Car-free plaza with a painted street mural joins Spring Street Park in Hudson Square
A block of former roadway on Manhattan's Lower West Side now offers tables, places to sit, free WiFi and space for community events.
Pedestrians now have a block of former roadway in Hudson Square to themselves. The new plaza covers about 6,500 square feet on the stretch from Little Sixth to Dominick Street, and it makes Spring Street Park next door bigger.
Visitors will find tables, places to sit and free WiFi, along with space set aside for community programs. The Hudson Square Business Improvement District and the city’s Department of Transportation designed it together. The project cost $744,000, paid through NY Forward, a state program, under an award made in 2024.
What the new Hudson Square plaza looks like
The ground was painted in June, before the other improvements went in. Artist Dasic Fernández created the mural, called “Urban Flow.” Its colored bands swell and shrink across the pavement to echo the way people move through the area and stop to gather.
A ribbon cutting this week marked the opening. Walter T. Mosley, New York’s secretary of state, joined several officials at the event. In his remarks, Mosley said the space gives residents, workers and visitors “a vibrant place to gather, connect, and enjoy the community.”
A commercial neighborhood adding homes and open space
Hudson Square spans roughly 33 square blocks of Manhattan’s Lower West Side, and offices dominate it, with a combined total of over 12 million square feet. Its industrial roots left streets built for trucks and freight rather than walkers, and the area has long felt separate from nearby SoHo, Tribeca and the West Village.
That is starting to change as new residents arrive. Gov. Kathy Hochul launched NY Forward in 2022 to draw investment into neighborhoods like this one, and Hudson Square was among the winners of its second round in 2024. In January, the development firm Avdoo lined up $63 million to finance 68 King St., where it intends to put up luxury apartments totaling 200,000 square feet. One month before that deal, the city chose a team to develop 388 Hudson St., an empty city-owned lot now used for parking. The team will build the city’s first project to pair affordable homes with a recreation center.
That lot’s southern edge will also get more room to breathe. Hudson-Houston Plaza, a 0.26-acre open space, is advancing there under city plans. “Great neighborhoods need great public spaces,” said Hope Knight, CEO of Empire State Development.
Quick answers
Where is the new Hudson Square plaza?
It covers the stretch from Little Sixth to Dominick Street in Manhattan and enlarges Spring Street Park next door.
What can visitors do at the Hudson Square plaza?
Pedestrians can use tables, places to sit and free WiFi, and the plaza has space set aside for community programs.
How was the plaza funded?
The state's NY Forward program covered the $744,000 cost under an award made in 2024.
