Blog

First-Ever Overnight Camp­ing Retreat Com­ing to Gov­er­nors Island this Season!

Feb 7, 2018 9:30 am

Today, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced that for the first time, New York­ers will be able to sleep under the stars in their own city on Gov­er­nors Island! Begin­ning in May, Col­lec­tive Hotels & Retreats will bring unique, tem­po­rary sea­son­al lodg­ing against the back drop of the Island’s icon­ic views of the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line, New York Har­bor and Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty. As part of their oper­a­tion, Col­lec­tive will open a new pub­lic lawn with free pro­gram­ming and new din­ing options for all vis­i­tors to the Island dur­ing the pub­lic sea­son, and is com­mit­ted to part­ner­ing with local non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions to offer oppor­tu­ni­ties for NYC youth to expe­ri­ence camp­ing on the Island.

As part of a three-year license agree­ment announced today, Col­lec­tive Retreats will trans­form six acres of the Island’s West­ern Devel­op­ment Zone into a unique, envi­ron­men­tal­ly-friend­ly overnight lodg­ing retreat with unob­struct­ed views of the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty. Col­lec­tive Gov­er­nors Island, a New York City Retreat will accom­mo­date up to 100 overnight guests who will be able to select from a range of lodg­ing options. The com­pa­ny cur­rent­ly oper­ates in the Hud­son Val­ley and in Big Sky Moun­tain near Yel­low­stone Nation­al Park. Col­lec­tive Gov­er­nors Island is its first ven­ture in New York City.

Col­lec­tive Retreats will also cre­ate a new­ly land­scaped pub­lic lawn on the site with spe­cial events and pro­gram­ming such as live music, inno­v­a­tive din­ing, recre­ation, well­ness activ­i­ties and much more. Dur­ing the Island’s pub­lic hours, the site’s lawn and din­ing options will be open to all Island vis­i­tors. In addi­tion, Col­lec­tive Gov­er­nors Island will host spe­cial com­mu­ni­ty nights for non-prof­it youth orga­ni­za­tions, mak­ing the site acces­si­ble for New York City kids to expe­ri­ence a night on the Island under the stars. For more about Col­lec­tive Gov­er­nors Island, vis­it www​.col​lec​tivere​treats​.com.

Late last year, Col­lec­tive Retreats respond­ed to a Request for Pro­pos­als (RFP) that The Trust issued in Octo­ber 2017. The RFP sought inter­im, tem­po­rary enter­tain­ment and recre­ation­al uses for the West­ern Devel­op­ment Zone, a flat paved site locat­ed on the South­ern por­tion of Gov­er­nors Island. The Trust received a broad range of pro­pos­als that were eval­u­at­ed based on impact to Island oper­a­tions, fit with the over­all char­ac­ter of the Island, demon­strat­ed oper­a­tional expe­ri­ence and pro­posed fee offer. These new inter­im uses for the West­ern Devel­op­ment Zone des­ig­nat­ed today will offer fresh, excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence the Island in new ways. Site fees gen­er­at­ed by these inter­im uses will go towards fund­ing the Island’s oper­a­tions and stew­ard­ship of over 90 acres of pub­lic open space.

Pho­tos by Kate Osborne and Tim­o­thy Schenck