The city has purchased another parcel of land along the Williamsburg waterfront, but it's still not the 11-acre CitiStorage site local residents have been demanding the city acquire.
This time the city has shelled out $53 million for a seven-acre property located at 1 North 12th Street that was owned by the Bayside Fuel Oil Depot, The Real Deal reports.
The property is part of the larger Bushwick Inlet Park site, that was promised to residents as part of the 2005 rezoning of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. In exchange for large scale development in the neighborhood, the city had promised residents a 28-acre park on the waterfront.
Only part of that park has been realized so far with the construction of a soccer field and a community building with a green roof. However the city's most recent purchase adds to some of the other parcels of land they have already acquired. A couple of properties were acquired through eminent domain shortly after the rezoning. The city also purchased another lot owned by Bayside Fuel in 2014 for $4.6 million.
The most contentious, yet-to-be-purchased site however is the 11-acre CitiStorage site that sits on Kent Avenue between North 10th and North 12th Streets. Local residents renewed efforts to urge the city to acquire the property after the CitiStorage building was destroyed in a fire last year. Currently the city has already spent $300 million on building and acquiring parcels at Bushwick Inlet Park.
The owner of the CitiStorage site has asked for upwards of $200 million for the land, but city officials have gone on record to say the property is unaffordable.