Tomorrow the City Council will vote on a plan by East River Realty Company to transform a 9-acre site just south of the United Nations — formerly the site of an 100-year-old Con Ed plant — into a development that would significantly enhance the waterfront and greatly contribute to the economic and social vitality of our city.

This is a huge opportunity for New York City to transform a long-unused industrial site along the East River into an inviting, mixed-use riverfront destination. As one of the last large, undeveloped parcels in Manhattan, this project should be of great interest to all New York City residents. The ERRC plan features seven residential buildings and a commercial building, as well as extensive public amenities long sought by the neighborhood.

Significantly, the project will include five acres of public open space, along with a sunlit riverfront playground, a public pavilion and cafe designed by the distinguished architect Richard Meier, and a three-block promenade with sweeping panoramas of the East River.

The proposed development would create approximately 1,650 full-time construction jobs for eight years, 7,000 permanent jobs, and will generate an estimated $275 million in annual tax revenues for the city and state. With 80,000-square feet of new retail space, the project will help to revive a moribund stretch of First Avenue with much-needed neighborhood services and businesses.

The development will also address a critical need for new office space in Manhattan. The Bloomberg administration has said that New York City desperately needs an additional 65 to 70 million square feet of technologically-advanced commercial space in the coming years to remain competitive as a worldwide business center. The proposed office building — more than 1.1 million zoning square feet — at the northern edge of the ERRC site, near 42nd Street and the United Nations, will help with this pressing need. What’s more, the ERRC development has been designed to accommodate a future connection to the East River when FDR Drive is reconfigured — providing meaningful and much-needed waterfront access for all New Yorkers. Local elected officials and community leaders have proposed creating a riverfront park east of FDR drive adjacent to the development site, which would truly be a spectacular addition to the area.

At a recent hearing on the proposal, one community member described the potential for a waterfront destination as an opportunity that comes along every 50 or 100 years. We wholeheartedly agree.

Developer Sheldon Solow has a well-earned reputation for quality design, and the ERRC development will be no different. The design team features world-class architects Richard Meier, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, and David Childs, along with landscape designer James Corner of Field Operations. Mr. Childs’s and Ms. Taylor’s firm, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, is the same firm that designed Mr. Solow’s iconic 9 West 57th Street commercial tower in Midtown.

Mr. Solow has spent the better part of a decade — and more than $100 million — clearing and remediating the site. With construction ready to begin upon approval by the New York City Council, ERRC is poised to generate close to 700 apartments under the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program for affordable housing.

Moreover, it has reached an agreement with the School Construction Authority to build a 630-student, 94,000-square-foot school, along with a public recreational area, on the site. Families in the neighborhood will be able to send their children to the local public school beginning in September 2012.

It is worth noting that, although construction employment remains strong, there are signs that forces from which New York City has been largely insulated from are now rearing their head locally. Early data indicates 2007 was the best year for construction employment since in 2001. However, this data also indicates overall construction contracts declined by 16% — or $4 billion — with a precipitous drop in residential construction contracts and a lesser but still noticeable drop in commercial construction contracts.

In order for our historic boom in construction to continue, it is essential that New York’s City Council continue to approve the use of private investment in projects that meet the demand that exists for housing, modern commercial offices, and public space.

In recommending their strong support of the ERRC project to the City Council, the City Planning Commission made significant modifications, including reducing the size of the buildings, limiting parking, and nearly doubling the size of the children’s playground. These changes come on top of other design modifications that the developer has made during the past several months in response to input from the community and their local elected representatives.

Now it’s time for the City Council to act. They must decide if this vital project is to move forward. We urge the council members to cast their votes in favor of transforming this unproductive waterfront property into an exciting mixed-use development. There is no question that to do so will appreciably enhance the neighborhood, provide a major economic boost to the city, and give New Yorkers a real connection to the East River.

Mr. Malloy is president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. The BCTC consists of local affiliates of 15 national and international unions representing 100,000 working men and women in New York City.