice little park right now,'' said Ms. Rentz, an art decorator for a Wall Street design firm. ''The problem is that this whole neighborhood is getting so developed. It used to be small, quiet. None of this was here.''

While she admired the view, almost in solitude, Ms. Rentz could not help but imagine the pier in summertime, with throngs of bikers and bladers, and sunbathers blanketing the grass.

''I don't want this to be a place where everybody wants to come,'' she said. ''Right now it's only used by the people in the neighborhood.''

But many of the people in the neighborhood now -- those who live in the three condominium and rental buildings that have opened -- were not people in the neighborhood just 18 months ago. And judging by the protests and lawsuits against the project, the newcomers were not especially welcome.

But it is their space now, too, and many love it, speaking of it as though it is a precious part of their history, perhaps because several Trump Place residents lived in the neighborhood earlier.

''Nowhere on the West Side is there this kind of vista and the ability to experience the breath and scope of the Hudson,'' said Peter Tafti, 45, a human resources consultant who recently moved into the development after living in Washington for seven years. ''It's really quite exceptional.''

Mr. Tafti called himself an Upper West Side kid, having grown up there and gone to school at St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's on West 114th Street and at Columbia's business school. ''What great use of the river!'' he said. ''It's just one more new feature of New York that makes you realize what a majestic city it is on a magnificent river.''

Mark Robbins, a real estate planner who recently moved back from San Francisco, agreed.

''The planners are really to be commended,'' he said. ''This represents a big step on the multiphase initiative of New York to reclaim its waterfront.''

But this being the Upper West Side, a former local resident and current East Sider, Ari Kermaier, had a very different opinion about the developers.

''They made out like bandits,'' said Mr. Kermaier, 33, a software engineer. But he also called the pier ''neat,'' a relaxing public space.