Found this browsing the web. The article is a.little vague but I believe they are still talking about the effects of the salt soaked ground from hurricane sandy:

In addition to some of the esplanade trees, two willow trees next to the Museum of Jewish Heritage and a dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) at the junction of the esplanade and Third Place (just north of South Cove) have died and will have to be removed.The Metasequoia will be replaced with a Taxodium distichum, whose common name is âÂÂbald cypressâ or âÂÂswamp cypress.â These trees are able to handle excess salt. Taxodium fossils from around 100 million years ago have been found in North America, indicating the hardiness of this species. They were alive during the time of the dinosaurs.Battery Park City was not the only park to be affected by SandyâÂÂs inundation. âÂÂAt Brooklyn Bridge Park, they lost all their Metasequoias but none of their Taxodiums,â Fleisher observed.

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I wonder what size trees they had.

Here is a link that might be useful: Downtown express article