Staten Island site could shift gears to warehousing, distribution

Staten Island site could shift gears to warehousing, distribution A former GATX tank farm on Staten Island, which developers had hoped to turn into a NASCAR speedway, is now being promoted as a possible site for warehousing and distribution.
   The 676-acre site is along the Arthur Kill, south of the New York Container Terminal at Howland Hook and the Goethals Bridge.
   Cushman & Wakefield, which is working as marketing agent for the property, said it is the largest undeveloped waterfront parcel in New York City, offering almost one mile of frontage on the Arthur Kill, the waterway that separates Staten Island from New Jersey.
   International Speedway Corp. purchased the property for $110 million in 2005 as a site for a NASCAR racetrack, but abandoned the idea in December 2006 after a lack of political and popular support for the project.
   “The Staten Island site provides a rare chance to create modern, big box distribution space that will support — and benefit from — increased regional activity,” said Stan Danzig, an executive director of Cushman and Wakefield.
   A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the agency was interested in the property for “port-related” activity.
   For example, through a program called the Portfields Initiative, the port authority has been promoting the development of more near-dock distribution and warehousing as a way of reducing truck traffic in the region and developing brownfields.
   Using the space for warehousing and distribution or container storage would seem more likely than construction of a major container terminal at the site, which would require very large investments.