Notice Details

DEP and DPR are seeking to acquire property from CSX to support the Tibbetts Brook daylighting and greenway project south of Van Cortlandt Park. As part of that property acquisition effort DEP contracted with a title company, Titles of NY (also known as Kensington Vanguard), who completed their research and are now finalizing the title report. Due to the passage of time since the contract was first initiated, that contract will end before we get to the closing date with CSX (expected in 2023, with a deadline of 8/2024) at which point the City will need to provide Title Insurance based on the title search/title report. Since the company that completes the research and title report has to be the same company that provides the title insurance, DEP is now in a position in which we must seek to procure title insurance with Kensington Vanguard, because they completed the title report. As a result, we cannot put out the title insurance work out to bid and follow the typical procurement process. If we were to put the work out to bid, the entire title search would likely need to be redone, which could take approximately 18 months, and could jeopardize the City’s ability to close on an $11M property acquisition deal.