Waste Treatment Project Causing Urban Flight

The City of New York opens a huge waste-transfer station on 91st street along the East River in Yorkville in 2015 — and it’s already threatening the surrounding real estate business. New York has decided to place its very first such waste-transfer station in a flourishing Manhattan neighborhood with many luxury condominiums.

Three streets away from the planned waste station, at 531 East 88th Street, 20 percent of its apartments are on the market. Jessica Levine of Douglas Elliman revealed that “the building is having difficulty selling because of the [waste-treatment project].” She added: “I sold three apartments in this building. I took over the listing from two other agents who had trouble selling.”

Dr. Laurence Orbuch, who lives nearly 10 blocks away from the planned waste-station, told the New York Post that “The waste dump . . . and the stench and the hazard it poses, that was one of the major factors in the decision to move.” The reason for the move was probably not the proximity to the waste-station, but rather the fact that garbage trucks could pass his home heading for the station. The fact that garbage trucks will have access to the station 24 hours a day and pass through the surrounding neighborhoods makes the impact even larger. Victoria Terri-Cote, vice president of The Corcoran Group, put it in a nutshell: “It could have the potential to annihilate the market.”

Many other residents told the New York Post that “it’s going to ruin the neighborhood” and “crater the property values in the area.” Another resident, who’s very concerned about the increase of traffic surrounding his home, said: “We figure it’s better to move out sooner rather than later.”

So what’s the upside of this dilemma? Cheaper Upper East Side apartments in the near future for sure! A smaller waster-transfer station used to be at the same spot up until 1999, and no one ever complained back then. So it’s very likely that all the drama is over nothing. The impact may not be as bad as people predict. So is now the right time for cost-saving investments? Will the city make sure that the surrounding areas are not impacted by the waste-transfer station?

The city, at least, wants us to believe that. The Department of Environmental Conservation says that the purpose of a transfer station is to transfer enclosed solid waste from one truck to another and that the containers are safe and nuisance-free (e.g., no dust, odor, noise, etc.). Still, all that won’t change the fact that trucks are permitted to deliver waste 24-hours a day—and that will increase the noise and traffic.