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Groups tries to save historic Red Hook dock

By Sara Stefanini | Special to amNewYork

December 20, 2006

The Graving Dock, Red Hook: It's one of the last docks of its kind in the city, and until recently a working tie to Brooklyn's rapidly vanishing waterfront heritage. The dock is slated to become a parking lot for a new IKEA. Civil War-era Address: 1 Beard St. (amNewYork Photo/ Lane Johnson / December 14, 2006)

From the food and cars they buy to the trash they dispose of, a large part of New Yorkers' lives come and go by sea.

Until recently, many of the ships working in the city harbor were repaired in the Erie Basin graving dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn. But the dry dock, one of only three near the city, could soon be paved over by an Ikea superstore's sprawling parking lot.

In an attempt to save the Civil War-era dock, the Municipal Art Society filed a lawsuit last month against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, demanding that it reconsider its decision to allow Ikea to cover it. The complaint is part of the society's broader effort to preserve the East River's heritage as a working waterfront.

The dock is vital to the local economy and provides jobs to hundreds of skilled workers, such as welders and steel fabricators, said Edward Kelly, executive director of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey.

"Ships bring goods to the area at reasonable costs, they don't clog the highways and they're the most ecological type of transportation," Kelly said. "And you can imagine, if there's only one service station for these big ships, how long is the line going to be?"

Built in 1866, the 710-foot structure holds mid-size ships. When ships pull up, they are locked inside and water is pumped out so workers can reach the hull. Still known as the Todd Shipyard dock, after its longtime owner, it was run by United States Dredging Inc. from 1985 to May 2005, when Ikea received the go-ahead to build over it.

New York has two other nearby graving docks, one in Bayonne, N.J., and one with limited capabilities in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Kelly said.

The Preservation League of New York State included the Erie Basin dock in its 2005 "Seven to Save" list of the state's most endangered historic sites, qualifying it for the National Register of Historic Places.

Ikea, a Swedish furniture company, plans to build a 346,000-square-foot store and 1,400-car parking lot, scheduled to open by early 2008. So far, work has begun to clear the site, a company spokesman said.

The Corps of Engineers, which regulates dredging and filling activities in American waters, approved Ikea's project in February, and Ikea began packing the dock with gravel in September, court documents showed.

That authorization, the Art Society charges, violates the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to consider how development might affect sites eligible for the National Register.

In response to the suit, Ikea stressed the benefits it will bring.

"The lawsuit filed recently by the Municipal Art Society is an unfortunate attempt to delay a project that will create hundreds of new, high-quality jobs for Brooklyn residents and will return the historically inaccessible waterfront to the neighboring community," Joseph Roth, an Ikea spokesman, said in a statement. "We are confident that our case is extremely strong on the merits."

A spokesman for the Corps would not comment on the case.

A court date for the suit, filed on Nov. 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, has not been set.

The lawsuit has not interrupted the construction work, said Brian Connelly, an Art Society spokesman. If the society succeeds in protecting the dock, he said, U.S. Dredging would probably take over again.

Trying to persuade Ikea to change its mind, the Art Society designed two plans for a multi-level parking lot that would allow it to co-exist with the dock, said Kent Barwick, president of the society.

"This is not an effort to stop Ikea," he said. "To eliminate a facility like this, in active use, that employs people, is a mistake, we believe."

A tiered parking lot could provide a win-win situation for all, Barwick and Kelly, of the Maritime Association, agreed. "You have to laugh, because Ikea sells products that come from overseas, so it's going to make their job harder," Kelly said.