Port of N.Y.-N.J. examining former tank farm site

Port of N.Y.-N.J. examining former tank farm site The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is looking at the possible purchase of a 676-acre tract of waterfront property on Staten Island south of the New York Container Terminal at Howland Hook.
   Richard Larrabee, director of the port department of the port authority, said a group at the agency is evaluating whether it should buy the former GATX tank farm along the Arthur Kill.
   International Speedway Corp. had purchased the property for $110 million in 2005 as a site for a NASCAR racetrack, but abandoned the idea in December 2006 after community opposition to the idea.
   Stan Danzig, an executive director of Cushman and Wakefield, the real estate firm hired by International Speedway to sell the property, said that while no price had been put on the property, the current owners “would like to recover as much as possible.”
   Cushman and Wakefield has been marketing the property to developers, shipping companies and terminal operators.
   “Ultimately we think it will be on the scale or greater than Howland Hook,” said Danzig, referring to the large container terminal to the north of the tank farm.
   Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro said he supports development of the project saying it would bring jobs to local residents.
   Water depth in the channel leading to the former GATX terminal is 38 feet, and ships face air draft restrictions from the Goethals Bridge and the Staten Island Railway lift bridge. The Howland Hook Terminal is north of those bridges. That might make the terminal unsuitable for very large container ships. But Danzig said, “we think there will be some use of the bulkhead.”
   Larrabee said at one time the site was looked at as a possible site for car carriers, but he notes the curving channel leading to the site and the bridges might make navigating difficult for today’s long car carriers with their tall, wind-catching superstructures.
   The growing size of car carriers was highlighted just this week when the port was visited by the newest and largest car carrier in the world, the Faust, a 748-foot ship operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics.
   Larrabee said there are many other potential uses for the property including warehousing and distribution, placement of dredge spoil, and use of land for remediation when work is done at other sites in the harbor. He noted that the property needs the addition of nearly 4 million cubic feet of land to bring it above the 100-year flood plain.
   He also noted there has been some discussion of using the property as a wind farm.