Arts Center Developer Sues City, MTA Over Gowanus Site Pollution

PARK SLOPE, NY — The developers of an arts center planned to stand beside the Gowanus Canal claim the City of New York and MTA polluted their property and should be on the hook for cleanup costs, according to a lawsuit.

Gemini Arts Initiative and BRT Powerhouse has shelled out $20 million and counting to clean up land at Third Avenue and Third Street, the lawsuit states. They can't move forward with their plans to build a 170,000-square-foot community arts center until the cleanup is done, it states.

The law is clear that whoever is responsible for the pollution should pay for it, the lawsuit says.

"The City is the responsible party," it states.

The site at 322 Third Ave. in Gowanus, near Park Slope, is where decades ago the city once had a coal-operated power station, a coal yard and a switching station providing electricity to its transit lines.

The city left behind coal-contaminated soil, a polluted Gowanus Canal area and rotting buildings, the lawsuit states. The Environmental Protection Agency eventually declared the whole canal area a Superfund Site requiring rigorous cleanup.

One EPA requirement was that the developers had to remove more than 2,500 tons of soil contaminated with PCBs, the lawsuit states. Those contamination levels reached more than 70 times EPA permissible limits, it states.

Gemini Arts and BRT Powerhouse didn't know the full cost of cleanup until after they bought the site in 2012, said Luke Nikas, a partner at Quinn Emanuel who represents the developers.

Nikas said even if the developers could have determined the costs beforehand that the city would still be responsible.

"There is no such thing as 'buyer beware' under the environmental law," he said.

Attorneys for the city have yet to comment. A MTA spokesperson said he would have to get more information on the lawsuit, which was filed last week.

Nikas said the project will go forward regardless of the cleanup cost. He said the developers are committed to bringing a unique arts production and education center to Gowanus that will help revitalize the community.

"The funds that Powerhouse is spending on remediation are in effect charitable funds that could be put toward an important philanthropic use in supporting the community and supporting the arts," he said.