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NEW YORK | Willets Point Development (Flushing)
http://www.nycedc.com/NR/rdonlyres/D...agramLarge.gif
With the Willets Point project, the City seeks to establish an urban renewal area that would improve environmental conditions in the Willets Point area. The mixed-use plan will create a new regional destination that includes new housing options, many new local jobs and an overall improvement in the quality of life for area residents. Willets Point Neighborhood The Willets Point Development District (the “District”) is located in the heart of northern Queens, adjacent to Shea Stadium, the USTA National Tennis Center, and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The District is located at the intersection of several major arterial highways. It is easily accessible to the entire New York City metropolitan area via the Long Island Rail Road and the No. 7 subway line, and is located in close proximity to both LaGuardia and JFK International Airports. Plan for Urban Renewal The City seeks to initiate a rezoning and establish an urban renewal area that creates a comprehensive land use, infrastructure, and development plan for the District. Willets Point would serve as a world-class example of superior urban design and development. The plan's ultimate goals include: * Improving environmental conditions in Willets Point * Providing new affordable and market rate housing * Promoting economic growth and job creation through additional private investment * Creating a new regional destination * Improving the quality of life for area residents Redevelopment of the District is representative of the City’s long-term planning and sustainability goals. It would not only eliminate degradation of the natural environment, but also promote green building and sustainable design practices. More Information About Willets Point To view the Downtown Flushing Development Framework, please visit www.downtownflushing.com. As the project enters the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and environmental review in 2007, NYCEDC will continue to work with partner City agencies in connection with the project design and construction. You can also view the recently released Environmental Assessment Statement (PDF 847 KB) and Draft Scope of Work for the Environmental Impact Statement (PDF 1.3 MB) to learn more about the Willets Point project. |
Aerial photos from AntiNimby
AntiNimby posted these aerial photos in the CitiField thread:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/4...pointneqg1.jpg http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/4...pointnwuk4.jpg http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3...pointswuy1.jpg |
Here's a ground level shot:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/194/4...d99774.jpg?v=0 |
Courtesy of NYguy:
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http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...d=574902&rfi=6
More Details Disclosed Of Willets Point Overhaul http://images.zwire.com/local/Z/Zwir...27370_T638.jpg This artist’s rendering shows how Willets Point could look when redeveloped. by Liz Rhoades, Managing Editor 05/03/2007 Promising a school, affordable housing and plenty of green space, Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday unveiled plans for the Willets Point redevelopment project at the Queens Museum of Art. The 60-acre site — also known as the Iron Triangle — has been eyed for years as a prime area for renewal. Long considered an eyesore, it is situated across the street from Shea Stadium and across the Flushing River from downtown Flushing. The roads are unpaved and there are no sewers. It is occupied primarily by car junkyards and repair garages. “It is one of the bleakest parts of the borough, but has the most promise,” the mayor said. “It will be the next great neighborhood.” Promising environmentally sensitive building technology, he said Willets Point would be a model for sustainable development. But first, the contaminated land must be cleaned up, which will only be undertaken once all businesses and establishments there have left. The city is currently considering seven proposals by developers, but will not select the winner until after the formal land use review is concluded, probably in the summer or fall of 2008. An environmental review began on Tuesday. The mayor’s plan calls for 5,500 residential units affordable to a variety of income levels; a 650-seat school; eight acres of open space; 11,000 parking spaces and room for office space and retail. A convention center, geared for mid-size trade shows, would be the only one in the city outside Manhattan. Bloomberg emphasized that it is critical for the city to relocate the 250 businesses located in Willets Point. To that end, the city is setting up a business relocation and workforce assistance plan this summer that will help find new locations and assist workers, many of whom are illegal immigrants. According to the city’s Economic Development Corp., Willets Point has 1,300 workers, with 400 of them undocumented. The city will provide job training and placement service, legal immigration services, English as a Second Language and General Educational Development test preparation for them. The redevelopment plan is meeting with resistance from Willets Point business owners, who say they want to remain. Daniel Sambucci attended the mayor’s announcement and said afterward that he’s had an auto salvage business for 50 years. “I want to stay, but it looks like it’s impossible,” he said. “Where are they going to move us in Queens?” Those sentiments were echoed later during an environmental review of the project held at the Flushing Library. Workers picketed outside the building, saying they don’t want eminent domain. The mayor, however, said in his speech he does not want to use eminent domain, which is the seizing of property for public use without the owner’s consent. “Willets Point is a blight,” he said. “We have to move ahead and not stay in the Stone Age. We are cognizant of their (businesses’) rights, but we have to build for the future and we will do that.” It is expected that the environmental cleanup at Willets Point could begin in 2010 and construction completed in 2017. |
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God, just the thought of those junkyards remaining another day is sickening. Btw, those greedy business owners who are protesting are just trying to shake down the city for as much money as they possibly can before they move. Simple greed on the part of these junkyard owners that's all. |
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The Willets Point location has historical significance on several levels:
The town of Flushing was first settled in 1645 under charter of the Dutch West India Company.... By the 1850s, a second crossing, Strong's Causeway was built near the present-day Long Island Expressway, extending Corona Avenue towards Flushing. This crossing was located near the confluence of Horse Brook and the Flushing River. In the mid-19th Century, the growing city of Brooklyn gave the land around the river to the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company, which turned the salt marshes into landfill. The pollution was chronicled by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby, where Jay Gatsby observed the "valley of ashes" on his train ride between Manhattan and Long Island. In 1936, Robert Moses proposed closing the ash landfill and transforming it into a park through its use as a World Fair site. With the exception of the Willets Point triangle, the landfill was leveled, the riverbed was straightened, and the southern part of the river was deepened to form the Meadow and Willow lakes. -- Wikipedia In the Great Gatsby: CHAPTER II The opening description of the valley of ashes, watched over by the brooding eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg, has been analyzed again and again. Fitzgerald's friend and editor, Maxwell Perkins, wrote to Scott on November 20, 1924: "In the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg various readers will see different significances; but their presence gives a superb touch to the whole thing: great unblinking eyes, expressionless, looking down upon the human scene. It's magnificent." Later in the same letter Perkins concludes, "...with the help of T. J. Eckleburg... you have imported a sort of sense of eternity." |
Some more interesting history:
The history of the area around Willets Point is a political tale that holds its own among Gotham's best stories. It is charged with politics, corruption, power-brokers and a David versus Goliath moral – and, some say the turning point in Robert Moses's career.From http://www.waterwire.net/World/Neigh...fm?ContID=1739 http://64nywf65.20m.com/1976aerial.JPG |
