On June 27 and June 30, 2023, Carter Ledyard assisted the City of New York in acquiring fee interests in four additional properties by eminent domain, as well as a temporary easement, which are necessary to implement Phase 2 of the Hudson Park & Boulevard Project (the “Project”). These acquisitions were authorized by the New York County Supreme Court as part of Stages 3, 4, and 5 of the Project. Hudson Park and Boulevard is a greenway and boulevard in New York City, being built as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project.
Over the last year, Carter Ledyard has assisted the City acquire interests in nine properties that are necessary to complete Phase 2 of the Hudson Park & Boulevard, a project which will extend Hudson Boulevard north to 38th Street and Bella Abzug Park north to 39th Street on the West Side of Manhattan. Upon completion, the Hudson Park & Boulevard Project will result in an approximately four-acre system of broad tree-lined parks and open space running between 10th and 11th Avenues from West 33rd to West 39th Streets. Carter Ledyard partners John Casolaro and Mike Bauscher, and counsel Lee Ohliger, represent the City and Hudson Yards Development Corporation (“HYDC”) as co-counsel with the City’s Law Department.
Carter Ledyard’s condemnation group has been acting as Special Condemnation Counsel to the City and HYDC in connection with the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project since 2005. The project has included the acquisition and valuation of dozens of properties and property interests, including several dozen above- and below-grade easements needed for subway running tunnels, a new subway station, vent shafts, station entrances, and facilities/vent buildings needed for the extension. The project has also required the taking, in multiple stages, and valuation of full and partial fee and easement interests for the construction of street and parkland uses. Over the course of almost two decades, Carter Ledyard has assisted with (a) planning for public hearings, (b) defending the City against multiple challenges to the Project based on various constitutional claims, (c) obtaining the outright dismissal of several claims related to the acquisition of deep subsurface easements, and (d) negotiating settlements of various fee and fixture claims, including agreements with owners in lieu of condemnation. We have also represented the City in connection with multiple valuation trials related to the project, including an unusual bifurcated trial to determine the proper zoning to apply in the valuation of properties acquired for the Project.