Pier a Harbor House

If, a few years ago, you ever passed by the Statue of Liberty ferry dock and wondered about the huge white wooden building on the Battery Park pier—long abandoned, as eerie and old-world as the nearby Merchant Mariners’ memorial—you can now investigate its mysteries yourself. After extensive big-budget renovations, Peter Poulakakos and his team (Le District; the forthcoming Nammos) have converted the landmarked former municipal building, which once housed the city’s docks department, into a twenty-eight-thousand-square-foot nautical-themed megavenue. The top floor is a private-event space and the second is a fancy-dining zone, but ground level is for everybody: a polished-wood bar, with Lusitania memorabilia and gauges galore, and the pier outside, where the real action is. On a recent Monday evening, tourists and locals sat under umbrellas at picnic tables, ate fish and chips, drank rosé, and gazed out at the splendiferous harbor views: ferries, birds, barges, clouds, water taxis, sailboats, schooners, flags, Castle Clinton, speedboats, the Statue of Liberty, the Verrazano-Narrows. Several house cocktails, such as the Clock Tower Sour and the Lazarus, were punch-bowl sweet, but the gingery Dark and Stormy on tap had some razzmatazz. The setting sun cast a rosy glow from the west; the refurbished clocktower bong-bong-ed every hour. On the pier, you feel a bit floaty; once you get your sea legs, you’ll want to linger all evening. ♦