After demolition of the Waterside plant, the site underwent environmental remediation and was rezoned to allow for residential and commercial development.

This system was reaching its capacity and there was a desire to create a large new plant that could generate nearly all of the electricity that was needed whereas the smaller power stations could be retained to provide supplemental generating capacity during periods of heavy loads but would primarily function as substations to distribute the power produced by the new plant.

The plans for the Waterside power plant were modified, submitted to the Building Department in January 1900, and completed under the supervision of Thomas E.

[6] The Waterside plant was originally designed to accommodate the projected demand for the electricity that would be needed from customers until 1910, but during construction of the facility it was determined that this limit would instead be reached by 1905.

For this reason, land was purchased on the north side of the power plant between East 39th and 40th streets to develop a second unit, Waterside No 2., which began operations in November 1906.

Ashes from the boilers were brought to the dock in a similar manner of conveyors and hoists for loading onto barges for removal.

[14] In 1937, advances in technology allowed steam that had passed through the turbines to be subsequently distributed to customers, making Waterside an early plant to use cogeneration.

A total of $3,500,000 was spent by Con Edison making changes to the coal and ash conveyor systems for Waterside station to permit the construction of the highway.

In August 1950, New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer wrote to President Harry S. Truman asking if Con Edison's share of natural gas that would be carried in the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline (Transco) could be increased so that the Waterside plant could be converted from coal to natural gas to use a smokeless fuel, but the President turned down the request after receiving a report from Mon C. Wallgren, chairman of the Federal Power Commission (FPC).

[21][22] In November 1959, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the FPC could not ban Con Edison from purchasing an allotment of natural gas in Texas and having it transported by Transco to fuel two of the plant's ten boilers.

[26][27] An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that the explosion was caused by a water hammer that formed when new steam was introduced to pipes that had not been properly drained out.

[30] This came as a result of the company's long-range plan for its steam system and a deregulation agreement reached with the New York Public Service Commission (PSC).

[35][36][37] Con Ed reached an agreement addressing the air pollution concerns of residents near the East River plant and environmental groups in March 2002.

[1] Before its decommissioning, the Waterside plant had been the oldest operating electric power generating station in New York City.

[44] The former site of the Kips Bay Generating Station was sold by Solow and redeveloped with an elementary school that opened in 2013 and a pair of residential skyscrapers, American Copper Buildings, that were completed in 2017 and 2018.

[51] A temporary art installation, Field of Light by Bruce Munro, opened on the former site of the power plant in December 2023[52] and ran through November 2024.