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Commisar Bloomber has no right to wipe out small businessmen to build more luxury housing and hotels. Bloomberg only thinks in terms of big business and not in terms of the small entrepreneur. These businesses are breaking no law, they pay taxes, employ people and service customers. These small businesses will be replaced with corporate brand hotels where the only long term employment consists of maids and janitors. The low pay service sector servicing corporate execs is the only vision for New York that Bloomberg has. As if the City has not wasted enough tax dollars in financing the construction of a Mets Stadium, more tax dollars are going to use eminent domain to replace existing legitimate businesses and finance the new construction. And please stop blaming the small businessmen for the lack of roads and sewers. It it is the responsibility of the City to build infrastructure not small businesses. This is a corporate welfare boondoggle plain and simple. |
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The businesses may be small but these chop shop owners are not poor. If they are like any of the many car repair shops, they probably rip customers off. Many live in the posh suburbs while using valuable city land to conduct their dirty trade. Quote:
The new businesses will also employ people (more, too) and service customers, all without damaging the environment. Quote:
The only people making a good living right now are the crooked shop owners that 1) hire illegals (at obviously low wages and health insurance? Ha!) 2) cheat their customers 3) create a health hazard to both workers and Queens residents alike The new development will bring retail, meaning there will be small business owners, more jobs than what is there now, generate revenue many times more for the local economy than the current business could ever dream of and finally reclaim a piece of the city that has largely been nothing but a wasteland. Quote:
The City is also not financing any part of the construction at Willets Point. In fact, the City is not doing any construction themselves, never had. Quote:
This will finally turn a piece of disgusting land that is harmful to people working there and the people in the surrounding area into a livable neighborhood and join the rest of city in the 21st century. The affordable housing is desperately needed, the retail shops will attract many stadium goers before and after a Mets game. The convention center will bring in shows that would other bypass the city altogether and bring visitors who will drop their dollars in the shops and hotels. Boondoggle? Only in your fuzzy dreams. |
this move isn't made to help big business, its to help small hometown business. no big box stores are to go in the retail, its supposed to be small owned stores to support the new local residences, and then a bunch of restaurants and bars for the run off for the stadium
My biggest problem with this idea is the location of everything. You have this new neighborhood on the east side of the stadium, the subway entrance on the south and the main parking lot on the west. So when people are leaving the stadium the odds are they are going to go south and west and ignore this new neighborhood that will be counting on the run off from game days. this is a serious issue. My suggestion is to move the main stadium parking to where the convention center is to behind it forcing the drivers to go through this district and have a drink, some food and so on. And then on the spot of the main parking lot for the stadium, put the convention center. |
Is Flushing populous and dense enough to support a light-rail line through downtown Flushing then across the river to Willets Point? The right collection of restaurants and taverns could be quite an enticement, even if it requires a left-turn for the South-heading LIRR and no.7 transit riders. A light-rail line could bind this new neighborhood to the ever-growing Flushing downtown and diminish the effects of the river (a water barrier).
Also, could light-rail ever be considered for the park itself, to wed together Citi-Field, the National Tennis Center, the Queens Museum, etc.? New York is a difficult environment for light-rail because the streets are so congested. It's not Portland which has utilized both light rail and streetcar trams to maximize public transit in their city core. Does the Northern Blvd corridor offer any possibilities? Even to nearby Nassau County? Just thinking. Eastern Queens will never see subway extensions. What are the transit options? |
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Its possible. Sadly New York development is so byzantine that it is likely to go to one mega developer which will lead monotonous developments. |
Aerial shots of Iron Triangle and Shea Stadium
KCGridlock (Bill Cobb) has posted two fantastic threads under My City Photos. The two shots below are taken from his thread: Above New York City (Brooklyn, Queens, Jersey, Staten Island series)
In the first photo, CitiField construction and Shea Stadium are in the foreground; the Iron Triangle is behind in the middle ground; and across the river at the top of the shot is downtown Flushing: http://urban-photos.com/webgraphics/nyc_9821.jpg Somewhat larger context with the National Tennis Center in foreground: http://urban-photos.com/webgraphics/nyc_9790.jpg |
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^ I agree completely. I think one of the planned developments include wetlands restoration and public walkways on both sides of the Flushing River. Once this area becomes walkable, it's a natural extension to connect this more cohesively with downtown Flushing. I could almost laugh. Who could have figured that Shea Stadium surrounded by parking lots could be transformed into an urban ballpark just a long walk from bars, restaurants, retail and residences? This could prove to be a remarkable transformation of a toxic brownfield disaster.
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Willets Point rehab tab put at $3B-plus
BY FRANK LOMBARDI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, June 14th 2007, 4:00 AM The envisioned transformation of Willets Point from a scruffy haven for scrap yards and auto shops into a residential, retail and convention mega-development will cost "north of $3 billion," a city official said yesterday. The estimate was given by Robert Lieber, president of the city's Economic Development Corp., which is gearing up to submit the Willets Point development plan to the governmental approval procedure known as ULURP - uniform land use review process. "It will be a lot," Lieber said when asked about the costs during the City Council's first public hearing on the mammoth redevelopment plan announced May 1 by Mayor Bloomberg. That drew laughs from a dozen Council members who participated in the hearing by the Council's Economic Development and Land Use committees and scores of spectators, most of them representing Willets Point's landowners, businesses, workers and Queens civic officials, including Borough President Helen Marshall and her predecessor, Claire Shulman. Lieber added, "This is a big project, you know, you've got 60 acres of land to develop, with very large density of what we're going to do, but you know it's not unrealistic to think that this would be a project that is north of $3 billion ... in excess of $3 billion." "That's a lot of money," said Councilman Thomas White (D-Queens), who put the cost question to Lieber as chairman of the Economic Development Committee. Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Queens), who heads the Land Use Committee, asked Lieber who will be paying the costs, including extensive expenditures for site preparation and sewers, roads and other infrastructure. Lieber said the developer, or team of developers, that will bid to build the Willets Point of the future will "bear the bulk of the costs for this." "It's very early on in the process," Lieber added. "I don't think we've come up with a specific budget yet or figured out what the costs are - what the city is going to pay." He ventured a "guesstimate" the public costs might be in the $100 million-to-$200 million range. Lieber also fielded questions on the possible use of eminent domain if negotiated deals aren't reached with the property owners and businesses within the 62-acre tract. He stressed that the city's goal is to reach deals with all those involved. "We will do everything we can do to accommodate the needs of these businesses," he testified. "But as the mayor said [at his announcement] on May 1, he's not going to let one person be the holdout for the good that's associated with so many other people." [email protected] |
