Steve Hyman, Hudson County View
http://hudsoncountyview.com/developer ... al-6th-street-embankment/

Where would that go? It's either 6th St, the alley or people's property.

any news on this. why not allow the current owner to build some buildings along this as is being done with the high line in manhattan. its been what a decade and nada!

http://newyorkyimby.com/2014/07/permi ... 510-west-22nd-street.html

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That's unfortunate. It would have been somewhat of a tourist attraction. Thanks for the response.

Has there been any discussion on the terminal itself (sans railway)? Maybe it could be converted into a marketplace (like Chelsea Market) or some sort of wedding venue/exhibition space/amusement park/some sort of indoor/outdoor sports venue?

It's such a beautiful building with amazing views. Too bad we are going to abandon it anyways.

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I believe that was killed by the Friends of Liberty State Park.

http://www.folsp.org/preservation/friends_opposes_train_tracks.htm

In addition to the Embankment, does anyone know anything about the abandoned central railway station at Liberty State Park? I had heard in 2010 that they were looking to create a tram line from the terminal to Liberty Science Center. Any updates?

Put up a disclaimer. Some will decide against the risk, others will use it anyway.

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I agree with you... unfortunately, I dont think you want to be exposed to railroad contaminants...

I just want this to move forward asap!

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This would be seriously amazing. But all of that isn't even necessary. Just build some stairs, some bridges, and mow a path in the lawn or gravel it. That's it, you have a park at almost no cost.

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Any updated since the federal courts affirmation of the city's position on the embankment in Feb?

What's next?

Anyone have updates on the subject?
This would be a great park to have in JC.

Oh no Danny?

This park is long overdue and should have been built years ago. How about telling your client to leave town permanently and to never come back.

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The Embankment is pretty this time of year:

Please check out the new Embankment Preservation Coalition website. Please become a member. http://www.embankment.org/

Jersey City officials hailing embankment ruling as 'clear win'

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A federal judge last week ruled that the Sixth Street Embankment in Jersey City is indeed a rail line, a decision that city officials believe could lead to the city someday owning the disputed property.

Mayor Steve Fulop hailed the Sept. 30 ruling as ?another clear win? for the city, which wants to transform some of the elevated abandoned rail line into a public park similar to the High Line in Manhattan. A lawyer for developer Steve Hyman, who purchased the 6.5-acre parcel from Conrail in 2006, shrugged.

?It doesn?t give them a park,? attorney Dan Horgan said about the ruling. ?It just exposes this to years of litigation ? it doesn?t get anyone anywhere.?

READ MORE

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what? mind elaborating?

also there's a HUGE difference between killing off panned infrastructure and not spending money on a small, but expensive park

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They HAVE been working on it. They cut a deal, they were going to pay $7 million for most of the Embankment and let the developer put up a couple of buildings, but Conrail dropped the ball.

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1) It's a historic landmark. Options are limited.

2) It was half-owned by Port Authority until 2011.

3) It's deteriorating, and they are already working to keep it from completely falling apart. As it is, parts of it cannot be salvaged.


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1) That wasn't going to be anywhere near JC. It was going to run from Secaucus to Penn Station.

2) Chris Christie killed it. Local politicians had very little influence on the matter, and certainly didn't want it cancelled. In fact, most pols wanted the tunnel, and are still working on a similar project.

I agree with laws are complex....but when you add the fact that JC/NJ did nothing regarding the Embankment, the PowerHouse and cancelled a planned tunnel to Manhattan, it says that there are too many people who simply don't want to spend any money and who want to suck the life out of NY

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IIRC the problem isn't that Jersey City is "sleeping" or "backward thinking" or mired in "debates."

The problem is that the ownership is disputed. Steve Hyman bought it from Conrail, the City asserted that the sale was invalid. They struck a deal, but Conrail balked, so they're all going to court.

The laws involved are very complex, and the situation is very messy. We shouldn't be surprised that untangling it will take a long, long time.

funny how some people lack a vision thing and can come up 100s of reasons for why not to do something.

Not bad with the Queens high line, and while there's a lot of similarities with ours, there's a lot of differences, too.

Similarities: residential neighborhoods and not tourist areas; wide enough for bikes.
Differences: 3.5 miles vs 6 blocks - their's runs through multiple neighborhoods that have a population total nearing all of Jersey City - about 250,000 residents live within a mile of the proposed park -NY Times article; it appears from the article and a brief google search of other sites that the bridges over the current streets already exist, whereas the ones here have to be constructed completely from scratch (building bridges tend to be very costly); NYC already owns the land. Jersey City does not.

There's some useful enough reasons to make some or all of the QHL a reality, and while some people want to make those same arguments here, the differences are significant enough that to equate them as one and the same is just silly.

