Demo contracts near for Hudson Yards park
The city is planning to move forward with demolition to clear the way for a new 4-acre park and boulevard as well as an entrance for the new terminal station for the No. 7 train for the massive Hudson Yards redevelopment project on Manhattan’s West Side. The city is also expected to award its first contracts to raze two buildings on two large parcels stretching from 34th to 36th streets and 10th to 11th avenues, which will become part of the new Hudson Boulevard and park. And a block to the south, bids are being sought for the demolition of the former FedEx World Service Center building at 528-556 West 34th Street, to make way for the entrance to the No. 7 train on 33rd Street.
New subway station to open this month
The first new subway station in almost 20 years is expected to open this month, according to the New York Daily News. The new South Ferry station in Manhattan, on the No. 1 subway line, will feature an air circulating and cooling system. The $530 million project will include seven escalators, two elevators and three entrances and exits. During the excavation of the station, workers found part of a battery wall erected in the 1700s, which will be on display in the station. The subway station is the first of the federally funded Sept. 11 recovery projects to be completed.
New baseball stadiums cost more than $2B
The new Yankee Stadium and the new Mets stadium, Citi Field, cost a combined $2.2 billion, and the city plans to issue an additional tax-exempt bond of $341.2 million to complete them. The teams are responsible for paying off the bonds, but are paying tens of millions of dollars less in interest because payments to bondholders are exempt from city, state and federal taxes. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that the city will earn a net return of $40 million over the bonds’ life, but George Sweeting, deputy director of the city’s Independent Budget Office, said, “The additional costs that have emerged make it quite likely that the city’s net benefit number is now negative,” the New York Times reported.
Center will distribute $2.3M to help homeowners
The Center for New York City Neighborhoods will distribute $2.3 million in grants to 19 not-for-profit community service providers to help homeowners throughout the city who are at risk of foreclosure. The grants will fund legal assistance, mortgage counseling and education services. The center provided housing counseling and legal services to about 1,000 New Yorkers during the second half of 2008. With the grants, the organization will be able to help more than 6,000 residents this year and provide education services to 20,000 New Yorkers. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn created the Center for New York City Neighborhoods in 2007.
Council president wants Chinatown and Little Italy historic district
Victor Papa, the president of Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, wants to create a Chinatown and Little Italy historic district. If the status is granted, the district would be part of the State and National Register of Historic Places. The proposed district would be bound by Houston Street, Mulberry Street, Baxter Street, Worth Street, Elizabeth Street and the Bowery. The State Historic Preservation Office said recently that the neighborhood is eligible to become a historic district because of its tenement architecture and cultural and social
history, the Villager reported.