The MTA has mapped out the East Harlem properties it nonetheless wants to amass through eminent area earlier than stretching the Second Avenue Subway from the Higher East Aspect to one hundred and twenty fifth Road, based on court docket information.
A petition filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court docket lists the tons and buildings that the transit company says are essential to carve out tunnels connecting to new stations at 106th, 116th and one hundred and twenty fifth streets and to assemble station entrances and ancillary buildings for a line first proposed in 1929.
The submitting marks the newest step ahead for an almost $7 billion extension that’s partly funded by income from congestion pricing. In August, the MTA board authorised the second of 4 contracts for the subsequent part of development, signing off on a $1.9 billion settlement to bore tunnels north from one hundred and fifteenth Road and to revive an current underground phase that has been sitting dormant because the Nineteen Seventies.
Jamie Torres-Springer, the president of MTA Development & Improvement, stated after the August board assembly that the company is “making progress” towards rounding up the East Harlem properties which are important to the road.
“We’re working our way through it,” Torres-Springer stated on the time. “It’s a handful of properties that we haven’t yet acquired and then there’s a set of easements that we require and agreements to underpin property or put vibration monitoring on it.”
Below Public Authorities Legislation, the MTA is allowed to acquire by condemnation any properties or easements it determines are essential to function transit services. On this case, that can contain some within the path of boring tunnels north alongside Second Avenue after which curving westward alongside one hundred and twenty fifth Road to a website west of Malcolm X Boulevard.
A few of the properties alongside one hundred and twenty fifth Road which are listed within the court docket submitting will likely be used to assist development of a brand new Manhattan terminal for the Q line, in addition to the excavation of a 60-foot-wide vertical shaft.
They embody a neighborhood middle for the Church of Scientology of Harlem, which opened in 2016. A Scientology spokesperson informed THE CITY that the church has been involved with the MTA over its request for a sub-surface easement and that the constructing will stay open for “events and gatherings” throughout development.
In line with the MTA, the company’s newest use of eminent area will result in 4 industrial tenants in an affected one-story constructing being supplied cash to assist them relocate. The transfer follows earlier rounds that included taking 9 tons alongside Second Avenue from East 119th to a hundred and twentieth streets for the development of a “launch box” for the large tunnel-boring machines.
Tewelde Debessay, who owns Melover Wine & Spirit in one of many buildings wanted by the MTA, stated he’s hopeful that any complications from the heavy development that’s set to start out subsequent 12 months will ultimately be price it for companies and residents alongside the trail of the Q line extension.
“It will change the neighborhood — but it’s like progress, you know?” stated Debessay, who opened the liquor retailer in early 2020. “If I see anything that’s changed for the better, then that’s a good thing.”
Melover Wine & Spirit proprietor Tewelde Debessay talks about his liquor retailer being in an East one hundred and twenty fifth Road constructing the MTA wants for the Second Avenue Subway part two development, Sept. 18, 2025. Credit score: Jose Martinez/THE CITY
Tunnel-boring machines that weigh 750 tons are supposed to start out carving tunnels between 35 and 120 toes beneath Second Avenue in 2027, based on Governor Kathy Hochul, who has stated the mission is on course to fulfill a September 2032 goal date for passenger service.
MTA officers have beforehand stated that snapping up properties for the primary part of the Second Avenue Subway ceaselessly prompted delays on work on the stations at 72nd, 86th and 96th streets that opened in 2017.
“We are way, way ahead of where that project was in terms of acquisitions,” Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief government, stated after the August board assembly.
East Harlem residents who’ve for years heard concerning the line extending north from the Higher East Aspect stated they’re hopeful they will outlast the development.
“It’s like something going right through your back yard,” stated Andrea Cerda, who lives in one of many East one hundred and twenty fifth Road buildings the MTA wants for development. “We can only hope it’s not too messy.”
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