I wouldn't be surprised - not a lot of forward thinking in Jersey.

If the Embankment gets developed into condos, I am moving. that would ruin the neighborhood.

Looks like Queens is moving forward with their High Line, while sleeping, backward thinking Jersey City still debates.

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/08/2 ... ne-project-moves-forward/

Organizers of the QueensWay park project ? also sometimes called ?the Queens High Line? ? have reeled in $1 million in funding and a feasibility study is finally slated to launch next week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The nonprofit the Trust for Public Land is announcing today that two New York-based firms, WXY Architecture + Urban Design and dlandstudio, will head up the study to determine the project?s cost and scope, and create a conceptual design.

Residents will have the opportunity, through workshops and social media, to comment on the plan over the course of the yearlong study, Marc Matsil, New York state director for the Trust for Public Land, told the Journal.

The project would turn a 3.5-mile stretch of abandoned rail line in central and southern Queens ? from Rego Park to Ozone Park ? into the borough?s version of the High Line. The proposed attraction would offer bike trails, food kiosks, cultural programs and public art installations, and contribute green space to areas, such as Ozone Park, that lack parks.

The Trust for Public Land had issued requests for proposals in March to conduct a feasibility study. Of the $1 million in funding received for the study, the state contributed $467,000, as reported. [WSJ] ? Mark Maurer

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it's still a wall
it's still there being useless

Just wondering if anybody has any news on the embankment these days?

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The Catholic University of America graduate students will show their plans for the embankment next Friday (1/18/13?) in Manhattan. University professor Eric J. Jenkins said the students took on the project as an exercise to determine what cities can do with aging infrastructure.


Did anyone find information on their (the young punks) big plans for our Embankment? I have not found anything.

I want to see if they ripped off my two genius idea?s below in posts #589 and #595. (looking for a good lawyer if they did , although I would be willing to negotiate a fair price with you DT-er?s for use of my idea?s. I like you guy?s)

Architectural students have plans for historic Jersey City embankment

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
January 07, 2013 at 3:44 PM

Jersey City has high hopes for the Sixth Street Embankment property, which officials hope to turn into a park reminiscent of Manhattan?s High Line, but until then some architectural design students in the nation?s capital have a few ideas of their own.

The Catholic University of America graduate students will show their plans for the embankment next Friday in Manhattan. University professor Eric J. Jenkins said the students took on the project as an exercise to determine what cities can do with aging infrastructure.

?What do you do with these things?? Jenkins said, posing a question he said the students hope to answer. ?How do you preserve it? How do you make it part of Jersey City?s life as opposed to leaving it like it is??

The students, who visited Jersey City twice while they worked on the project, will unveil a 32-foot model of their plans for the embankment and the properties that lie just east and west of the disputed property.

The half-mile stone structure that formerly carried seven rail lines has been at the center of an eight-year legal dispute between the city, which wants to use some of the 6.5-acre parcel for open space, and developers Steve and Victoria Hyman, who purchased the lot from Conrail in 2003 for $3 million and seek to develop it.

The city, which contends it should have been given first chance to take the property before Conrail sold it to the Hymans, announced last February that it was close to a settlement with all parties that would have allowed the city to take possession of the property. That deal has since fallen through, and the litigation continues.

Jenkins said it is unlikely Jersey City will be able to recreate the High Line ? the abandoned rail line in Lower Manhattan that was transformed into a popular public park ? on this side of the Hudson River.

?The High Line requires a lot more behind it, if you will, to make it work,? he said, adding that Jersey City?s property is too small for that kind of transformation.

The Catholic University of America students will present their embankment plans on Friday, Jan. 18 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the New York American Institute of Architects Center for Architecture, 536 Laguardia Pl.

The presentation will be held in New York instead of Jersey City because it?s ?neutral? territory, according to Jenkins.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... have_pl.html#incart_river

I think it's time for some maintenance on the Embankment.

A few minutes ago I was standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross 6th St at Erie. I heard a loud CRACK above me and I immediately bolted into the street (thankfully the cars on Erie were stopped at the light.) When I looked back, a dead tree had fallen from the Embankment right where I was standing. A number of branches several inches thick littered the sidewalk. Had I not moved immediately, I would have likely been seriously injured. What if it had been a parent with a baby stroller or an elderly neighbor standing there?

The aftermath:

Embankment Deal Stalls

The Wall Street Journal
NY REAL ESTATE RESIDENTIAL
September 11, 2012, 10:36 p.m. ET

By HEATHER HADDON

A deal to turn an abandoned elevated railway in Jersey City into a park in the spirit of Manhattan's High Line has hit a roadblock, with one of the parties involved balking on a settlement proposed to resolve the decadelong dispute.

