Advocates are calling on Mayor de Blasio to pave the way for a park in Brooklyn by using eminent domain.
Elected officials and community leaders took to the steps of City Hall demanding the mayor force the owners of a CitiStorage site in Bushwick Inlet Park to leave.
The city offered a $100 million deal in June to convert the warehouse site into the last piece of land that would complete the waterfront park in Williamsburg.
But the private property's owner refused the offer and instead fielded other bids.
"For 11 years the residents of Williamsburg and Greenpoint have been fighting for a park that they were promised," said Public Advocate Letitia James. "They were promised this park in exchange for a re-zoning that has given way to new developments and high rises in their neighborhoods."
"The city gets a huge feather in their cap," said activist Steve Chesler. "They get affordable housing. They're dealing with infrastructure and transportation and now to put a jewel of the waterfront park in a neighborhood that's starving for open space."
The city has been trying to finish the incomplete Bushwick Inlet Park since it struck a rezoning deal in 2005.
We've reached out to the owner of CitiStorage for comment.