Quote: You're quite right dcj in that this is a well-timed desperation move by Hyman prior to their April 7th initiated action before the STB (Surface Transportation Board) asking that Conrail be able to "fast track" the abandonement process. The normal time for abandonement is 180 days during which all groups, individuals, agencies, municipality, EPA, NJ DEP and other depts have time to file challenges to the now Conrail/Hyman partnership (yes, that's right they control the process AND are a partner with Hyman to develop the Embankment! ). Interesting enough, despite Hyman's continued claim to ownership in lieu of the STB ruling that Conrail couldn't sell it to him (SLH Properties)as they had not abandoned the property properly, the tax rolls still show Conrail as the owner, NOT Hyman: City of Jersey City Online Tax Inquiry

lets all give him a hand for offering to sell the city something he didn't legally purchase because conrail didn't follow proper procedures.

when the hell is this jack off finally going to just file suit with conrail for their mistake and get off the city and taxpayers cases?

Hyman's wife's company bought it ???
They always said Steve Hyman was the owner before in news reports.

Where did this limited liability company come from?

Whole endeavor sounds a little sleazy and now we should negotiate with them?
They lost the case!

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Hyman's plan presents an interesting predicament. If it goes through, everyone saves a ton of money by shortening what will inevitably be a protracted legal battle. But upzoning and adding 4,000 units of housing that far west would mean not using sixth street for a Light rail line would be irresponsible.

UH, If the city and the Embankment Coalition won the case, and now Conrail has to PROPERLY abandon the property and offer it for sale to the city-- where on earth does Hyman fit into this?

HE LOST HIS CASE already!

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Yeah, I don't think that'll change any time soon.

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Is Matsikoudis the same fellow who so courageously battled to preserve 111 First and the PAD?

I'll give Mr. Hyman credit for his audacity. This is a man who lost his legal case, hands down, and doesn't even own the property he is offering for sale. Yet he demands $10 million and a huge upzoning!

By the way, even if Hyman did own the Embankment, it is a municipal landmark. He can't demolish or make alterations to it.

Heaven forbid that the Jersey City Law Department put "time and labor" into the case. I mean, do we actually expect government lawyers to DO THEIR JOB?

Joshua

I agree the City should take its time - the offer smells of desperation. I'm sure Mr. Hyman realizes that many prior appraisals overvalued properties. Even if he could get financing to build homes on the embankment or on newark avenue, who would live in them?

hyman has less leverage now than ever. the city would be crazy to settle with him.
if there's a time for the bureacracy to be diligent and take its time, it's now. if it doens't, there should be outrage.

MAKING 'BANK
Developer sets price for land city wants

Thursday, April 03, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Manhattan businessman Steve Hyman has an offer he hopes Jersey City can't refuse.

Hyman, whose wife, Victoria, owns the Sixth Street Embankment, wants to sell the unused railroad turnaround to the city for $10 million - the amount a city appraisal said the property was worth two years ago.

Hyman believes the property is worth double that now. But to end the legal tug-of-war over the eight-block stretch, he's willing to sell, he said.

But the would-be sale comes with a condition.

Hyman wants city officials to change the zoning for a roughly 20-acre area on both sides of Newark Avenue down the hill from Dickinson High School that his wife's limited liability company purchased from Conrail in order to develop 4,000 units of housing. Currently the land is in the shadow of the New Jersey Turnpike extension.

Development "on steroids," Hyman called it last week, noting he'd want tax abatements and every other incentive the city has to offer. Most of this land is currently zoned for either open space or one-, two-, or three-family homes.

City officials have been trying to take control of the Embankment almost from the time various limited liabilities companies owned by Hyman's wife bought it for $3 million from Conrail in July 2005.

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy wants it for a transportation corridor, while others, led by the Embankment Preservation Coalition, want the property saved for open space.

In a major development last year, an obscure federal panel called the Surface Transportation Board ruled Conrail didn't properly abandon the site when it sold it Hyman.

According to an attorney hired by the city, once Conrail properly abandons the site next month, the city will have the chance to condemn it and buy it for the same amount Hyman's wife paid.

But the city's top attorney, Bill Matsikoudis, isn't counting on that outcome.

"I'd be happy to conduct settlement discussions with Mr. Hyman's attorneys," Matsikoudis said. "A successful (legal) outcome is not guaranteed until the outcome occurs. And . litigation comes with a cost, not only in terms of dollars and cents, but in terms of time and labor."