City moves to seize private land for Hudson Yards park

The city is playing its trump card in a standoff with the Imperatore family at Hudson Yards.

The Adams administration, seeking to acquire a 30,000-square-foot parcel owned by the family, filed a petition Tuesday to initiate eminent domain proceedings, Crain’s reported. The process allows a municipality to take control of private property for public use, paying fair market value.

The Imperatores’ land spans less than an acre between 10th and 11th avenues and stretching across West 36th and West 37th streets. The family also owns the NY Waterway ferry company.

The land is below street level and is crossed by Amtrak tracks. The city isn’t trying to acquire any of the land owned by Amtrak, according to the petition. The Imperatores have owned the land since the 1980s, but provided Amtrak an easement to run trains through it, which the railway started doing in 1991.

The city plans to build a platform to level it with the rest of the landscape. A park would then be created on top. The 150-foot-wide strip of parkland would run between Hudson Boulevard West and Hudson Boulevard East.

Bella Abzug Park already goes from West 34th to West 37th streets, serving as the entryway for Hudson Yards visitors and commuters taking the 7 train to its western terminus. The park is expected to ultimately reach West 39th Street and span four acres.

It’s unclear how much the city might pay the Imperatores for the land. Typically, eminent domain is used when an owner and the government disagree over what fair market value is, or the owner simply refuses to sell.

Edward Imperatore, an attorney who represents the family on real estate matters, did not respond to a request for comment from the publication.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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