The hurdle comes after Jersey City announced in February that it was on the verge of a deal that would pave the way for the Sixth Street Embankment to becoming a downtown park with sweeping views.

Now, in an additional wrinkle, court papers filed Thursday in a case associated with the embankment argue that other Jersey City land situated on old railways could have clouded titles, meaning it will be hard to sell or develop the properties in the future.

The former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks spanning Exchange Place are lined with office buildings, high-end condos, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and parking lots eyed for future development.

The argument is preliminary, and the city and preservation groups looking to save the embankment view it as a delay tactic by the Manhattan investor who acquired the disputed property from Consolidated Rail Corp.

But the investor, real-estate developer Steve Hyman, isn't backing down from the point, and retained a surveyor and architect to buttress his point in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

"Property owners whose title may be questioned face serious ownership issues, including limitations upon the ability to transfer, lease, or mortgage their properties," wrote Daniel Horgan, an attorney at Waters, McPherson, McNeill in Secaucus representing Mr. Hyman, in the 30-page brief viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The embankment?an overgrown stone structure spanning a half mile in downtown Jersey City?has been the source of a preservation battle for years between the city and community groups on one hand, and Mr. Hyman and Conrail on the other. Mr. Hyman purchased the structure in 2003 for $3 million from Conrail, planning to knock it down and build housing in the rapidly gentrifying area blocks from the Grove Street PATH station.

The city sued Conrail to invalidate the sale, and Mr. Hyman responded with about 10 suits against Jersey City and Conrail. Jersey City has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees fighting to turn the embankment into landscaped park that could eventually connect with a greenway spanning the East Coast.

In February, the city approved a settlement that would pay Mr. Hyman $7 million to relinquish the property. Conrail, now jointly owned by Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp., was to kick in $13 million to settle all the pending litigation around the sale. Conrail would also gain development rights from the city to build hundreds of lucrative housing units along the embankment.

Mr. Hyman and Jersey City officials signed the deal, but Conrail declined to accept it within a 30-day window period. The railroad has since offered at least four agreements, including one nearly three weeks ago, said Kevin Coakley, a partner at the Connell Foley law firm representing Conrail.

Mr. Horgan said the most recent offer tipped the deal too far in the railroad's direction, but declined to discuss specifics about the proposed settlement.

"We're not going to sign the agreement. Now we will continue in court," Mr. Horgan said.

Mr. Coakley said a deal has been hampered by a "lack of trust all around," but said the parties are close. "It's Conrail's hope to get this resolved," Mr. Coakley said.

William Matsikoudis, Jersey City's municipal attorney, said the "elements" of a deal are there and he hopes to soon hold a settlement conference before a state court judge to hammer it out. "Let's all just take a deep breath and regroup and figure out how to get this done," he said.

Discussions have continued between some of the parties this week. But while a deal hangs in the balance, Mr. Hyman is continuing to argue in district court for his right to retain the embankment. City and preservation groups sued Conrail in 2009 claiming that the railroad sold the property to Mr. Hyman without necessary federal transportation board approvals.

Mr. Hyman argued in the brief filed Thursday that if his purchase was invalid, then so is the redevelopment of miles of waterfront property that he alleges also didn't go before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board for approval.

"We think we are being unfairly treated," Mr. Horgan said. "If we have to have our property taken away from us, then all those condos and development lots downtown have to go through the same process."

The elevated embankment once carried the Pennsylvania's Harsimus Branch running from Harrison, N.J., to the Harsimus Cove Yard on the Hudson River. The branch also connected with the Hudson Street Industrial Track?a 1.3-mile line that ran in an arch southeast from Marin Boulevard to Greene and Hudson streets before traveling west on Essex Street.

The railway tracks were ripped up in the 1990s as the Jersey City waterfront began to develop into a financial and residential hub. The former railways now run under three high-end developments?the Portofino Condominium, Avalon Cove, the Marbella apartments?according to track maps submitted in Mr. Horgan's brief. They travel down city streets that now contain the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and under shopping parking lots.

Representatives from the buildings didn't respond to request for comment Friday.

Charles Montange, a Seattle attorney representing the city and preservation groups in the district court case, said Mr. Horgan's argument was put forth simply to "wear out" the plaintiffs and had no merit.

Craig Ingber, a partner at the Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman legal firm who specializes in real estate, said public utilities can cloud the title of an adjacent property, but that he thought the argument in the embankment case was more a legal tactic than one with widespread ramifications.

"It sounds like everyone is trying to use what they can of leverage to force a solution," Mr. Ingber said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000 ... 6.html?mod=googlenews_wsj