The MTA has mapped out the East Harlem properties it still needs to acquire via eminent domain before stretching the Second Avenue Subway from the Upper East Side to 125th Street, according to court records.
A petition filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court lists the lots and buildings that the transit agency says are necessary to carve out tunnels connecting to new stations at 106th, 116th and 125th streets and to construct station entrances and ancillary structures for a line first proposed in 1929.
The filing marks the latest step forward for a nearly $7 billion extension that is partly funded by revenue from congestion pricing. In August, the MTA board approved the second of four contracts for the next phase of construction, signing off on a $1.9 billion agreement to bore tunnels north from 115th Street and to restore an existing underground segment that has been sitting dormant since the 1970s.
Jamie Torres-Springer, the president of MTA Construction & Development, said after the August board meeting that the agency is “making progress” toward rounding up the East Harlem properties that are essential to the line.
“We’re working our way through it,” Torres-Springer said at the time. “It’s a handful of properties that we haven’t yet acquired and then there’s a set of easements that we require and agreements to underpin property or put vibration monitoring on it.”
Under Public Authorities Law, the MTA is authorized to obtain by condemnation any properties or easements it determines are necessary to operate transit facilities. In this case, that will involve some in the path of boring tunnels north along Second Avenue and then curving westward along 125th Street to a site west of Malcolm X Boulevard.
Some of the properties along 125th Street that are listed in the court filing will be used to support construction of a new Manhattan terminal for the Q line, as well as the excavation of a 60-foot-wide vertical shaft.
They include a community center for the Church of Scientology of Harlem, which opened in 2016. A Scientology spokesperson told THE CITY that the church has been in contact with the MTA over its request for a sub-surface easement and that the building will remain open for “events and gatherings” during construction.
According to the MTA, the agency’s latest use of eminent domain will lead to four commercial tenants in an affected one-story building being offered money to help them relocate. The move follows earlier rounds that included taking nine lots along Second Avenue from East 119th to 120th streets for the construction of a “launch box” for the massive tunnel-boring machines.
To the owners of Lechonera La Isla, the legal notice that the building housing their tiny Puerto Rican restaurant on 125th Street near Second Avenue is needed for “permanent and temporary easements” struck a familiar chord.
Lechonera La Isla owner Hector Quiroz talks about the East 125th Street building that being listed as among the properties the MTA needs for phase two Second Avenue Subway construction, Sept. 18, 2025. Credit: Jose Martinez/THE CITY
“Back in 2003, some lawyers came by here to say the train was coming this way,” said Hector Quiroz, an owner of the restaurant since 1999. “So, I guess it’s finally getting here.”
Tewelde Debessay, who owns Melover Wine & Spirit in one of the buildings needed by the MTA, said he is hopeful that any headaches from the heavy construction that’s set to start next year will eventually be worth it for businesses and residents along the path of the Q line extension.
“It will change the neighborhood — but it’s like progress, you know?” said Debessay, who opened the liquor store in early 2020. “If I see anything that’s changed for the better, then that’s a good thing.”
Melover Wine & Spirit owner Tewelde Debessay talks about his liquor store being in an East 125th Street building the MTA needs for the Second Avenue Subway phase two construction, Sept. 18, 2025. Credit: Jose Martinez/THE CITY
Tunnel-boring machines that weigh 750 tons are supposed to start carving tunnels between 35 and 120 feet beneath Second Avenue in 2027, according to Governor Kathy Hochul, who has said the project is on target to meet a September 2032 target date for passenger service.
MTA officials have previously said that snapping up properties for the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway frequently caused delays on work at the stations at 72nd, 86th and 96th streets that opened in 2017.
“We are way, way ahead of where that project was in terms of acquisitions,” Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive, said after the August board meeting.
East Harlem residents who have for years heard about the line extending north from the Upper East Side said they are hopeful they can outlast the construction.
“It’s like something going right through your back yard,” said Andrea Cerda, who lives in one of the East 125th Street buildings the MTA needs for construction. “We can only hope it’s not too messy.”
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