City pays $53M for 7-acre Williamsburg site

The city took at least a half a step forward in its planned expansion of the Bushwick Inlet Park in Williamsburg, purchasing a seven-acre waterfront site.

City Hall paid 53 million to the Bayside Fuel Oil Depot for the property, located at 1 North 12th Street​, according to public records. ​

That follows the city’s purchase of another Bayside Fuel property in the area, 1 Franklin Street, in 2014. The city paid $4.6 million for that 4.75-acre site, records show.

In 2005, the city announced plans to spend $100 million to construct a 28-acre park on the Bushwick Inlet. It seized two sites – 11 acres bounded by North 7th and North 10th streets, Kent Avenue and the East River – through eminent domain in 2007.

That area – since partially converted from a parking lot to parkland – is called the Bushwick Inlet Park today.

The park’s expansion has hit numerous delays and budget problems, though. ​City officials have said they’ve spent spent $300 million on the project to date.

In March of 2015, the city announced it couldn’t afford to purchase the largest parcel it needed for the expansion, the site of the CitiStorage building, which occupies the waterfront between North 10th and North 12th streets. That building burned down in January of last year.

​The Mayor’s Office and the Parks Department didn’t immediately return requests for comment. ​Law360 first reported the deal.