Properties had already been bought by the state to make room for the project -- properties that have been demolished and now sit empty.
"Gov. Christie said he had to pull the plug on the tunnel to avoid projected cost overruns.
The state had spent around $29 million on property for the tunnel, most of it in North Bergen.
In addition to the McDonald's land, NJ Transit paid $7 million for a storage facility and $15.75 million for a warehouse property, according to records provided by North Bergen administrator Chris Pianese."
Comments
Greatest ARC property loss: what could have been - TOD
This article is yet another illustration that when a governor, acting under the veil of 'fiscal conservatism' by rejecting scarce federal rail funds, is in fact fiducially irresponsible. And as New Jersey Future notes - also irresponsible from a land development perspective:
"Peter Kasabach, executive director of New Jersey Future, a research group promoting sustainable growth, said that the biggest loss might be the mixed-used development around new transit centers.
The towns "are just not going to have the same kind of supply and demand that you're going to see if the developer knew that there was going to be that kind of capacity for growth," Mr. Kasabach said."
"That growth is going to have to go somewhere else."
Irvin Dawid, Palo Alto, CA