curbed.com
iTri Plan Closer to Junking Chop Shop Row? http://curbed.com/uploads/2008_02_Willets%20Point.jpg The city's plan for a massive project next to the new CitiField in Willets Point is moving forward, with the New York Economic Development Corp. set to start the clock ticking on public review by the end of the month. In the meantime, there was a demonstration against the project by business owners that would be displaced and workers that could lose their jobs if the city seizes property for it. The $3 billion project would cover an area of 65 acres and would include up to 5,000 units of housing, a 700-room hotel, a 400,000 square foot convention center, 1.8 million square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space, a school and parks. Business owners say they have no interest in moving and that 1,500 jobs will disappear if the plan goes forward. They say the area is "an economic engine." http://www.nycedc.com/Web/AboutUs/Ou...ntDistrict.htm |
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/04/0...cluded.php?o=0
Willets Point Plan Rendered, Local Love Included http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...ca6a4c9a_o.jpg Monday, April 7, 2008, by Robert That big city plan to tear down all the auto shops and other businesses in Willets Point and replace it with housing, hotel rooms, shopping and a convention center is still generating a lot protest. So much so that opponents plan to demonstrate at opening day at Shea Stadium tomorrow and organizers are predicting 1,000 people could show up to give Mets' fans something extra to watch. In the meantime, the city recently floated out some renderings, a photo gallery of which appears above. The rezoning the city is considering would allow up to 5,000 units of housing and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space in a 13-block area. A lot of the property would have to be seized by eminent domain, however, and up to 3,000 workers could lose their jobs. Opponents also say the plan doesn't include enough affordable housing. In the meantime, there's a letter writing campaign to city officials from members of the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association. One says, "We object to you taking our land and selling it to a private developer while profiting from our blood, sweat and tears." Another calls the plan "a disgrace." The plan could be headed into the land review process within a month and hopes to break ground in 2010. http://www.nycedc.com/Web/AboutUs/Ou...ntDistrict.htm http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...a3e89d46_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...2ee58255_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...948a640f_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...523f4871_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...ccf3dcac_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...4b31c267_o.jpg http://curbednetwork.com/cache/galle...bb3f4e18_o.jpg |
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/..._sue_city.html
Willets Point property owners sue city http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/...lletspoint.jpg http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/...rturoolaya.jpg Arturo Olaya, president of the group Save Willets Point, speaks at a rally of business owners in February. BY JESS WISLOSKI April 10th 2008 Willets Point property owners filed a lawsuit against the city Wednesday, charging it has deliberately denied the area basic city services to grease the skids for condemnation. About 150 business owners and their supporters gathered on the steps of City Hall to announce the federal case and to protest the city's plans to redevelop the gritty 60-acre industrial swath known as the Iron Triangle. "The city knows that there are 2,000 people working here, and they have not invested any funds for the taxes that we pay," said Neil Soni, 28, vice president of House of Spices, the country's largest distributor of Indian foods. The suit says the city has withheld services such as trash and snow removal and police surveillance; refused to maintain drainage, roadways and sanitary sewerage lines, and allowed curbs, gutters and fire hydrants to deteriorate beyond repair. Janel Patterson, a spokeswoman for the city Economic Development Corp., called Willets Point "a blighted and seriously contaminated site that has developed haphazardly into a hodgepodge of small businesses." "It requires a comprehensive remediation and redevelopment plan to clean up the mess and provide infrastructure for future sustainable growth," added Patterson, who did not address the property owners' allegations of neglect. Currently, 250 companies are located in Willets Point. Many are small businesses, and are renters involved with auto repair and salvage. The suit was filed by 16 larger, predominantly manufacturing firms that together own the majority of the land. City officials insist the redevelopment project will create affordable housing and 5,100 new permanent jobs with new office buildings, a hotel and convention center, retail shops and parks. Eight City Council members backed the protesters Wednesday and denounced the city's negotiating tactics, which the business owners said have been in bad faith. Mayoral hopeful Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who heads the Council's zoning committee, said he would refuse to approve any plans that would invoke eminent domain to develop something on the site other than a "good public purpose," such as a school or a highway. "It is a completely different thing to take it and give it to another private individual, a developer, who will then turn around and make millions of dollars," Avella said. "We're here today to say, 'No.' Go back to the drawing board, Mr. Mayor."With Adam Lisberg |
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New York City has a "Little ____" or a "____town" for every culture out there. |
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http://curbed.com/archives/2008/04/2...ks_go_mets.php
Willets Point: The Other Side Speaks. Go Mets! Tuesday, April 29, 2008, by Joey One important voice left out of the white-hot Willets Point redevelopment controversy: What do Mets fans think? Hey, it sounds weird, but given that the new Citi Field will be a stolen hubcap's throw away from the Iron Triangle/proposed mixed-use village, it's Mets fans that have to stare at the thing, right? Up until now, the Willets Point opposition has been getting all the press, thanks to a coordinated and highly-effective media campaign. Now, however, we hear from someone who actually wants Willets Point cleared and cleaned: a guy named Chris McShane, author of a blog called Develop Willets Point. From right up top: "Take Action to Make Willets Point the Best Neighborhood in Major League Baseball." From the About Me section: "I'm a Mets fan who would like to see Willets Point complement Citi Field." As far as we know, he doesn't work for City Hall. Or the Mets. But maybe his real name is Johan Santana? Develop Willets Point |
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/ny...l?ref=nyregion
Still Opposing Plan to Develop Willets Point, One Business Decides to Sell http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...illets_650.jpg Daniel Sambucci, 77, in his salvage yard in Willets Point, Queens, accepted the city’s offer to buy the business. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...lets02_190.jpg Another business owner, Gordhandas Soni, at right with his son Neil, said the pressure to sell had become intolerable. By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ June 21, 2008 The offer from the city was sweet enough to jeopardize the rewards of decades of tedious surgery — gutted transmissions, mix-and-match motor parts, skeletons of abandoned cars. So sweet, in fact, that it persuaded Daniel Sambucci to aid a plan he still opposes. But Mr. Sambucci, 77, whose family owns an auto salvage company in Willets Point in Queens, would not say exactly how sweet. “They treated us well,” was all he would say on Friday. The sale, announced on Wednesday, marked a flash of surrender in a community that has long opposed the city’s ambitious efforts to transform its scruffy 13-block industrial park into a $3 billion retail, office and residential district with restaurants and a park. Under the deal with the city, the Sambucci Brothers business will move to College Point, Mr. Sambucci said. In Willets Point, a triangle east of Shea Stadium and west of the Van Wyck Expressway where stray cats roam the streets and shoes are stained by muddy clay, news of Mr. Sambucci’s decision to sell was met with surprise and vows to continue to fight the city’s plan. But