Los Angeles leaders Friday hailed the close of escrow on nearly 42 acres of property key to the city's plan to revitalize the Los Angeles River.
The city paid the Union Pacific Railroad $59.3 million for the land alongside the river, called the Taylor Yard G2 plot, and estimates its development will cost $252 million, including the purchase price. The state has agreed to contribute $25 million.
"We've always considered G2 to be the crown jewel in our vision to revitalize the LA River, and that's why I have been committed to fighting for the resources to finally return this land to the people of Los Angeles and the wildlife that call it home," Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
"We got it done, and now this vast site can transform how Angelenos connect with the natural world because it will allow for habitat restoration, and open more than a mile of direct access to the river for local communities that have been cut off from it for too long," he said.
The Taylor Yard G2 acreage is on the east bank of the L.A. River in Cypress Park. Development of the plot will connect it to Rio de Los Angeles State Park and with the Bowtie parcel, another state park.
The plot is a side project connected to a possible $1.4 billion Army Corps of Engineers plan to revitalize 11 miles of river running through the Elysian Valley and return it more to a more natural state.
"It has been a process to secure the G2 site in Council District 1, but we have finally done it," said Councilman Gil Cedillo, whose First District includes the land. "G2 is the most integral part of the L.A. River Revitalization Master Plan for Northeast L.A., for it is the only direct access point to the river from the communities in our district. It is the beginning ofthe future for the L.A. River as we imagine it."
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The land is expected to take five to 10 years to develop before the public will get to use the space due to the significant environmental cleanup that will need to be done.
While city leaders celebrated the acquisition of the land, the future of the larger $1.4 billion revitalization plan is unclear. The council voted in 2013 to split the cost 50/50 with the Army Corps of Engineers, but the Army
Corps has only agreed to pay 20 percent. There is also the looming threat by President Donald Trump to cut off federal funding to so-called "sanctuary cities,'' which could end up applying to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is expected to be a target because of the LAPD's longstanding policy of not initiating contact with a person simply to determine their immigration status, and other stances city leaders are taking to oppose Trump.
