Developer Offers Embankment With Catch

The Sixth Street embankment has long been the focal point of downtown preservationist efforts to create open space and save a piece of Jersey City's history. However, Conrail sold the land to developer Steve Hyman, and ever since the city, local activists, and Hyman have been in a legal battle over the fate of the 8 downtown blocks. The Journal reports Hyman now wants to play "let's make a deal," offering to sell the embankment to the city in exchange for rezoning land along Newark Avenue and providing tax abatements for future projects on the parcel.

Such a plan is unlikely to appease everyone. The rezoning Hyman wants would allow 4,000 units of housing on land zone for open space and low density housing. Even if the rezoning went through, there would be no provision to create a park as local community groups want, or to build a light rail line as Mayor Healy has proposed.