Eminent Domain Spreads to Williamsburg Waterfront
How would you feel if you’d been smart enough to buy waterfront property in Williamsburg before Dan Doctoroff knew the difference between Bedford and Broadway only to have your property snatched away from you by the city? Probably something like the two groups of investors who are in the process of getting pushed out by…
How would you feel if you’d been smart enough to buy waterfront property in Williamsburg before Dan Doctoroff knew the difference between Bedford and Broadway only to have your property snatched away from you by the city? Probably something like the two groups of investors who are in the process of getting pushed out by the forces of eminent domain to make way for a possible soccer and softball field. This time around, the city isn’t claiming blight; instead it’s invoking the concept of public good. The land, which is bounded by Kent Avenue, the East River, North 9th Street and North 10th Street in Williamsburg, is just to the north of the recently-opened East River State Park between North 8th and North 9th streets and lies at the southern end of the proposed Bushwick Inlet Park that the city’s had on the drawing boards for the past couple of years; the parcel represents phase 1 of the park project. The grand vision for the park extends north from North 9th Street about six blocks to the far side of the Bushwick Inlet. This is far from a done deal, though, according to The Real Deal, which first reported the ED action: Three land owners in the center of the footprint—TransGas, CitiStorage and the Greenpoint Monitor Museum—aren’t taking the city’s overtures lying down. “[The land] was donated and we are not giving it up,” said Janice Lauletta-Weinmann, president and co-founder of the Greenpoint Monitor Museum, told TRD. “It is a disgrace.” One remaining issue to be resolved in the North 9th Street case is price: Typically the city pays a token amount to the owners upfront and then litigates the final amount. The market value is probably somewhere between $100 and $200 per buildable square foot, according to Massey Knakal. It’ll be interesting to see what the final price is. Do you think this situation merits the use of eminent domain?
City Takes W’burg Waterfront Properties for Park [The Real Deal] GMAP
Thank you Brownstoner. We are in solidarity for the more than 100 forgotten employees of Citi Storage who may loose their jobs. Good Luck against Eminent Domain. The City of New York had the opportunity to purchase this site and other Greenpoint/Williamsburg waterfront sites for a Park but chose not to when the land was legitimately for sale (including the infamous Power Plant site). Now, underhandedly, the City is promising parkland through eminent domain. When the property was available, the City did not care about any park.
A summary of what I see in these responses is that the property owners will receive “just compensation” and everyone will have a park. Sounds OK now if you can trust the City’s commitment to this Park. But look into the future. What is happening here could be a City land grab using the word “Park” to gain public support. What happens when the City does not have adequate funds to build and maintain this Park? Two sites are on highly contaminated land. The City does not only have to pay “just compensation” for the land. They have to clean up these sites as well. WHERE IS THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR THIS? Property taxes have already doubled in the area during the last few years and will continue to double for the regular homeowner while the big developers are receiving huge tax breaks. The City is not hiding the fact that it does not have money to build and maintain this Park. At this time a Not For Profit organization of businessmen is being set up to do fundraising from private and corporate sources and foundations to create and maintain this Park. Well if they can’t secure this funding what happens to the park? Will parts of the land be sold to developers to support what is left of the park? Will the land be sold to the City’s hand picked developers? The City can demap Parkland. WHEN THE CITY CALLS FOR EMINENT DOMAIN TO TAKE LAND FOR A PARK, THEY SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO APPROPRIATE SUFFICIENT FUNDS TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN THIS PARK AND NOT DEPEND ON OUR TAXES AND A NEWLY CREATED NOT FOR PROFIT TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN IT. If this does not happen, question the City’s commitment to the Park and its use of Eminent Domain for this Park.
TransGas wants to build a 1000 MW power plant on (or under) the Bayside site. Brodsky (CitiStorage) outbid the Trust for Public Land who was in negotiations for the 4 block parcel way back when, then sold the 2 blocks to the Trust for just shy of what he (& Silverman) paid for all 4- meaning that he got his waterfront parcel practically FREE while ripping off the community- we should have had a 4-block State Park but TPL let the deal get past them. And the Monitor Museum has a commitment from Parks Dept. for the Museum to be located at the Inlet. Considering they have no $$ to build their museum, they might want to reconsider accepting the deal the Parks Dept. wants to offer, but I’m not getting into that discussion.
Brodsky should never have gotten ahold of that parcel, it belongs to the community for a park (as does the other side, which now rises in luxury residential splendor.) The 197(a) plan sited a park there, no luxury high-rise development. Williamsburg/Greenpoint has near the lowest ratio of parks:population in the State. The rezoning could bring 40,000 new residents in the next 10 years. For that property to be a park for the citizens of North Brooklyn is appropriate and fair. Where were you when the TPL deal went south? All’s fair in capitalism and real estate? I don’t want to live in that world. We need more parks, and the market ain’t going to give them to us. Bring on eminent domain.
Maybe I missed something, but as for the Monitor Museum being squeezed out in this deal, looks like the park plan shown in the original post includes a “historic ship” in the northwest entrance to the Inlet.
Could be a coincidence, but looks like they’re part of the master plan already.
Thanks. I’ve recalled the flying monkeys.
I, for one, am delighted to see the city prioritizing a public park, which will actually benefit the entire public, rather than, say, luxury condominiums or a sports stadium where tickets will cost a hundred bucks a pop.
-Gwen
We spent a lot of time thinking about all the responses in this thread and reading this post on brooklyn 11211 (http://www.brooklyn11211.com/archive/2007/10/eminent_domain.html) and have to admit that our orginal post was woefully unnuanced…We still think these property owners are getting a raw deal–but, as brooklyn11211 points out, that raw deal really occurred back when the land was rezoned as parkland. it will be pretty interesting to see on what basis they end up getting compensated. we’ll try to do more digging on what the arguments on both sides will be as they fight over price.
Jon Brownstoner I am not sure if you actually believe what you are writing or just being provocative to get your hit rate up, but I still can’t follow your argument. I guess we COULD have a legal system which favors private ownership of property in the way you suggest, but it is not the one we have right now. I think you posted without thinking and it is time for you to give up your position. Or we will land a park on your house. or get your little doggy. or something like that.
Power Broker is an awesome book!
I agree, I am about 250 pages into the book (it is a LONG freaking book), and I absolutely love it.
Deserved the Pulitzer Prize, I wish I would have discovered it about 10 years ago, but I guess it is never too late – even if I can only read a few pages a day, I love it!