The Sixth Street Embankment, a former railroad property that some have eyed as part of a nature trail, may now be replaced by 78 homes.
Located near the Newport Centre Mall, the six-acre embankment (officially known as the Pennsylvania Harsimus Stem Embankment) is a series of sandstone and granite blocks over which a section of the Pennsylvania Railroad ran starting in 1902.
On July 13, controversial local developer Steve Hyman purchased the Embankment from Conrail for $3 million, and intends to destroy the structure and build two-family homes there.
Hyman’s attorney is planning to attend this week’s Jersey City Planning Board meeting to get permission to subdivide some property.City can stop it
However, demolishing the entire Embankment would require the approval of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, as the Embankment has been designated as a historic landmark by the city.
Hyman’s attorney said he might sue to overturn the historic designation.
Also, Jersey City had been in talks to acquire the embankment by eminent domain from Conrail, as the City Council has passed ordinances in the past year authorizing the city to turn it into a passive park and greenway.
But Mayor Jerramiah Healy said recently that he is hesitant to commit city funds toward purchasing the Embankment, believing Hyman will now ask for more than $3 million.
“I am not going to take taxpayer money to go ahead with condemnation,” said Healy. “I don’t represent just the people in the [Embankment Preservation] Coalition, but the 240,000 people of Jersey City.”
However, Healy’s stance frustrates Peter Delman, a longtime member of the Embankment Preservation coalition.
“Our group and other groups have worked to acquire the funding to move this project forward, and it’s time for the mayor to step up and act,” said Delman. Hyman’s purchase
Before the July 13 purchase, Hyman had held an option to purchase the land for several years. Lawyer Carmine Alampi said it was a “deferred contract” that Hyman had entered into with Conrail in 2003.
Eight sections were purchased, each by an LLC or Limited Liability Company. An LLC allows for the protection of personal assets and no double taxation. Plus, the sections are separated by a public street and could be resold individually.
Alampi said that the property was not bought at market value, since Hyman purchased it as is without taking a mortgage and assumed costs such as remediation.
“We will design the plans and build [houses] immediately within a few months,” said Alampi. “The market is very strong, and there is a demand.”
Hyman will first seek from the Planning Board permission to subdivide a section of the Embankment located on Brunswick and Newark Avenues for six two-family units.
There is also speculation that Hyman may just be holding out for the right price from the city for each of the sections or the whole Embankment, based on his past transactions as a property owner. Some funds available for nature trail
The City Council passed ordinances in September 2004 and in April of this year that authorized the city to take the Embankment by eminent domain.
The city has retained attorneys and appraisal experts to study how the condemnation can be carried out, and the costs of doing so.
City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis said recently that appraisal of the Embankment property is still being performed. He could not give a timetable as to when it will be completed.
“The issue is the funding for eminent domain,” he said. “The city would have to pay market value, and it is clear that it would be a substantial amount of money.”
The city has been working with a group of advocates for preserving the embankment, as they have acquired various grants on a state and federal level, including $1.6M allotted from the SAFETEA-21 federal transportation bill passed in Congress on July 29.
An estimated $3M has been raised through the efforts of the city and coalition to acquire and to start developing the nature trail (see sidebar).
The embankment reaches a height of 27 feet at its western end near Brunswick Street, but is accessible on its eastern end near Marin Boulevard. The steel girder bridges between each of its segments were dismantled in 1996 by Conrail. Hyman’s controversy
Hyman is a controversial figure in Jersey City property ownership circles. He earned notoriety as the owner of 3.75 acres of property on Marin Boulevard near Grand Street known as the Flintkote property, so named because the Flintkote paint factory was once located on the site.
The property was located in a redevelopment area with specific zoning. To Hyman’s advantage, the council voted in May 2002 to relocate the property out of that area, which would allow him to further develop it. But when the change was later brought to light, some council members said the vote was an accident, because the property was listed by its lot and block coordinates rather than by the name “Flintkote.”
Council members such as Ward D Councilman William Gaughan blamed Mark Munley, former head of the city’s Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, for playing a part in including the property in the ordinance, since Munley has been a business associate of Hyman’s.
The issues of the Embankment and the Flintkote property intersected at a March 10, 2004 City Council meeting where Hyman, who introduced himself as “the devil” since he had been criticized at past meetings, tried to trade his option to purchase the Embankment for the council’s consideration of a tax abatement on future development on the Flintkote property.
He wanted to sell Flintkote to a private developer for $25 million, but needed the abatement.
The council disapproved of the offer and voted down the abatement.
They approved the abatement later, at a Sept. 26, 2004 council meeting. ‘He’s not moving one stone’
Residents living across from the Embankment are dismayed by news of this purchase.
Some who reside at the addresses of 200-208 Sixth Street have set up a sitting area under a tree that has grown at the base of the Embankment.
One longtime resident, Elliott, who goes by the nickname of “Pee-Wee,” said that this Embankment holds memories for him, as he remembers when freight trains used to run across.
“He’s not moving one stone. [Hyman] will have to pay me for each stone that he moves,” said Elliott.
Another resident, Aides Alejandro, said she wants to see the Embankment transformed into a public park and is concerned that any development of the site would bring about the eviction of many of the longtime tenants of rent-controlled apartments. She said the property values of her building would rise, causing rents to rise as well. Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at kaulessar@hudsonreporter.com Sidebar How the Embankment got to be historic
In 1998, the Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Stem Embankment Preservation Coalition was formed to save the Sixth Street Embankment from plans for demolition and possible development.
Those efforts have led to the Embankment being designated as a historic landmark by the city as well the acquisition of funds for the embankment to be purchased from the city by the Coalition.
Then it would be transformed into a nature trail for biking and walking that would be part of the Jersey City link in the 92-mile New Jersey portion of the 2,500 mile East Coast Greenway going from Maine to Florida.
Jennifer Meyer, President of the Embankment Preservation Coalition, said that a recent developer’s private purchase from Conrail came as a bit of a shock.
Meyer has been sending out e-mail alerts to Coalition members and other supporters for the preservation of the Embankment.
“The response is overwhelming. I received, in the first day or two, 30 phone calls and hundreds of e-mails from people concerned about the Embankment,” said Meyer. “There is a lot of enthusiasm for these six acres of open space to become a park.”
City Council President Mariano Vega is one of the supporters of the efforts. Vega also was unsparing in his criticism of Hyman, saying that he “has not developed a single thing in Jersey City” and “is always getting in the middle of projects that are moving forward.”
Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop, who represents Downtown Jersey City, issued a statement immediately after being contacted by the coalition about the purchase:
“I am 100 percent, unalterably opposed to allowing the Sixth Street Embankment Property to be developed into anything other than a linear park. …That vision cannot be marred by the economic opportunism of Steve Hyman, who has a history of exploiting properties with total disregard for the community.” – RK