“Hollywood on the Hudson” was the nickname of the proposed park and entertainment center over the dilapidated Pier 55 on the Hudson River off Manhattan. The project was backed by billionaire American media executive Barry Diller and American film and theatrical producer Scott Rudin. “For once, ‘Hollywood on the Hudson’ is not an exaggeration,” Steve Cuozzo wrote in the New York (NY) Post on November 17, 2014.
 
The project faced some legal opposition and Diller pulled his support for “Hollywood on the Hudson” in September 2017.
 
         
New York (NY) Post 
Pier 55 gets $130M bid to create an ‘island oasis’
By Steve Cuozzo November 17, 2014 | 12:09am
For once, “Hollywood on the Hudson” is not an exaggeration.
 
A spectacular new public park out on the Hudson River off West 13th Street will feature entertainment “programmed” by top showbiz talent led by Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin.
 
More remarkably, most of its estimated $130 million construction cost will be funded by a $100 million-plus gift from the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. The city is putting in only $17 million, and the foundation is responsible for any cost overruns.
 
Curbed—New York
$130 Million ‘Pier55’ Park Looks Like Something Out of Avatar
BY JEREMIAH BUDIN NOV 17, 2014, 11:05AM EST
Billionaire media mogul Barry Diller and his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, are donating $130 million to build a futuristic-looking 2.7 acre park in the Hudson River. If this is the first you’re hearing about this, you’re not alone—after Diller was approached by the Hudson River Park Trust two and a half years ago about helping to replace the crumbling Pier 54, they planned the park basically in secret, with Diller’s commitment rising from $35 million to $130 million as the project became increasingly ambitious
           
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Norma Knows New York City
December 23, 2014 ·
Hollywood on the Hudson! Pier 55 will be an island oasis… with backers like Scott Rudin and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, it’s sure to be a hot spot. Features to include a 700-seat amphitheater with a 2.7-acre park and performance space… Esplanade construction is to start in 2015 and on the pier in 2015, with completion in late 2018 or early 2019. Something to look forward to!
 
New York (NY) Post
‘Hollywood on the Hudson’ construction halted by appeals court
By Julia Marsh June 30, 2016 | 8:55pm
A Manhattan appeals court stopped construction on a $130 million park project dubbed “Hollywood on the Hudson,” which is being funded by media exec Barry Diller.
 
Workers were to install pilings at the West 13th Street development over dilapidated Pier 55 on July 5 after a lower-court judge approved the project in April.
 
New York (NY) Post
‘Hollywood on the Hudson’ gets green light from appeals court
By Julia Marsh September 8, 2016 | 7:21pm
The controversial “Hollywood on the Hudson” park project is back on track thanks to a court ruling Thursday.
 
A Manhattan appeals court green-lighted the $130 million project — which has been a ping-pong ball in the state legal system — by tossing out a challenge by a group of activists.
 
New York (NY) Post
Billionaire scraps plans for $100M ‘Hollywood on the Hudson’
By Julia Marsh September 13, 2017 | 7:50pm | Updated
Billionaire Barry Diller has yanked a $100 million plan to transform a rotting Hudson River pier off W. 13th Street into a 2.7-acre park with grassy fields and a 700-person amphitheater, following a series of lawsuits.
 
In an email to supporters of the project, the media mogul cited “huge escalating costs” of the suits, that would inevitably continue over the three years of the building process, as deciding factors in pulling the plug.
 
Curbed—New York
Barry Diller, city officials weigh in on the demise of Pier 55’s floating park
“The opponents should have been more willing to seek compromise”
BY ZOE ROSENBERG@ZOE_ROSENBERG SEP 15, 2017, 11:57AM EDT
Now that billionaire businessman and philanthropist Barry Diller has officially pulled his financial support for the “floating park” for Pier 55 designed by Thomas Heatherwick, effectively sinking the ambitious plan, those involved have stepped forward to voice their opinions on how it all went down.
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Diller, the chairman of media company IAC, pledged to donate a nine-digit sum towards creating the park under the agreement that Oscar-winning movie producer Scott Rudin, theater director Stephen Daldry, and playwright George Wolfe would head up a board that would select acts to perform at the amphitheater. (This agreement lead to the pier park’s nickname of “Hollywood on the Hudson.”) It was later revealed that the public park could be closed up to five times a month to host private shows.