Lenox Hill's Esplanade Wall Is Due to Come Down This Month. The Bobby Wagner Walk Upgrade Is On Hold.

The green construction wall on the East River Esplanade in the East 70s is supposed to come down this month. Hospital for Special Surgery says the full East 72nd to 78th Street section should be finished by October 2026. Its project manager told Patch in June that the whole corridor should reopen "by the end of October." As of October 12, no public update has confirmed that the last blocks are open, so that date is still a target.

When the wall does come down, the Lenox Hill waterfront will get the new pavers, plantings and fitness equipment it has been waiting on since 2022. The city has also said the esplanade will be contiguous from East 53rd to East 114th Street by late 2026. About twenty blocks north of the HSS work, the overhaul planned for East 94th to 107th Street has been put on hold for lack of money.

What is still behind the wall at 73rd Street

The reopening has moved north one block at a time. The permanent ramp at East 71st Street opened in June 2026, according to HSS. It had been closed since July 2025, per a July 8 release from Council Speaker Julie Menin's office. By mid-July, Our Town reported that the path ran to about East 73rd Street before ending at a construction wall.

The remaining five blocks are carrying the heaviest work. HSS lists the jobs left in that section:

• Seawall improvements, coordinated with NYC Parks
• Repair of a sinkhole near the base of the East 78th Street ramp
• New pavers and landscaping
• New fitness equipment, shown in HSS renderings of a workout area along the river

One earlier repair is already done. NYC Parks finished fixing a separate sinkhole at East 74th Street. The East 78th Street pedestrian bridge was scheduled to close in July 2026 so the work could be finished, and HSS describes the reopening as happening "in phases." Until the bridge reopens, people walking north from the 71st Street ramp have one less way back up to York Avenue.

Four years for seven blocks

HSS first started closing the 71st to 78th Street stretch in spring 2022 to build the Kellen Tower, a $200 million expansion wing that opened this spring, Our Town noted.

The work has drawn officials to the site. Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura, who once co-chaired the parks subcommittee of Community Board 8, inspected the new paving and plantings on July 7. She told Our Town she expected the rest of the closure to be resolved "by October." Speaker Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, called the progress a "big win for the community."

The volunteer group EsplanadeFriends still has its petition on its homepage. It asks for "the expedited reopening of the Esplanade, with a north-south connection restored as soon as possible." The north-south connection is the key phrase. The new pavers matter less to people on the waterfront than whether the path runs through without a turnaround.

The waterfront, stretch by stretch

The Council release frames the HSS work as one piece of a larger plan, coordinated with NYC Parks and the NYC Economic Development Corporation. It says the improvements "will result in a contiguous esplanade from East 53rd Street to East 114th Street in late 2026." Here is where each stretch with an active project stood in the most recent reporting:

Most projects south of the East 70s are complete, including the East Midtown Greenway, whose bridge at East 54th Street we covered in our Sutton Place post. North of 94th Street, the schedule is mixed. One section is on hold, one is unfunded, and one is expected to start construction next year.

Why the Bobby Wagner Walk rebuild stalled

The Bobby Wagner Walk begins around East 94th Street. Its overhaul received $294 million in 2022. About two months before its October 5 story, Our Town reported, Parks representatives told Community Board 11 that the project had run into trouble. Contractors were concerned the work could damage the FDR Drive, and the city determined that a construction barge could not reach that part of the shoreline because the water is too shallow.

At a CB11 meeting in September, city officials said the East 94th to 107th Street section is "in final design" and could go out to bid. It now needs "well over" $500 million, and no source for that money has been named. Without that funding, Our Town reported, most work on those blocks will be routine sinkhole repair, not the modernization promised in 2022. The 107th Street pier rebuild is still going ahead, without the bathrooms advocates had asked for.

CB11 Board Chair Adem Brija opened the meeting by acknowledging the mood in the room:

"This is a heated topic, [and a] long time coming. A lot of frustration, a lot of broken promises, information that's changed. I understand all of that."

The board expects monthly updates from the city from now on. A source with Friends of the East River Esplanade, the group that has pushed for the East 70s reopening, told Our Town the East Harlem delay is "an issue of equity and broken promises."

Put the two halves together. When the HSS work is done, the esplanade from Sutton Place to the East 70s will have new paving, a permanent ramp and new fitness equipment. From 94th to 107th Street, the 2022 rebuild is on hold. The reporting does not say the East Harlem path is closed, only that its promised upgrade is stalled. So "contiguous by late 2026" will most likely mean the Lenox Hill section matches the new Greenway to the south, while the stretch to the north stays as it is.

Three October Saturdays on the river

EsplanadeFriends has scheduled three events this month. Two are at the south end of the rebuilt waterfront, and one is where the stalled section begins:

• Saturday, October 17, 10 to 11:30 a.m. A free bird walk with NYC Bird Alliance, meeting at East 96th Street by the esplanade, a couple of blocks into the Bobby Wagner Walk. A waiver is required.
• Saturday, October 24, 1 to 4 p.m. The Spooktacular at Andrew Haswell Green Park, East 60th Street and York Avenue, with live music by NOIZ, kids' activities and free ice cream.
• Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to noon. Bulb planting of daffodils and native species for spring bloom, at the same park, up the ramp to the river. A waiver is required.

The blocks between York and First Avenue are also getting new places to stop on the way to and from the river. Patch reported that Coffee Project New York planned to open its first Upper East Side shop at 1219 First Avenue, at East 66th Street, on September 20, though a September 15 update to that story said the opening date had changed. Bon Ga, a Korean restaurant, took over the former Bayon Cambodian Bistro space at 408 East 64th Street and was aiming for a September debut, per Patch. Ship of Fools, the bar that left the neighborhood more than a decade ago, is coming back to 1152 First Avenue at East 63rd Street. Its owner is targeting January 2027, Patch reported on October 7. Farther west, KALÓ, a Greek restaurant built around live-fire cooking, is replacing María Mulata at 1007 Lexington Avenue between 72nd and 73rd Streets. Eater listed its opening for October.

If HSS meets its end-of-October target, the first weekend in November will be the first time since spring 2022 that the esplanade runs from East 71st Street past East 78th Street without a construction wall.

Ava Anz tracks block-level changes like the East 70s esplanade reopening, and how they affect daily life in Lenox Hill, as closely as she tracks the market. If you want to talk through what a finished waterfront means for your building or your next move on the Upper East Side, Ava Anz is glad to help. Schedule a consultation.