Also known as the Atlantic Metroport at East 34th Street, it is a public heliport owned by New York City and run by the Economic Development Corporation.

[2][3][4] In 1965, a helipad opened on the roof of the Pan Am Building on Manhattan's East Side, despite opposition to its location away from the waterfron.

[5] In 1966, New York City Mayor John Lindsay asked the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and Port of New York Authority to study a new facility east of First Avenue between East 36th and 38th streets that would include a 2,000-space parking garage with a rooftop heliport that could provide intercity passenger service; the facility was never built for lack of money.

[12][13][14][15] The heliport was built on a concrete bulkhead that had been used by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and before that had been the site of the original East 34th Street Ferry Landing.

[12][16][17] The East 34th Street Heliport was built to handle about 20 private and charter flights per day of four-passenger helicopters.

[21][22] In 1979, WCBS-TV contracted with Island Helicopters to base a Bell LongRanger at the heliport to rapidly deploy reporters and film crews around the area, including to the suburbs, and to provide live television coverage from the air.

As part of its original dispute with the city over unpaid rent, the company had agreed to apply for a renewal of the special permit for the heliport and began to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The city, through its Economic Development Corporation (EDC), later assumed responsibility for completing the EIS as part of the second dispute over unpaid rent.

[43][44][45] The city then moved to evict National Helicopter from the East 34th Street Heliport over its failure to pay $700,000 in back rent.

[46] National Helicopter filed for federal bankruptcy protection in an attempt to prevent the eviction, but the company's request was dismissed.

[51] In February 2007, US Helicopter began providing passenger service from the 34th Street Heliport to JFK and Newark airports.

Boats in the nearby East River require pilots to be careful when approaching the heliport's landing pad.