A Walk In The Park

That's not how one might have described a stroll through the EBDI footprint for the last number of decades - until yesterday.

For the past week, in final preparation for today's biotech building opening, our neighborhood has swarmed with a gargantuan amount of activity. Huge muddy parcels have almost instantly become landscaped parking lots and planting beds now teem with blooming daffodils and deep chocolate mulch. Years of planning and laying infrastructure funneled down to this seemingly instant payoff.

With the huge construction vehicles all but gone, I was greeted to work yesterday with a clear path and the almost sound of silence. Rolls of sod, stacked with beautiful precision, formed a low wall along Ashland Avenue. A tent resembling a mini-Pier Six loomed ahead. Workers were absolutely everywhere. What a happy way to begin my day.

I stepped outside a few hours later, completely startled by the newly-laid lush living carpet and tall blooming cherry trees that implausibly emerged from the earth. It was just like a movie set, except that this set will not be struck at today's end. This is the New East Side.