The eastern section of Ferry Point Park, located at a bend of the East River next to the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, is one of the bleakest sites in New York City.
The former municipal landfill is marked by bulldozer tracks and large hills of grayish dirt. In recent years, residents of the
adjacent Throgs Neck neighborhood heard repeated promises that this 222-acre wasteland would be transformed into the city’s first luxury golf course, complete with a new 20-acre waterfront park and a 7-acre community park.
A decade ago, the prospect of that golf course, along with an anticipated downzoning of the area, helped spark a housing boom on undeveloped lots adjacent to the park. Dirt streets were paved, sewers were installed, and hundreds of two- and three-family homes were erected.
But environmental problems stalled the project, and in 2006, the Bloomberg administration cancelled the city’s contract with the private developers who were to build and operate the golf course.
Now, the city has announced that it will build the new links itself.
In it for the long haul
Throgs Neck residents are hopeful that if the plan goes off without a hitch, their property values will rise and they’ll be looking out over a golf course rather than a pile of dirt by 2010.
City Council Member James Vacca, a resident of Throgs Neck, said that since 2000, 300 to 400 homes have been built on what were vacant lots.
“They sold for top dollar,” Vacca said. “I think that they eventually would have been built anyway, but they wouldn’t have commanded those prices — it was the allure of looking out over a golf course.”
Some say the prospect of the Ferry Point Park course has been influencing the area’s real estate market for the past 30 years.
“In the 1980s and 1990s, there were some houses that were built in the area, which people bought in anticipation of the golf course,” said Lynn Gerbino, president of the Throggs Neck Homeowners Association, which still uses the traditional spelling of the neighborhood’s name.
She added, “I would say that some of the houses for sale were sold above market rate.”
Despite the fallow links, data show new homeowners in the neighborhood have not done badly. Figures accumulated by PropertyShark.com show that home values within the 18-block stretch adjacent to Ferry Point Park have increased in the past several years. The median home sales price rose from $315,000 in 2003 to $488,800 in 2007.
“Anyone who bought after 1999 saw their real estate values go up significantly to begin with,” said Marcia Davis, an associate broker with Coldwell Banker. “So they certainly were not hurt.”
However, many homeowners have recently been hit hard by the subprime crisis. The streets adjacent to Ferry Point Park are dotted with “for sale” signs.
According to a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the 10465 zip code, which includes the area of Throgs Neck adjacent to the golf course, ranks 78th out of the 2,205 New York State zip codes in terms of the number of subprime first lien loans.
More shockingly, approximately 47
percent of the subprime loans in the 10465 zip code are in default by at least 30 days.
Increased property values
If the golf course gets built, it could provide some buffer against any potential downturn in property values.
“Certainly, getting it done and looking
attractive would raise the value of homes nearby a minimum of 10 percent, depending on proximity and view,” said Barry Hersh, associate director of the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College.
Dorothy DeMarco, principal at the Bronx-based Town and Country Homes and Properties, said that the houses will increase in value “because it will become a much more attractive and glamorous
location.”
But DeMarco said that she is still not convinced the course will get finished anytime soon. “I have been disappointed before; it has been such a difficult development.
“But it is going to happen,” she added. “It is just a question of time.”
The original Giuliani-era project was one of the largest concession agreements in the history of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Ferry Point Partners, a group of private developers that included golf legend Jack Nicklaus and New York City-based developer Paul Kanavos, won the contract to build and operate the course.
The project had the enthusiastic backing of Mayor Giuliani, who announced in December 2001, just three days before he left office, that he was negotiating with the Professional Golfers’ Association to bring a major tournament to the site.
However, the project was mired in
controversy. Lawsuits centered on both environmental issues and the legality of
the contract between the city and the
developer.
A boondoggle
The course was supposed to have been completed in the spring of 2002, but its building dragged on for years. Instead of becoming a world-class greenway, Ferry Point Park became a boondoggle.
Environmental problems caused by the underlying landfill plagued the project and caused repeated delays. In November 2006, when the city terminated its contract with Ferry Point Partners, the New York Times reported that the estimated cost of the golf course had risen from an initial $22.4 million to $84 million.
Local historian Bill Twomey noted that during that time, truckloads of construction and demolition debris were brought in,
intended to serve as a base layer for the
new links.
In the spring of 2007, months after the Bloomberg administration terminated the contract with Ferry Point Partners, the city issued an RFP for a new developer to build and operate a golf course at Ferry Point Park. The city received just two bids, both of which were deemed unsatisfactory.
So this time, instead of turning the project over to a private developer, the city is taking matters into its own hands. It will be hiring its own contractor to build the golf course, and will then broker a separate agreement with an operator once the links have been built.
In announcing the RFP in January for a contractor,
Mayor Bloomberg said, “Leaving this land fallow doesn’t serve anyone.”
The former landfill still causes problems, which will
presumably be resolved once the golf course gets built. Dust blows off the dirt hills, and people complain of smells wafting from the site. “When the wind blows the wrong way, you get a terrible stench coming from the dump,” said Davis from Coldwell Banker, “but when the golf course gets built, you are not going to have that.”
Vacca, who first started advocating for a golf course at Ferry Point Park in the late 1970s when he was a member of the local community board, said that he is cautiously optimistic. “It’s been a long haul,” he said. “I am waiting; I am holding my breath.”