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Old Posted Feb 24, 2015, 2:17 AM
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Location: Borough of Jersey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by antinimby View Post
What's with all the baseball and track fields in the Bronx? All three aerials have them.
There are schools/colleges in the Bronx. I don't think it's a lot more overall than the rest of the city, except Manhattan.


http://www.nycedc.com/opportunity/su...t-services-rfp

Sunnyside Yards Feasibility Study, Consultant Services RFP

Submission Deadline March 20, 2015 at 4:00 pm


Quote:
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is seeking a consultant or consultant team to study the engineering and financial feasibility of developing atop Sunnyside Yards in Queens.

The purpose of this Feasibility Study is to provide guidance as to the viability of an overbuild project at Sunnyside Yards, and to provide recommendations for the implementation of such a project.

The Project is envisioned as a comprehensive and detailed assessment that considers all of the relevant aspects needed to establish the feasibility of developing any potential program at Sunnyside Yards, including technical, environmental, and financial analyses.

To make that determination, the Consultant shall holistically evaluate specific factors such as the technical/physical configuration and requirements of proposed deck structures over the rail yards, infrastructure/utility requirements, costs, local impacts, environmental issues, and implementation strategies.

The Consultant shall provide and/or procure certain planning, engineering, cost estimating, public outreach, and preliminary design services related to the Project.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/21/ny...epot.html?_r=0

Despite Cuomo’s Opposition, de Blasio Requests Housing Proposals for Queens Rail Depot


By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
FEB. 20, 2015


Quote:
The de Blasio administration moved forward on Friday with a plan to reimagine a Queens rail depot as a haven for affordable housing, issuing a request for proposals to study the feasibility of developing the area known as Sunnyside Yards.

But the study will, at least initially, exclude portions of the site owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — an agency controlled by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose office has chafed at the idea.

In a statement on Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who hopes to build more than 11,000 units of affordable housing on the site, called the project “a tremendous opportunity to deliver on our vision of a more affordable city.”

Amtrak, which owns much of the depot, has expressed an openness to the plan, and on Friday it praised what it called the mayor’s “leadership in advancing this effort.”

State officials have been less charitable. Hours after Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, announced his ambitions during his State of the City address this month, the governor’s chief spokeswoman issued a statement calling the yards “an important facility for our transportation system.”

“It is not available for any other use in the near term,” the spokeswoman, Melissa DeRosa, said.

On Friday, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, John P.L. Kelly, said, “Nothing’s changed from the state’s position.”

The episode is the latest in a series of high-profile rifts between the mayor and the governor — complicated, in this case, by the tangled ownership structure at the yards. (After the speech, several senior officials with the transit agency abruptly pulled out of a long-scheduled meeting to discuss the project with the city.)

Asked on Friday if there was any feasible way for the yards to be developed without the transportation authority’s blessing, the office of the governor, a Democrat, said it would be up to the city to decide.

The transportation authority declined to comment when asked the same question, and Amtrak did not respond.

Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for the mayor, said city officials “hope and anticipate everyone being able to come together and collaborate here.” Mr. Norvell said any eventual plan would preserve existing rail service and account for future transportation needs at the site.

He noted that the request for proposals, from the city’s Economic Development Corporation, was designed to allow the transportation authority’s part of the yards to be included later on.


“At the project team’s option, M.T.A.’s property may or may not be included in the feasibility study,” the proposal said.

Transportation experts seem convinced that a united front will be required to develop the site.

“You can do a feasibility study that looks at just different options for the site, what the engineering and environmental issues are, those broad issues,” said Christopher Jones, vice president for research at the Regional Plan Association. “But certainly to get very far into planning for the site, the M.T.A. is going to have to be intricately involved.”


http://www.capitalnewyork.com/articl...s-housing-plan

By Sally Goldenberg
Feb. 20, 2015

Quote:
.....the vast majority of the site is owned by Amtrak, which has been receptive to de Blasio's idea.

In an apparent move to avoid further conflict with Cuomo, the R.F.P. only seeks a study for the area owned by Amtrak and the city, which has air rights to some of the acreage. Wiley Norvell, a de Blasio spokesman, said the study could be broadened in the future to include the M.T.A.-owned land.

It's not clear exactly how many acres each of the stakeholders owns.

Estimates from the city, state and other parties have varied.

The M.T.A. has told Capital the land consists of 160 acres, not 200 as the city contends, and that the agency owns 34 of them. The city put the overall size at "approximately 200 acres," according to the R.F.P., and has said Amtrak owns 113 acres and that the M.T.A. owns 66, of which the city owns the air rights on 44. The city believes private owners control the remaining acres, which lie at the eastern edge of the site.

Norvell said the study will clear up confusion over the acreage breakdown.


I think in the end, everyone will come together. Amtrak has more say over what gets eventually gets done here.


Quote:
...Amtrak, the largest landowner at the 200-acre site in western Queens, is supportive of his idea of decking over the rail yards and building affordable housing on top, and the city owns air rights on 44 of the acres owned by the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

...Amtrak released a statement saying, "We are working with the city and others to understand what potential exists for this incredibly unique site and recognize and support the mayor's strong interest in advancing affordable housing as part of any major new development."

Nothing will happen soon. Amtrak has said it doesn't expect to conduct a feasibility study until 2016.
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