The economy may be in trouble, but it hasn’t slowed down the city’s plans to build a Bryant Park–style park in Downtown.
Just before the holidays, the city spent $38.5 million to acquire three privately owned lots on Duffield Street and in Albee Square, where it will build the Willoughby Square Park — and the city Economic Development Corporation said it is in negotiations to buy the remaining eight lots that it needs.
“We hope to lease the assemblage to a developer and start construction later this year,” said the spokeswoman, Janel Patterson.
The proposed 1-1/2–acre park was one of the main selling points of a controversial rezoning of much of Downtown in 2004 that allowed the construction of massive high-rises, all surrounding the proposed green core, which will have a parking garage underneath.
