You take the High Line, but they’ll take the Low Line.
A coalition of Lower East residents will present a groundbreaking proposal tonight to Community Board 3 to turn an abandoned subway station into an underground public park.
The park, dubbed “the Low Line,” will be introduced by a group called the Delancey Underground. It would transform the one-acre cavern underneath Delancey Street, known as the Williamsburg Trolley Terminal.
Community Board 3 Chair Dominic Pisciotta said he is thrilled with the proposal.
“I think it’s a really great project and could be a great amenity for the community,” Pisciotta said. “It could definitely attract visitors and could be a boon for local business.”
Architect James Ramsey, a founder of the project, created technology that would channel sunlight from the street using a fiber optic lighting system.
Big box retail?
The MTA currently holds the lease to the abandoned subway station.
“We are open to exploring ways that the former Williamsburg Trolley Terminal could be developed,” an MTA spokesperson said. “Possibly in connection to the development of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area.”
A source confirmed that the Delancey Underground team met with MTA Chairman Jay Walder earlier this year, but the unfunded project — at an estimated price tag of at least $20 million — would have to gain community approval before going forward.
A potential rival option for the space, the source said, is a big box retail store.
Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro
