Ikea Dock Destruction: 'Billion-Dollar Boondoggle'?
Is the destruction of a Red Hook graving dock in order to make way for IKEA a very costly mistake for the city? Might be, according to an article in the Post that uses findings from an Economic Development Corporation-commissioned study. The report talks about how important the maritime industry is for our local economy…
Is the destruction of a Red Hook graving dock in order to make way for IKEA a very costly mistake for the city? Might be, according to an article in the Post that uses findings from an Economic Development Corporation-commissioned study. The report talks about how important the maritime industry is for our local economy and says the city should construct seven new dry docks by 2016, including three graving docks like the one Ikea paved over in order to build a parking lot. The findings estimate that the New York port will lose between $50 million and $150 million in revenues over the next five years to other ports because it doesn’t have enough dry docks. Some say building a single graving dock comparable to the one Ikea paved over would cost $1 billion, leading John McGettrick, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Alliance, to call the dock’s destruction a “billion-dollar boondoggle.” What the article doesn’t mention is how much revenue Ikea will bring in for the city and state, though one would think the store is gonna have to sell and reel in taxes on more than a couple Ektorps to clear the $1 bil mark.
Ikea Berth Pangs [NY Post]
Maritime Study [NYCEDC]
Photo of old graving dock by masnyc.
Gee, 10:36, how do you know that the 2nd Ave Subway ISN’T going to cost in the 30-40b range?
BTW the report say it will cost $50-$150M due to a shortage of dry docks (not just graving docks) – therefore even if the Red Hook Dock was still operational, NYC Region would still have a shortage and we will lose some of that $.
So it isnt that the loss of this one dock cost 50-150M – and it is totally misleading to say that by allowing Ikea to fill-it-in, it was a loss of $50-$150M. The ‘loss’ of economic activity (in maritime repair/maintainace) associated with this one dock is a FRACTION of that figure.
Please, give up the anti Ikea rants already. It’s brought jobs to the neighborhood and will bring extra business to both the old and new Red Hook community. You don’t hear old timers whining about Ikea, only the newbies who moved in over the last 10 years or so.
All this sounds a little far fetched –
-1st of all 90% of the “save the dock” emphasised the historical importance of the dock and only a little bit mentioned that the dock still had any real economic future – I can find little that says the dock was much utilized prior to its filling in
-2nd there is no way that it costs 1 Billion dollars to rebuild the Red Hook Graving Dock. Maybe if you factor in buying market rate property ok – but otherwise the Red Hook Graving Dock was essentially a 100+ technology that amounted to little more than a very large trench and the ability to drain. – If it costs a billion to build such a facility – then the 2nd Ave subway should end up in the 30-40B range.
-Finally, if the Red Hook Graving Dock was so important – you have to figure it would be at least mentioned in the report – yet not a single word
McGettrick is a friggin liar. He’s anti-industry and favored converting the Todd Shipyard’s into luxury housing like Marina de Ray in LA.
Claims he’s an enviromentalist while cruising around the neighborhood in his V8 engine.
New York City is no longer an industrial/manufacturing city. This is an unstoppable trend that started in the 1950’s.
Most of the maritime activities, including container ports and ship repair have relocated to the western side of NY Bay in places like Elizabeth, NJ, which is still very much an industrial city. Rosie the riveter and ship building is to us what whale hunting is to Nantucket. History.
Gotta keep up with the times.
I think the new park next to the IKEA is beautiful. demolishing the old, unremarkable, brick warehouses opens up the views, which are really extraordinary.
$50=$150 mm loss over the next 5 years in exhange for 500 retail jobs. Assume that those 500 jobs earn an average of $40K per year and you get a benefit of $20 million per year or $100 million over 5 years. So, sort of looks liek a break even propostion, except there is no cost charged for killing Red Hook with traffic.
The article says the city will lose $50-$150 over the next five years because it doesn’t have enough graving docs. It did NOT say that it will lose $1 billion – that’s the cost of building a new dock. Assuming the IKEA does at least $10 million a year (which is a safe bet) then its a wash, plus some of the community that lives in Red Hook may actually get jobs nearby.
This is more Gargano/Pataki baloney. Short-sighted sleaziness.