Mayor Adams stated Friday that phase one of the Queen’s counterpart of Manhattan’s High Line Park would cost $35 million and transform five acres of city-owned land in Forest Hills into a greenway.
The “Met Hub” phase of the project, managed by the city’s Economic Development Corporation in collaboration with the Parks Department, proposes to convert abandoned railroad tracks into a linear park in the High Line style.
The Adams administration eventually wants to develop a 47-acre park that will go through Rego Park, Glendale, Forest Park, Woodhaven, Ozone Park, and Forest Hills.
Adams promised on Friday that the proposal would turn the region from an “eyesore to an oasis.”
“This project, this community wanted for decades,” Adams said.
“Phase 1 will convert abandoned railroad tracks, which have been used as a dumping ground or worse, into a five-acre linear park,” Adams added.
According to a local official familiar with the idea, the project’s design elements will begin immediately, but it is unclear when work on phase 1 will begin.
The feasibility of reinstating the rail link is also uncertain.
According to the official, if the MTA agrees to do so, the city will be obliged to shift gears during the design phase.
While Adams claimed the obsolete rail line, which was abandoned in 1962, would be transformed into an elevated park, Queen’s borough president Donovan Richards said the MTA should still conduct an environmental impact study before reactivating the transportation line.
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