even though many business owners remained resilient, some said they understood Mr. Sambucci’s decision and might do the same if the offer was sufficiently appealing. “God bless them,” said Paul Cohen, who has owned Roosevelt Auto Wrecking for nearly two decades. “You got to do what’s best for yourself.” Since the city’s plan was announced last year, Mr. Sambucci’s 57-year-old family business, Sambucci Brothers Auto Salvage, has stood as a symbol of the fight against city control. Signs decrying eminent domain, the government’s power to seize private land for public use, line the fences and windows near the 52,000-square-foot lot, stacked with tons of metal, glass and chrome. Mr. Sambucci said he agonized over the decision to sell. The son of immigrants from Naples, Italy, he built the business from a scrap metal dump into a popular trove of used auto parts by working 18 hours a day. Despite his decision, he said, he still hopes that the city fails in its quest. “My first wish was to stay where I was created,” he said over a quick hot dog lunch in his office. “I don’t want to go, but they’ve got the gun on the table.” Mr. Sambucci’s business is part of a group of organizations and property owners that has opposed the city’s efforts. Ultimately, Mr. Sambucci said, the cost of protesting the city’s efforts grew too large. “The city could fight us for 100 years,” he said. “We’re going to run out of money, but they’re not. You can’t fight a war without money.” Down the pothole-covered streets from Sambucci Brothers sits House of Spices, a producer and distributor of Indian food and a member of the business consortium. Gordhandas Soni, owner of the business for 38 years, said the pressure to sell had become intolerable in recent months. “It is like a sword hanging over you, spinning slowly,” he said. “They should not be using divide-and-rule tactics.” Neil Soni, Mr. Soni’s son and the company’s vice president, said he did not see the sale of Sambucci Brothers as a significant threat to Willets Point. “They are only one business out of more than 200,” he said. “I don’t call that progress.” Mr. Cohen, owner of the nearby wrecking lot, said his business was in a state of limbo. He said that he wanted to make improvements to his business, but that they would be pointless if he reached a deal to sell his land or if the city invoked eminent domain. The city has said that the development project will create union jobs and that eminent domain will be used only as a last resort. “There’s no question that Willets Point has to be cleaned up and the businesses have to be relocated for that to happen,” said Andrew Brent, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Mr. Cohen said he was also concerned about the employees of Willets Point businesses that would not be compensated if their owners decided to sell. “They’re good people,” he said. “They come to work on time, 365 days a year.” Mr. Sambucci said he worried most about his 50-year-old son and 21-year-old grandson, who have helped the business prosper. When the business moves next year, it will start from scratch, leaving behind parts amassed over the years. Mr. Sambucci said he also worried about the future of family-owned businesses in the area. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “But where do they go?” |
New York Observer
Thompson Pushes Willets Point Plan Amid Financial Crisis by Eliot Brown | October 21, 2008 http://www.observer.com/files/imagec...srendering.jpg City Comptroller Bill Thompson this morning endorsed construction of planned mega-projects, including Willets Point, as a means to "prime the economy." As the debate over term limits rages on (Mr. Thompson is opposed to extending term limits and said he plans to mount a mayoral bid regardless), Mr. Thompson turned his attention to the financial crisis at a Crain's breakfast forum this morning. His broad, three-pronged solution for the local economy: tighten budgets, spur economic development and diversify the economy. In the speech, according to prepared remarks, he took a tangent to endorse the city's plan to redevelop the 61-acre industrial zone of Willets Point in Queens (the Council must vote on the contentious proposal by Nov. 18), though he said that affordable housing and business relocation issues must be addressed. From his remarks, per the Comptroller's office: "Today, its proximity to La Guardia Airport and public transportation makes Willets Point a prime location for a larger convention center, a successful model that other cities have developed....Over time, this convention center could replace the Javits Convention Center entirely, freeing up valuable land. © 2008 Observer Media Group, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. |
Crain's New York
November 07. 2008 3:21PM Willets Point down to the wire Thursday’s Council vote hangs in the balance as key housing and land issues have yet to be resolved. http://cnimg.sv.publicus.com/apps/pb...w=319&border=0 With less than a week remaining before the City Council votes on the contentious Willets Point redevelopment project, the Bloomberg administration has made some progress on buying up land at the Queens site. But it’s still unclear if the city has the votes it needs to see the measure pass. To prevail, it may have to strike additional deals on land and one on affordable housing. The Economic Development Corp. announced Monday that it agreed to terms with House of Spices—one of the leading Indian food manufacturers in the country —to buy its 4-acre property. The manufacturer had been the second largest member of the association leading opposition to the city proposal. Another agreement, for auto salvage company Prevete Brothers’ 12,000-square-foot parcel, brings the total amount of private land under city control to 439,131 square feet, or about 10 acres. The city still needs to acquire another 38 acres of privately held land—including nine acres owned by Tully Environmental, Inc., the largest landowner in the area, and 3.3 acres owned by Fodera Foods, another major business. Owner Anthony Fodera says he has not had substantive talks with the city in more than a month. “We remain committed to working with the remaining land owners and businesses to reach as many negotiated acquisitions as possible as the project moves through the public review process,” said EDC President Seth Pinsky. The EDC is also in negotiations with an affordable housing coalition—comprised of ACORN, Queens for Affordable Housing and the Pratt Center for Community Development—which has insisted the city raise the proportion of affordable housing from 20% to 50%. Sources say a compromise of 30% prior to the vote is likely. City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, who represents the area, continues to insist that he is opposed to the project in its current form and that more land deals, an affordable housing agreement and a plan to relocate 260 tenant businesses must all be reached before Thursday’s scheduled vote. A spokesman for Mr. Monserrate says the city must reach deals for at least 60% of the privately-held land before the councilman would even consider voting in favor of the plan. The mayor wants to rezone the 62-acre industrial area for a large mixed-use development that would include housing, a hotel, a convention center and retail and office space. The city says the land is contaminated and needs to be cleaned up. A majority of Council members have vowed to reject the proposal Thursday over concerns about use of eminent domain and lack of affordable housing. City officials have intensified efforts in recent weeks to tilt the members’ opinions in favor of the plan. Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg met personally with each borough’s Council delegation to press his case. The mayor and his staff also met with some Council members individually. Opponents of the project say the delegation meetings were unprecedented and indicate the mayor is worried he doesn’t have the votes to get the project passed. “That’s never been done before,” said a Willets Point Realty and Industry Association spokeswoman. “In his seven years, the mayor never once did it, not on congestion pricing, not on term limits. If they had the votes, they wouldn’t have dragged him out.” There have been rumblings the Council could break from tradition and not follow Mr. Monserrate, the local Council member, in the vote. But Council members have expressed grave reservations about the use of eminent domain, and their votes could end up being decided by how many deals the city signs in the next week. “We’ve got six days,” said Mr. Monserrate’s spokesman. “I gather it’s going to be a very long weekend for the administration.” © 2008 Crain Communications, Inc. |
What's the latest on this project?
