Brooklyn Pushes Local Millionaire to Hand Over Land for Bushwick Inlet Park

Pictured: A portion of Bushwick Inlet Park. Photo courtesy of NYC Parks

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — Time is running out for a local land owner to save North Brooklyn's most embattled half-park.

At least, that's the message activists with Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park will send Friday morning, when they unveil a dramatic banner at Kent Avenue and North 14th Street.

The interactive signage is designed to count down the days before a $100 million city offer to buy Norman Brodsky's waterfront property — located right in the middle of what is supposed to be Bushwick Inlet Park, as promised to the people by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg — is set to expire.

Brodsky owns 11 acres west of Kent between North 10th Street and North 11th Street. (Land which formerly hosted a CitiStorage site and Brodsky's home, both of which burned down in February 2015.)

Toward those ends, the city has already purchased the land running north of Brodsky's plot up to the Bushwick Inlet at 15th Street.

Brodsky's property is the only remaining parcel needed to complete the park — and the only viable option to do so, according to Friends member Steve Chesler. If Brodsky's land were to be used for anything else, he pointed out, Bushwick Inlet Park would be divided in two.

On June 9, Mayor Bill de Blasio offered Brodsky $100 million for his property, a deal good for 60 days.

"The administration believes this is a fair and appropriate offer," de Blasio spokeswoman Natalie Grybauskas told Patch. "In fact, this offer represents approximately $3 million more per acre than the average price paid for other sites contained within the Bushwick Inlet Park footprint."

According to Brooklyn Paper, though, Brodsky quickly turned the city down.

Paul Massey, an agent with real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, told the paper that Brodsky plans on auctioning his land, and that he has already received "significantly" higher offers than the city's.

Neither Massey nor Brodsky returned calls for comment Thursday.

A June 8 article in the trade publication Real Estate Alert showed Brodsky thinks the property could be worth $300 million.

Citing their own real-estate experts, activists with Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park argue it's actually worth between $73 million and $88 million.

Experts speaking to financial news outlet Crain's New York, on the other hand, priced the parcel between $120 million and $180 million. They suggested the city's (significantly lower) public offer could be a bargaining tactic, in part designed to earn public support.

Among those rallying for the completion of Bushwick Inlet Park is Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who plans to help unveil activists' countdown clock on Friday.

In a statement, Adams called on Brodsky to "come to the negotiating table in good faith so that a deal can be reached."

What if Brodsky turns down the city and sells his land to a third party for a higher price?

The city could still seize the land through eminent domain, although that would require a judge to rule on its worth — aka, lots of time and money spent on court proceedings.

But it may indeed come down to that. Councilman Stephen Levin, who represents Williamsburg and Greenpoint at City Hall, has already backed an eminent domain seizure, if needed.

De Blasio's spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday on whether his administration plans to use eminent domain to seize Brodsky's land if he won't sell to the city. "Our focus is on a negotiated sale," she said.

Through it all, the position of Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park has remained consistent.

"We will not allow anything to be developed on that land other than a park," Chesler said.