Terminal lack of interest puts port redevelopment in limbo.

If you build it, they will come--so goes the popular saying. When it comes to the Red Hook Marine Terminal, the question is what to build?

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, under whose jurisdiction the Terminal falls, seems to be at a loss.

Last year, the agency issued a Request for Proposals, hoping, some said, to create a mixed-use development at the site of a current container port. It would be difficult to find out bow many proposals the PA has received and for what kinds of projects, but the outcome left something to be desired.

"We did get some responses back, but none of them were viable," said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the PA. "We are currently still looking for potential alternative uses for the site."

According to Coleman, one idea that's gaining ground is recreating a cruise ship terminal at the property. Such a project would fit in nicely with the Industrial Development Agency's desire to revitalize New York's waterways. It would also appease those among Red Hook's community activists who are not crazy about plans to gentrify the neighborhood.

"Our members think that the Red Hook piers should be used for some maritime purpose and the cruise terminal, as an idea, fits into that," said Craig Hammerman, of Community Board #6. "Right now, however, they are being used by a container port and that also fits into the vision."

As a matter of fact, the operator of the container port, a shipping company called American Stevedoring, has been fighting tooth and nail to stay in place. The company's executives claim that it provides jobs to hundreds of the area's residents and has helped revive Red Hook waterfront from the wasteland it was in the early 1990's.

"A lot of the community would like to see a continuation of the current container port at the piers--it provides a lot of jobs," confirmed Rob Gottheim, Brooklyn director with Congressman Jerrold Nader's office. "There is no general agreement about the matter at the moment."

So far, however, it seems like American Stevedoring has nothing to worry about. The company's lease expires on April 30 and unless the Port Authority is able to perform miracles of urban planning in a matter of two weeks, the container port will remain at the Red Hook Marine Terminal for another year or so.

"At the point, we've had discussion with the current terminal operator about a possible short-term new lease," Coleman admitted. "So far, however, we have not reached an agreement."