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better be some good news :)
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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...FREE/903129976
Companies sue to stop city’s Willets Point remake Some two dozen industrial businesses still toughing it out in Iron Triangle ask state’s high court to block fancy redevelopment of site near new Citi Field. http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pb...ef=AR&maxw=800 In their latest attempt to thwart the Bloomberg administration’s plans to redevelop Willets Point, more than 20 Iron Triangle business owners filed suit Wednesday in state Supreme Court challenging the city’s environmental review of the area. The suit alleges the city’s environmental impact statement falls short of requirements under state law, especially regarding the project’s potential effects on local traffic. It also contends Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber’s office does not have the authority to play a lead role on the project. And it argues the city’s plans for the area are too vague to serve as a justification for the use of eminent domain. Manhattan attorney Michael Gerrard lodged the appeal, known as an Article 78 petition, on behalf of 22 members of the group Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse. “We are confident that the courts will dismiss the findings of the environmental review,” says Jerry Antonacci, the group’s president and the owner of Crown Container. “The city council’s November 2008 vote authorizing the redevelopment will be rendered null and void.” The city’s plan for the gritty 61-acre industrial area adjacent to the new Citi Field baseball park calls for apartments, a hotel, stores, a convention center, a school, offices and parkland. A developer has yet to be chosen. Many of the area’s largest business owners reached agreements to sell their land to the city prior to last fall’s council vote, but some holdouts remain among the smaller owners. A spokesman for the mayor’s office referred calls to the city’s Law Department. A spokeswoman there said the department has just received the official court papers and is reviewing them. |
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...pen_to_bi.html
Willets Point team spirit EDC open to bid from Islanders, sources say BY Nicholas Hirshon March 23rd 2009 City officials in charge of the proposed Willets Point redevelopment would entertain bids from the Islanders if the storied hockey club decides to leave Nassau County, insiders told the Daily News. Sources said the city Economic Development Corp. - now preparing a request for proposals to transform the 62-acre tract near Citi Field - is intrigued by rumors the Isles may relocate amid stalled plans to revamp Nassau Coliseum. Queens leaders began pushing for an Islanders move to Willets Point last month after the team scheduled a preseason game in Kansas City, which wants a National Hockey League franchise to play in its vacant new arena, which opened in 2007. The Islanders' Coliseum lease expires in 2015. Asked if the city is hoping for an Islanders bid on Willets Point, an EDC spokesman said the agency is "looking forward to evaluating any ideas that fall within the guidelines of the approved rezoning." The Islanders referred questions to the Lighthouse Group, which hopes to renovate Nassau Coliseum and the surrounding area. A Lighthouse spokeswoman declined comment. But advocates of relocating the Isles to Willets Point took heart in the EDC's openness to dealing with Islanders management. City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), a candidate for city controller, urged the EDC to stop the four-time Stanley Cup champs from heading to Kansas City or Saskatoon, Canada, another locale reportedly gunning for an NHL club. "The city should do everything humanly possible to keep the Islanders in our region - and preferably in Queens," Liu said. The Queens Chamber of Commerce - whose proposal to bring the Isles to the borough was first reported Feb. 10 by The News - also was buoyed by the EDC's receptivity. "They're a lot more powerful than the chamber of commerce," said the chamber's executive vice president, Jack Friedman. "They own the land. They decide how the land is divided and how it's done." Chuck Apelian, who heads the Willets Point subcommittee for Community Board 7, envisioned a mighty sports complex anchored by the Mets, the National Tennis Center and the Islanders. "It's a great opportunity for Queens," he said. "It fills out the area - you have baseball, you have tennis, you have hockey." |
http://irontriangletracker.com/2009/...-council-vote/
City makes first Willets deals since City Council vote May 26, 2009 by Stephen Stirling The city made agreements to acquire two new properties at Willets Point, marking the first such deals to take place since the City Council approved a redevelopment plan for the community last year, the city Economic Development Corporation said Tuesday. ___________________________________________________ NYC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION REACHES NEGOTIATED PROPERTY ACQUISITION AGREEMENTS WITH TWO ADDITIONAL WILLETS POINT BUSINESSES City Now Controls Nearly 65% of Property in Willets Point New York City, May 26, 2009 – New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced it has signed property acquisition agreements with two additional property owners at Willets Point, Queens. The acquisitions announced today total 34,403 square feet, bringing the amount of land now controlled by the City to about 40 acres, or 1,742,400 square feet. The agreements are the ninth and tenth negotiated land acquisitions in Willets Point, also known as the Iron Triangle. “We are pleased to be making good on our promise to acquire as much land in Willets Point as possible by negotiated acquisition. These two agreements are further proof of the City’s commitment to work with property owners and businesses to reach fair terms of acquisition,” said NYCEDC President Seth Pinsky. “We will continue to work with the remaining land owners and businesses as we move forward with our plans to transform this blighted area into a center of economic opportunity and job creation and a 21st century neighborhood.” NYCEDC reached acquisition agreements with 126 Willets Point Boulevard LLC and German Diaz Auto Repair. 126 Willets Point Boulevard LLC owns two parcels totaling 30,403 square feet. One parcel is on Willets Point Boulevard, the other is on Roosevelt Avenue. German Diaz Auto Repair owns 4,000 square feet of property at 37th Avenue. NYCEDC will continue to reach out to business and property owners in Willets Point to negotiate fair acquisition agreements. NYCEDC has also been engaged in active relocation negotiations with many businesses of all sizes since announcing the redevelopment plans. Under the City’s plan, which completed the public review process in November 2008, the 62 acres at Willets Point will be transformed from a highly contaminated industrial area into an exciting new, mixed-use community that will include housing, restaurants, stores, parks, and a school. The project will also create about 18,000 construction jobs and 5,000 permanent jobs. |
Wow, simply amazing. I had no idea a place like this existed. It really does look like the third world.
