Brooklyn Life

Homes, Beloved Businesses Will Have to Vacate While MTA Repairs M Track in Bushwick

More than two dozen homes and neighborhood stores including Little Mo and Harvest Cyclery will have to be vacated for six to 10 months or even longer while the MTA demolishes and rebuilds the elevated track between Myrtle Avenue, Broadway, Bushwick and Ditmars Street in Bushwick.

The elevated tracks just a few blocks away on Myrtle Avenue and Wilson. Photo by Mary Hautman

by Barbara Eldredge

04/19/2016 3 minute 0

More than two dozen homes and businesses, including the Little Mo coffee shop and Harvest Cyclery, will have to be left empty for six to 10 months — or even longer — while the MTA demolishes and rebuilds an elevated track where the M train runs through the backyards of the buildings on a triangular block located between Myrtle Avenue, Broadway, Bushwick and Ditmars Street in Bushwick.

MTA documents show the transit agency has determined that it must totally demolish and rebuild the section of track near where the M line meets up with the J and Z, Newsday and DNAinfo reported.

Board members approved the plan to have the properties vacated for construction on the block, and the agency plans to provide temporary homes and compensation for those residents and businesses displaced by the construction.

“If negotiated agreements cannot be reached, MTA will commence condemnation proceedings in state court to temporarily vacate occupants,” reads a summary of the finance meeting discussing the project. Yup. The MTA will use eminent domain to empty the properties temporarily if residents and businesses don’t leave voluntarily.

The nine buildings contain some 26 apartments and two businesses. They must vacate by summer 2017, according to DNAinfo.

News of the plan comes at a time when Bushwick and Williamsburg residents are girding for a lengthy shutdown of the L train. In fact, the M train repairs in Bushwick and Queens are intended to prepare the system to carry extra riders while the MTA works on the L train, according to an earlier story in DNAinfo.

While the repairs are carried out, a shuttle will take over part of the M line service. The closely spaced L and M lines will be needed as alternate routes while each is out of service.