AMERICANWAY

— brought gentrification (i.e., higher-income ind iv idua ls renovati ng old housi ng a nd buildings that often displace people with lower incomes) to the Lower East Side. The new resident s gave t he neig hborhood a unique imprint and turned it into a cultural hub for the city's music, art and food scenes. If ever a neighborhood was open to an un- derground park, the Lower East Side was that neighborhood. Ramsey started tinkering with ways to pump natural light underground, and in 2008, he designed a system that captured sunshine and channeled it through fiber cables that dispersed it underground. In order to move the project forward, however, Ramsey and Barasch needed to conduct costly engineer- ing studies to test the technology and overall viability of the project. In Februar y 2012, the pair turned to KickStarter, the popu- lar online fundraising platform for creative ventures. They described their project in a paragraph and asked supporters to help them raise $100,000. In only six weeks, Ramsey and Barasch amassed $155,186 from 3,300 backers. In September 2012, Ramsey and Barasch used the funds to rent an abandoned ware- house on the Lower East Side and build a model version of the park. To draw in the natural light, they installed a solar collector that success- fully nourished a Japanese maple tree, grass, ferns and a pray ing mantis. The pro- posed park, previously called the Delancey Underground, reminded the community of another abandoned railway eyesore that had been repur- posed into a stunning over- ground park named the High Line in 2009. The park had updated and revitalized the Chelsea neigh- borhood on the far West Side. That led to people starting to refer to the underground park as "The Low Line," and by the time the exhibit opened, the moniker had stuck, al- though compacted into "The Lowline." T he projec t fa sci n ated New Yorker s. Eleven thousand people visited the exhibit, which was open for only a few weeks. Calls poured in from around the world expressing desires to start similar projects. Just as Ramsey and Barasch hoped, en- thusiasm for The Lowline has spread far and deep. Celebrities such as actor Mark Ruffalo and actress/writer Lena Dunham, and politi- cians such as U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have endorsed it. Most notably, The Lowline team convinced the local business communit y of what the park 's long-term economic contribution to the neighborhood could be — up to $10 million in new real es- tate ta xes, local sales and hotel revenues over the next 30 years. By the time the park opens in 2018, Barasch says, the building cost will be $75 million and it will cost up to $4 million to operate annually. "We have some pretty impressive partners at the table with us, including Arup, one of the world's top engineering firms and plant and botany experts from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden," he says. "There's unanimous support for this project in the community at the public levels, at the elected levels and at the grass-roots community levels." W hile they wait for the city administra- tion to give the official green light to start building, Ramsey and Barasch are keeping the moment um going w ith The Lowline Lab, a headquarters of sorts that will open sometime in 2015. The Lab will showcase how the solar technology functions, as well as the impressive scientific research that Ramsey and Barasch have developed. Visi- tors will experience what it feels like to be in one section of the park at a space immediately above the projected site. " T h e g o a l i s t o g e t e v - er yone thinking about the underg round as a colossa l ecosystem that we have com- pletely overlooked in plain sight," says Barasch. "There i s a m a g ic a l u nder w orld , which we've carved out over the course of multiple indus- trial generations. Places like The Lowline might inspire people to look around their city and see new uses for things that might not currently have any value." The world's first subterranean park will distinguish a city that has long been grandi- ose and innovative. The Lowline will once again remind residents and visitors alike that the largest city in the country has a unique- ness worthy of the phrase that is used so of- ten and is so fitting: Only in New York. NOW YOU KNOW: The High Line Park, which was converted from an old train track 30 feet above ground level, stretches 1.45 miles through Manhattan. SHIRLEY J. VELASQUEZ is a New York-based writer. She wrote about the International Culinary Center in the July 15, 2013, issue of American Way. $ 3K WINNING BID FOR THE DRESS ACTRESS/WRITER LENA DUNHAM WORE TO THE FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR THE LOWLINE THAT SHE HOSTED WITH FILM DIRECTOR SPIKE JONZE A A .CO M/A M E R I C A NWAY D EC E M B E R 2 01 4 47

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