That said, my favorite mechanic is in a building that doesn't look much better than that place! |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/ny...1&ref=nyregion
Preparing Workers for Jobs After the Junkyards Go http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...aining_395.JPG By FERNANDA SANTOS May 27, 2009 It takes a certain humility to head back to school at the age of 52 and learn as a child would, through picture books and basic words sketched on a blackboard. But Gustavo Zerón, a Honduran immigrant who works nine hours a day at a junkyard, swallowed his pride and signed up for the classes, which the city is offering in an effort to give laborers of soon-to-disappear businesses in Willets Point skills to find new work. “That’s the only opportunity I have to get out of this place,” Mr. Zerón explained in Spanish as he headed for the No. 7 train to travel the 12 stops to class one recent evening. He is not the only worker who wants to escape Willets Point, a bedraggled industrial triangle that neighbors the Mets’ new ballpark in Queens. Inside auto shops with names like Stubborn Used Tires and Latin American Mechanic and Muffler, summers are so hot and winters so cold that fingers become deformed with time, making a worker’s hands look like claws. Underground, there are no water or waste pipes. Outside, the landscape of unpaved streets resembles a muddied quilt of rivers and lagoons. Neglected for many years, Willets Point is now poised for transformation. A $3 billion, 10-year redevelopment plan approved late last year calls for razing all of the businesses — auto shops, scrap yards, an Indian food manufacturer and a few construction companies — and replacing them with a hotel, homes, a conference center and stores. As part of the deal, the area’s workers are being offered free training to learn to use a computer, wait on tables, keep books, fix cars or simply speak English. It is a challenging student body, made up primarily of illegal immigrants, who by law are not allowed to work. The city has devoted $2.5 million to the program, known as Willets Point Worker Assistance, and instituted a sort of don’t ask, don’t tell policy: School is open to all, regardless of immigration status. “We made a decision not to think about this,” Madelyn Wils, executive vice president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said in an interview. She added: “Look, they have to support their families, they live here, and we didn’t want them to fall through the cracks.” The program has faced intense opposition, not from anti-immigrant groups, but from some of Willets Point’s small-business owners and their workers, who said the money would be better used to help them relocate. When a team of instructors from LaGuardia Community College, which is carrying out the program, brought a mobile classroom to Willets Point in October, protesters surrounded the vehicle. When the team returned on foot in February, some business owners refused to let the instructors speak to their workers. “I don’t see the point in training people who can’t work if there’s no guarantee they’ll ever find jobs,” said Marcos Neira, a Colombian immigrant who owns Master Express Deli and Restaurant on Willets Point Boulevard. Protesters also gathered in March outside a community center in Corona, Queens, where the college was holding an open house, heckling the workers who filed past them on their way inside. “That’s when we realized we had broken through,” said Linda Barlow, the program’s director. The program has 183 students, just a fraction of the estimated 2,000 people who work in Willets Point. There are some workers who oppose the program and have refused to join it. But most who have not signed up fear that by registering, they might end up being deported, Ms. Barlow said. The first class was held on April 2, at LaGuardia’s Long Island City campus, about 20 minutes from Willets Point on the Manhattan-bound No. 7 train. There have been a few snags, like the constant changes in classrooms that Ms. Barlow blamed on the college’s growing enrollment, which has made it hard to manage the available space. The program will have its own dedicated space starting next month, she said. The students are a microcosm of the Willets Point work force: 145 are men, 115 are illegal immigrants and most know little or no English, she said. Ages vary, as do the workers’ education levels. There are those who want to learn English. Others have bigger ambitions, like Mr. Zerón, who spends his days climbing in and out of the piles of cars in the junkyard, fetching mufflers, radiators, bumpers and other used parts that customers want. He came here from his country’s capital of Tegucigalpa in 1999, after a hurricane left him unemployed and destitute. He has made a living at Willets Point since then, and with the money he has earned, he put his four children through school, paid for the youngest to spend a year in Denmark as an exchange student and is building a house for his family back home. He said he had a degree in mechanics from a Honduran technical school and worked as a contractor for the American Embassy in Tegucigalpa before the hurricane, fixing typewriters. His goal is to return there and open his own business, this time fixing computers. The problem is that he knows nothing about computers, so in addition to English classes, he is taking a Spanish-language course called Aprenda Microsoft Windows y la Internet, or Learn Microsoft Windows and the Internet. “I want to update my knowledge,” Mr. Zerón said. In his English as a second language class on May 7, 21 students convened around large wooden desks, rehearsing the words in a dialogue between a factory foreman and his apprentice: supply closet, log book, conveyor belt. The students seemed to share similar goals. Jary Alvarez, 27, of Washington Heights, who had two years of college in Honduras and works fixing flat tires in Willets Point, is learning English because “it could help me for the rest of my life, wherever I am,” he said. Daniel Maldonado, 45, of Corona, who had no more than an elementary school education in Ecuador, said he was tired of losing clients to other mechanics who were able to speak the language. Victor Espinoza, 59, a Peruvian who now lives in Elmhurst, Queens, fell short of receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics back home because he failed to complete his final project. He is now learning English “because I don’t want to be an island in this country,” he said. Mr. Espinoza, who works at a junkyard, said that he hoped to be a bell captain or a receptionist at a hotel. “Of course, we would rather know that our jobs will be there, that the businesses in Willets Point aren’t going anywhere,” he said. “We couldn’t win the fight against the city, so we should take advantage of what the city is giving us.” |
http://www.observer.com/2009/real-es...estion-funding
City Closes on Willets Point Land as Opponents Question Funding By Eliot Brown October 5, 2009 In the past month there’s been a fair amount of deals closing at Willets Point, with the Bloomberg administration finishing up the acquisitions that it negotiated with some of the property owners on the industrial site by Citi Field that’s slated for a major redevelopment. In the run-up to a City Council approval of the redevelopment plan last year, the Bloomberg administration made deals with more than a dozen property owners, most of the major owners, shelling out undisclosed sums in order to gain control of much of the land. By our tally, more than $78 million in nine separate transactions have closed—though far more have previously been negotiated and yet to show up in city records. There’s a number of things that aren’t told in that number, particularly what the city is spending in terms of relocation costs. There’s been $424 million allocated for both acquisitions and off-site infrastructure, an amount that would seem to be too small to do everything the administration has discussed. The city has said the off-site infrastructure will cost about $150 million, for one. And then there are land costs, which are substantial. Here’s the most recent closed deal: $11,993,825 for a lot that is 57,000 square feet (on the less valuable northern end of the site), according to the real estate tracking firm PropertyShark. That comes out to $210 a square foot, which, if extrapolated across the full 45 or so acres that are privately held on the site, would come out to $412 million. The city’s Economic Development Corporation, which runs the Willets Point project, contends it would be misleading to apply these early