City underestimated cost of park land condemnation

From NY World via Brownstoner:

The East River waterfront where Williamsburg meets Greenpoint is a jewel in the city’s plan to open the shore of North Brooklyn to the public – and the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation is paying dearly for it. The Bloomberg administration is now obligated to pay more than $122 million to acquire waterfront land from two private property owners. Yet two years ago, city lawyers had claimed the property was worth only $20 million.

So far, the city has spent or committed a total of $200 million to acquiring real estate for Bushwick Inlet Park. More than one-third of the park site remains in private hands, and the city has informed property holders that it has no more funds to spend. The future of the project, known as Bushwick Inlet Park, is now uncertain.

The rezoning plan called on the City of New York to condemn and acquire 28 acres of privately owned real estate to create the park. So far it has been able to obtain only about 16 acres, at a cost many times greater than the Bloomberg administration’s projections.

Last year, the city’s Law Department reached a settlement with two waterfront property owners in a condemnation case: It agreed to pay $28.7 million for a parcel at 50 Kent Avenue and $93.4 million for 86 Kent Avenue. Documents submitted in 2009 by the city’s Law Department show that the city had earlier claimed the two sites were worth just $6.4 million and $13.6 million respectively.

The Parks Department has also so far paid $18 million to the owners of a former fuel oil tank depot directly to their north, who had failed in their application to build a new power plant at the site. The city has budgeted to pay another $60 million toward acquisition of that land over the next four years.