The land upon which it stands was created on the Hudson River using 1.2 million cubic yards ( 917,000 m3 ) of dirt and rocks excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center and certain other construction projects , as well as from sand dredged from New York Harbor off Staten Island . The land upon which it stands was created on the Hudson River using 1.2 million cubic yards ( 917,000 m3 ) of soil and rocks excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center and certain other construction projects , as well as from sand dredged from New York Harbor off Staten Island .