deals' costs outward for the whole project, as the city paid more to find early sellers, and different sites have different values. “We’ve paid a premium for early acquisitions,” David Lombino, an EDC spokesman, said. The city also seemed to be responding to the pressure put on it by the City Council just before it approved the project, as Council members urged the city to control a large portion of the land in an apparent attempt to avoid a “land grabber” label. According to an EDC document from December 2008, there was language written into some of the larger land purchases that would seem to give the landowners a pretty good deal. For both businesses, House of Spices and Fodera Foods, two of the larger property owners on the site, an EDC board action said that EDC “must use its best efforts” to “promptly purchase replacement property,” then sell the property to those businesses for $1. Given that EDC would be condemning their land, then buying them new land (though “best efforts” seems a loose term), this could get expensive as well. THE NEXT MAJOR STEP in the Willets Point plan is the eminent domain process, which the city expects to begin with hearings in the next few months. As that process readies, the business owners—the bulk of them automotive repair—are trying to apply new pressure on a number of legal and political fronts. The businesses, which have formed a group named Willets Point United, are pursuing an environmental lawsuit with the firm Arnold and Porter, have hired Michael Rikon as an eminent domain attorney—who submitted a brief in support of the property owners in a lawsuit over Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project—and have brought on the rabble-rousing lobbyist Richard Lipsky, who has been beating the drum over allegedly improper/illegal uses of local development corporations. (The city, in effect, funded a firm to lobby the City Council and community boards to win approval at Willets Point. The state attorney general’s office is said to be investigating the use of local development corporations.) Mr. Lipsky said that the efforts of the businesses—which organized a cohesive opposition after the project was approved by the Council—are aimed at raising questions about the broader viability of the project, the unrealistic budget, fighting the use of eminent domain, and raising concerns about the business relocation plan. “There is no strategic plan in place that would pay for this,” he said. “There is no relocation plan that will enable these jobs to be safe.” GOING FORWARD, THE Bloomberg administration has taken a phased approach to the project, attempting to develop the southwest corner first, likely to be followed by two other phases. This would seem to suggest the city is learning from some of the turbulence experienced at other major development sites—Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project, for instance, has one developer controlling all 22-acres, but few or no assurances that everything will be built out in full. Still, the prospect of a phased development directly contradicts statements made by the city in the run-up to Council approval: officials insisted that everything had to be developed at once, lest the pollution in existing properties seep into the rest of the development (the city even had an environmental consultant emphasize this point). This was a major justification for the use of eminent domain. |
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/n...ders-1.1502971
Queens first in line to make pitch for Wang's Islanders October 5, 2009 By EDEN LAIKIN AND JIM BAUMBACH Charles Wang said this weekend he's ready to "explore all options" for his New York Islanders and the proposed Lighthouse project. The executive vice president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce said Monday the search should begin in his borough. "Option Number One should be Queens," Jack Friedman said. "We are ready for him." Friedman renewed his contention that a new home for the Islanders would be the perfect centerpiece in the city's plans for the Willets Point area. Groundbreaking probably won't take place for another four or five years, he said, which dovetails nicely with the Islanders' lease, which stipulates the team must play at Nassau Coliseum through 2015. Wang could not be reached for comment Monday, but Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi - a major proponent of the Lighthouse - said he thinks "there will be many municipalities that are going to go out of their way to roll out the red carpet [for Wang]. "It's absurd that the Town of Hempstead wouldn't do the same thing," he said. City development officials said they have not been approached by Wang but would welcome discussing the Islanders' future with him. Sources close to Wang say he also has received an offer from "politicians in Brooklyn" to facilitate a move there. Hempstead's town board must approve new zoning for the project, a proposed mixed-use development on 77 acres around a renovated Coliseum. Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, a Republican, has said there still are unanswered questions about traffic, water and density. On Friday, Wang accepted a request from Murray to discuss "amending the project." Monday, Murray said, "Mr. Wang made it clear he was going to explore his options and so we're not surprised. The town is going to remain focused on reasonable development at the Coliseum site." Friedman said the 62-acre site in Queens would be a perfect fit for the Lighthouse as it has access to "the Long Island Rail Road, the subway system, the airports. It already has a huge parking lot because of Citi Field. It already has the parkway access." Friedman said he sent Wang a letter in March and never received a response. At the time, the Islanders released a statement saying they were focused only on working with the town. That's changed now. Wang set this past Saturday - the Islanders' opening day - as his deadline for "certainty" on the project. It passed without a decision from Hempstead so Wang announced he would begin exploring his options. He added he would continue negotiations with the town. Town officials have said they wouldn't be swayed by an applicant's self-imposed deadline. Democrat Kristen McElroy, Murray's political opponent for supervisor, said Murray "is pushing the Islanders out of the Town of Hempstead." McElroy said if she were supervisor, building the Lighthouse project would be her "Number One priority." Friedman said early plans for the Willets Point area include a 400,000-square-foot convention center that could become a new arena for the Islanders. "So the footprint is already there," he said. "There's also many of the things Wang wanted in his Lighthouse project - hotels, family entertainment centers, restaurants." |
http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=3996
The Iron Trapezoid City takes phased approach to Willets Point redevelopment http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/ima...North_Zoom.jpg The city is moving forward with its redevelopment plan for Willets Point, albeit in a phased approach. http://www.archpaper.com/uploads/WilletsPhases.jpg Matt Chaban Oct. 28 2009 Despite the stagnant real estate market in New York City, the Bloomberg administration has decided to go ahead with plans for one of its landmark redevelopment projects, the transformation of Willets Point from a down-and-out mechanics row to a gleaming new community complete with a mid-size convention center. At the same time, because of the stagnant real estate market, the city is taking a different approach with its plans, having released on Monday a request for qualifications for the project that focuses on redeveloping an 18-acre swath of the 62-acre area that rezoned almost a year ago. The RFQ is seeking developers to build a retail and commercial hub along the western edge of Willets Point, known as “Area A.” This staged approach presents a number of potential advantages beyond its lesser cost compared to a wholesale redevelopment. Area A is on parcels bordering the new Mets Stadium as well as being the densest part of the development because it is outside the LaGuardia flight path, both of which make it more appealing for investment. Also, the city controls the most property out of the three areas, as it has been working to buy out the scrap yards, auto body shops, and factories that have dominated Willets Point for decades. “Area A is envisioned to become an urban residential community with fantastic views and a dynamic skyline,” according to the RFQ. “Residential and commercial uses are stacked above retail to create an integrated (24/7) neighborhood.” The area would include 980,000 square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space, 430 hotel rooms, 2,100 residential units, and possibly a school. Building heights are planned to rise as high as 215 feet, providing quite the views over Citifield’s right field wall. And while the convention center, seen as a linchpin to the project’s success, will not likely be built in the first phase, its location has been determined as part of the RFQ. The city had been considering both the eastern and northern edges of the site, though the latter, now known as “Area C” won out. The eastern parcels of “Area B” will be dedicated to residential uses—roughly 3,000 units—and local retail.