The Future of the Corner

Last night, when the resolution to sell 255-257 Columbia Street was introduced at the informal Common Council meeting, Mark Morgan-Perez asked about the intended use of the lot once it was sold, saying that if it wasn't going to be developed, it might make sense for the City to keep it until it could be sold for more money.

Morgan-Perez went on to say it was a key corner, and it would be "a shame to see it go to a new owner and nothing happen with it." Alderman Rich Volo (Fourth Ward) told him there was National Grid equipment on the site which made it not "an ideal piece of property."

Because the conversation seemed to suggest that there might be some National Grid infrastructure buried in the ground, Gossips sought more information from DPW superintendent Rob Perry. Perry explained there was no National Grid equipment on or in the lot itself, it was on the sidewalk: "high pressure blow-off and isolation valves for their gas main." These, he said, had been relocated from Third Street and Prison Alley, but he did not explain why this had to be done.

At northwest corner of lot

At southeast corner of lot

In answer to Morgan-Perez's original question about intended use, Alderman Dewan Sarowar (Second Ward) provided the information that the Hudson Islamic Center planned to use the lot as a parking area for the mosque now under construction across the street.
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