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BPC's
'Father' Calls for More River Landfill
By Carl Glassman
Standing on the esplanade at the north end of Battery Park City, wisps of
his bright white hair fluttering in the breeze, the grandfatherly figure
in overcoat and executive-red tie squinted at the Hudson River.
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"It's just water, and it's empty," he said of the river.
Then, turning to the south, his hand swept in the direction of the
neatly developed landscape of Battery Park City.
"See what we've done? Look what we could do. All of this water
could be filled in. There's 50 acres."
Indeed, when Charles Urstadt casts his eyes upon the waters immediately
north of Battery Park City he sees…more Battery Park City.
He sees parks, schools, museums and housing, all the way to Canal
Street.
Think what you will about the environmental consequences or political
plausibility of realizing such a vision. Urstadt, vice chairman
of the Battery Park City Authority, is no idle dreamer. Often referred
to as the "Father of Battery Park City," he was the authority's
first chairman and chief executive officer, a post he held for 10
years.
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Urstadt was the man picked by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to lead the
effort to make Battery Park City happen, often against heavy opposition
from politicians and planners.
It meant adding 93 acres to the island of Manhattan by dumping 1.2
million cubic yards of excavation material from the World Trade Center
into the Hudson River.
As Urstadt sees it, the job is not done. But now he is alone. He has
floated his proposal with Gov. Pataki, he said, but received no response.
And he does not expect support from other Battery Park City executives,
either.
"They've got their own day-to-day problems. They can't get excited
about it," he said. And besides, he added, "They don't want
to ruffle feathers and get in a fight."
These days, the authority's vice chairman admitted, he is not up for
a fight, either. "I'll push it where I can, but I'm 77 years
old," said Urstadt, whose day job is running Urstadt Biddle Properties
Inc., a real estate investment trust that owns more than 3 million
square feet of space in 15 states. "I don't have the time to
do what I did when I was 40. It took me 12 years of trials and tribulations
to get Battery Park City off the ground."
Most recently, Urstadt made his pitch in a speech to Baruch College's
Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute, a group that presented him
its Visionary Leadership in Real Estate Award. He not only called
on Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki to work towards the expansion of
Battery Park City, but he argued for privatizing the development as
well.
"The $300 million that I estimate this additional landfill of
50 acres will cost would come from the $3 billion that the Authority
will realize from the sale of the existing development," he told
the audience.
Urstadt offers the current Battery Park City landfill as proof that
no harm would be done to the river ecology, and dismisses as "obstructionists"
those who would stand in the way of adding landfill.
Such battles, of course, go back to the 1970s, when plans to fill
in part of the river and create a highway platform (the project known
as Westway) were foiled by scientists and activists defending the
habitat of striped bass. And the Hudson River Park Act, signed by
Pataki in 1998, designates the 550 acres of park waters as an estuarian
sanctuary.
But Urstadt, recalling the success of his difficult fight to build
Battery Park City, will continue to dream. And not just about adding
a few more blocks to that development.
"Fill in the Harlem River and create two or three thousand acres
of land," he said. "It would be wonderful."
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