(Oddly enough, the alternative proposal is the one shown on the cover of the RFQ.) The entire development is one of a handful being put forward by the city as pilot for the U.S. Green Building’s new LEED for Neighborhood Development program. As part of this effort, the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which is developing the project, is creating a special set of design guidelines with Beyer Blinder Belle. “Willets Point Design Guidelines are being developed to supplement the Special Zoning District and convey additional goals for urban design, pedestrian experience, streetscape, open space and architectural character,” according to the RFQ. The city expects to release those guidelines, which are being developed by Beyer Blinder Belle, next year along with a more formal request for proposals, assuming the RFQ generates enough interest. “The release of this Request for Qualifications once again moves the Willets Point project, one of the largest in our borough’s history, another step forward and closer to reality,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, a long-standing proponent of the project. “Each step forward gives us a clearer vision of a plan that will redevelop Willets Point in way that will capitalize on the resources surrounding it, including recreational uses and a network of highways, while strengthening the entire region. The city is proceeding cautiously with its plan, but it makes clear in the RFQ that the project could change at any point, getting bigger or smaller as the market dictates. A big factor in its progress is the businesses that remain in Area A. As opposition to the rezoning of the area reached a groundswell last year, with local business contending the only blight in the area was caused by longstanding neglect from the city, the Economic Development Corporation began negotiating with landlords in the area in order to avoid eminent domain at the site. The agency has paraded out announcements every few months or so, and ownership in Area A now stands at 70 percent. “We are in active discussions with several additional land owners within the first development stage and would like to acquire all the privately-held property by negotiated acquisition,” Janel Patterson, and EDC spokesperson, said in an email. She noted that the city also controls roughly 60 percent within the entire 62-acre district. Representatives for two local business groups did not return requests for comment. One thing is clear, however. Despite the changing economy, the city has not drastically reconsidered its plans. While the RFQ notes that a 4-acre buffer zone would be created between Area A and the remaining businesses, Patterson said there was little chance those businesses might be allowed to stay for good. “Industrial users in the eastern portion will eventually have to be moved,” she said. |
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What's the huge area labeled "MTA Parcel"? It seems the MTA is a huge landowner in the area - Corona Yard is surrounded by random grass and parking lots. It would look appropriate in some random Cleveland suburb, but not Queens. I can't believe New York viewed that as an appropriate gateway for visitors to two different Worlds' Fairs, the US Open, and Mets games.
Why is the city trying to buy out a whole bunch of active businesses which constitute an urban (if third-world) neighborhood, and ignoring the large areas of land that MTA is using in an extremely inefficient way? There's also the parking lots of Shea Stadium. WTF? The city provided hundreds of millions in subsidy to the Mets for Citifield, so why didn't they encourage the formation of a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood there? (with parking placed in garages) The city already has a substantial interest in these areas of land. Why acquire more and refuse to develop the already vacant areas? Also, I read a little bit - the derelict image of Willets Point is largely due to the city's failure to provide paved streets, sewers, or sidewalks. Again, I question the wisdom of a city that spends hundreds of millions on eminent domain instead of a few million on street construction in Willets Point and almost-free land around Citifield and Corona Yard. EDIT: Apparently MTA wants to use the parcel along the Van Wyck as an expansion of Corona Yard - probably to service the additional trains required by the 7 extension. Again, shitty idea... it cuts any Willets Point development off from the waterfront, and MTA already has massive parking lots that could easily be accommodated elsewhere (like across the street?) Why do MTA workers need lots of parking, anyhow? Shouldn't they be the workers who are most willing to ride the subway to work? |
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Holdovers from the world's fairs... chibeba http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3575/...0ec72473_b.jpg g fung http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2430/...d0671425_b.jpg Ed Gaillard http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3463/...25995764_b.jpg wallyg http://farm1.static.flickr.com/81/23...8038624f_b.jpg In this old aerial, you can see how Willets Point (triangle to the right of Shea) is cut off from the park and the rest of the city... dsearls http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3489/...334ccfa4_b.jpg Quote:
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I understand that... it just seems like the area along Roosevelt Avenue is especially ugly and desolate, so why not redevelop the ugly parking lots that surround the subway station, instead of building a neighborhood that's cut off from that station? Acquiring the land would be easier.
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^ That parking for the stadium isn't going anywhere. The new stadium was built on old Shea parking, right next to Willets Point. There really is no other location in the immediate area that needs the redevelopment. Willets Point is long overdue for development, its amazing that it went so long without being integrated into the city system (there isn't even plumbing in some cases). And the city desperately needs the new housing that will be built there - something you aren't going to build in the middle of the park.
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I can't possibly believe that it's EASIER for the city to force hundreds of businesses out of Willets Point than it is to strike a deal with the Mets where the parking lots become garages and the rest of the land gets developed.
The city already agreed to subsidize the Mets for hundreds of millions when they agreed to help fund CitiField.... so now the city will lose all that land from the property tax rolls. If the city wanted, they could have made their financing deal contingent on a redevelopment of Shea's parking lots into a combination neighborhood and garage complex. But no, everyone jumped at the chance to replace Shea on the taxpayer dime, and now the city has to scrabble with Willets Point to replace the lost tax revenues at CitiField. It's good to know that even New York makes stupid, bumbling decisions, despite its unprecedented revival in the last decade. The other irritating point here is the actions of the MTA, which has been hoarding land here and using it extremely unproductively. I really don't see why they need a massive tract of land along Flushing Creek in order to add one station onto the line. I'm really hoping that they intend to use it as a replacement for Corona Yard and not an expansion, so that the current site can be redeveloped later. |
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As far as the MTA I doubt the MTA will do much with it's portion, which in itself is of little use regarding the development of the rest of Willets Point. |
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