WILLIAMSBURG — The city offered $100 million to the owner of a hotly contested piece of waterfront property Thursday to complete the land acquisition for the long-promised Bushwick Inlet Park, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a tweet.
The offer on the 11-acre CitiStorage site, owned by Norman Brodsky, comes after years of pressure from local residents and elected officials to get the city to make good on their promise.
"North Brooklyn deserves Bushwick Inlet Park," de Blasio wrote in a tweet, where he attached a copy of the letter sent by Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen to Brodsky. "Today, NYC made a formal & fair offer to acquire the CitiStorage site."
North Brooklyn deserves Bushwick Inlet Park. Today, NYC made a formal &
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 9, 2016
fair offer to acquire the CitiStorage site. pic.twitter.com/ol7PCwd3Rx
In addition to the $100 million for the Brodsky property, the city set aside $225 million to purchase other land, demolish buildings and fuel tanks and do remediation work at other sites in preparation of park construction.
Until the mayor's tweet, the city hadn't given any details about its plan to acquire the CitStorage property, which sits in the middle of two other sections of future parkland, located near the intersection of North 11 Street and Kent Avenue.
Brodsky was reportedly hoping to fetch more than $200 million, but an appraisal of the land obtained by Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park put its value at around $100 million, due to the fact it would have to be rezoned in order for residential development to occur there.
Brodsky could not immediately be reached for comment.
Advocates celebrated the city's offer after waiting 10 year for the park.
"We’re grateful and energized that the city has take a bold move to try to get this done," said Steve Chesler, a activist with Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park who’ve been pushing the city to complete the green space since a massive fire destroyed one of the warehouses on the CitiStorage site. "It’s time for the community to get what they were promised."
