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Gantry Plaza State Park is a
state park on the
East River in the
Hunters Point section of
Long Island City, in the
New York City borough of
Queens.
The 10-acre (4.0 ha) park first opened in May 1998 and was expanded in July 2009. The southern portion of the park is a former dock facility and includes restored "contained apron" transfer bridges of the James B. French patent, and built in 1925, to load and unload rail
car floats that served industries on Long Island via the
Long Island Rail Roadtracks that used to run along 48th Avenue (now part of Hunter's Point Park). The northern portion of Gantry Plaza State Park was a former
Pepsi bottling plant.
[1][2]To one side of the Gantries, is a Combined Sewer Overflow warning sign (Wet Weather Discharge Point) alerting the public to avoid swimming, boating or fishing during wet weather as raw, untreated sewage is routinely discharged from the pipes beneath the walkway.
The park offers picnic tables, a playground, a fishing and crabbing pier limited only to pier #4 and subject to NYS DEC rules, playing fields, and a waterfront promenade with a view of
United Nations Headquarters and the
midtown Manhattan skyline.
Constructed in 1936 by
Artkraft Strauss, the 120-foot (37 m) long and 60-foot (18 m) high neon Pepsi-Cola sign was located on top of the bottling plant before it was preserved and moved into a permanent location within the park.