Amtrak eager to gauge real estate potential of Sunnyside Yards

But exec at train operator said no properties will be put up for sale in near future

From left: Sunnyside Yards in Queens and Anthony Coscia
From left: Sunnyside Yards in Queens and Anthony Coscia

Amtrak is looking at Sunnyside Yards as part of an evaluation of its real estate portfolio.

The railroad corporation is looking to find an investment partner by next year. That partner that will asses how the train operator could use properties at the rail yard, said Amtrak Chairman Anthony Coscia, according to Capital NY. Amtrak is doing the same for some of the sites it owns in other cities.

Amtrak executives have reportedly been talking to the mayor and the governor about the location, which is one of the largest undeveloped sites in the city.

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“We’ve completed an analysis of what we think we’re going to need for the operating business,” Coscia said after the panel at the Urban Land Institute’s fall conference, according to the website. “Obviously, it doesn’t make any sense for us to sell real estate that we’re going to need to run the railroad. So, we’ve pretty much completed that and what we’re doing between now and March is trying to determine, after subtracting those needs, what sort of developable real estate sites we have that are available that we can monetize.”  

“Nothing is for sale,” Stephen Gardner, Amtrak Vice President for the Northeast, told the website. “We’re not looking to actually develop anything next year. We’re looking to find partners who would work with us on developments strategies for all these assets we own in different cities.”  [Capital NY] — Claire Moses