MTA files to evict co-op for Second Avenue subway work

Residents and retailers at the 19-story Upper East Side co-op at 301 East 69th Street have long opposed the Second Avenue subway project, but soon some may be temporarily evicted to make way for it.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority filed a request late last month in Manhattan Civil Supreme Court to seize the building and compensate tenants and owners who would be displaced for a matter of weeks. Evictions were proposed for six units, including three ground-floor commercial spaces and one residential co-op unit.

The first phase of the project is under way for the stretch between East 63rd Street and East 69th Street, DNAinfo reported. The project will create new subway stations at 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street in time for a December 2016 opening. Part of the construction at 72nd Street, near the co-op, involves building two canopy-sheltered entrances that will use the basement and garage section of the building to connect to the station.

Since construction began in 2007, the MTA has seized 24 buildings through eminent domain, DNAinfo said. [DNAinfo] — Mark Maurer