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Old Posted Feb 6, 2015, 2:13 AM
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Cuomo returns to Sunnyside Yards convention center idea

Tess Hofmann
February 5/2015

Quote:
The idea of a massive Queens convention center that would replace the West Side’s Jacob Javits Center has foundered before, but now Governor Andrew Cuomo appears to be returning to the concept in the face of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s designs to build affordable housing in the Sunnyside neighborhood.

Wednesday morning, the day after de Blasio proposed building a Stuyvesant Town-sized affordable housing development on a platform above Sunnyside Yards in Queens, Cuomo said that the plan is complicated and expensive and that he is considering alternatives, according to Capital New York.

“There have been a number of uses proposed,” the governor said. “One of them is to make that a convention center site to supplement the Javits convention center, which is on the west side of Manhattan, or replace the Javits Center on the West Side of Manhattan. And that’s one of the possibilities that is being studied, along with several other possible scenarios.”

Cuomo appears to be referencing former Bloomberg CEO Dan Doctoroff’s proposal to replace the 1.8 million-square-foot Javits Center with a 3.1 million-square-foot convention center in Sunnyside Yards, and partially fund the project with 25,000 housing units, 9,000 of which would be affordable, that would be built on both the old and new convention center sites.

While Doctoroff has put a $5.6 billion price tag on his proposal, De Blasio has not yet delved into specifics for his plan. - See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/02/....KNAWBHMJ.dpuf



http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...unnyside-yards

Mayor to guv: 'Plenty of room' at Sunnyside Yards





ANDREW J. HAWKINS
FEBRUARY 4, 2015


Quote:
After Gov. Andrew Cuomo quickly dismissed the idea of building 11,250 units of affordable housing on top of Sunnyside Yards, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday he is confident the project will get done.

"I think we're going to find a way forward here," Mr. de Blasio said in a radio interview with WNYC's Brian Lehrer.

He noted that Amtrak, the largest landowner at the 200-acre site in western Queens, is supportive of his idea of decking over the rail yards and building affordable housing on top, and that the city owns air rights on 44 of the acres owned by the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority.


"Look, I think as we talk to the governor's folks, as we talk to the MTA, we'll find our way toward the kind of vision that works for everyone," he added. "They have other things they think are a priority for that site. There's plenty of room on that site."

Less than an hour after Mr. de Blasio proposed a massive residential development at Sunnyside Yards, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo released a statement calling the site "an important facility for our transportation system" that is "not available for any other use in the near term."

Mr. Cuomo reiterated his concerns in a Wednesday interview with NY1. "Sunnyside Yards is problematic," he said. "But I agree with the mayor's overall thrust [on housing] and I applaud him for it."

The governor isn't the only one expressing doubt about the project. Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the site, told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday that he would "never" support the construction of high-density housing in the portion of the rail yards buttressing the Sunnyside neighborhood.

Late Tuesday, Amtrak released a statement saying, "We are working with the city and others to understand what potential exists for this incredibly unique site and recognize and support the mayor's strong interest in advancing affordable housing as part of any major new development."

Nothing will happen soon. Amtrak has said it doesn't expect to conduct a feasibility study until 2016. And the cost of decking over the site could be enormous. Constructing a platform over a portion of the much smaller 26-acre Hudson Yards in western Manhattan is expected to cost upward of $700 million.

After the State of the City speech Tuesday, the mayor's aides acknowledged the long road ahead for the project.

"Sunnyside Yards is a very complicated site," said Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen. "The first thing the city will be doing is using our own resources to go out and solicit that first step in the feasibility study, which will allow us to all have a common framework around which we can plan this amazing opportunity."

Community opposition, much like that which stalled the Atlantic Yards project for years, is anticipated, she said.

"I don't know if we can ever avoid all the lawsuits," said Ms. Glen. "But I do think our approach is fundamentally very different. Simultaneously while we're doing the engineering and feasibility work, we're already convening local elected officials and a wide array of stakeholders."

The project could avoid one of the major criticisms about Atlantic Yards: the use of eminent domain. Ms. Glen said the controversial practice of taking private property is "currently not contemplated" for the project because only 23 acres of the site are privately held.

On WNYC, as he did in his speech Tuesday, the mayor likened the project to the construction of Stuyvesant Town, which opened in 1947, calling the East Side project "the kind of housing that working-class and middle-class people were able to depend on for a generation in New York City."

"There's greenery, the buildings aren't too high, it's the right balance," he said. "We can do that on a plot of land, 200 acres. You can do that and do a lot of other good things, too."
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