[NYguy]

https://licpost.com/tf-cornerstone-s...ty-owned-sites

March 9, 2020
By Christian Murray

TF Cornerstone is currently working with the EDC–an arm of city government– to develop two of the three publicly owned sites on 44th Drive—by the East River.

It is putting together plans to develop 44-99 44th Drive, the “Waterfront site’ that includes a city-owned parking lot and the former Water’s Edge property–as well as the “DOT site” at 5-40 44th Drive.

TF Cornerstone has no involvement with the Department of Education building, the third publicly-owned site on the block that is currently home to a 600,000 square foot industrial building, which is partially occupied by DOE employees.

“We are committing to not pursuing any market-rate or luxury residential uses for these sites,” said Ebony Young, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility at TF Cornerstone in a statement. “There will be no luxury housing on public sites.”

.....TF Cornerstone did provide some information as to what it plans for the two sites, which total about 4.5 acres.

The company said it plans to allocate half of the DOT site for public open space– creating a community commons that could be used for public gatherings, markets and a variety of similar purposes.

The other half of the DOT site would include a new public school that faces on to the open space. The developer did not make clear whether office space or other uses would be part of that half of the site too.

TF Cornerstone didn’t provide much detail in terms of the “waterfront site,” other than saying the two sites are focused on creating significant public space.

“We are also very focused on bringing good jobs to Long Island City through the creation of new commercial spaces that will feed into the existing business ecosystem in Queens,” Young said.

https://twitter.com/mayakauf/status/1237370184354140162

Yesterday @tfcornerstone pledged to not build any luxury/market-rate housing on the 2 plots of public land it is developing on Anable Basin

But their current plan is a million-square-foot office tower, not residential.

Some public ideas for the DOE building...


http://wqclt.org/

This public building is currently being under-utilized by the Department of Education, and is being eyed by local developers who are hoping the city will give them the land to develop a privately-owned waterfront area. It is just a few blocks away from Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing project in the country, which has already been impacted by the fastest-growing neighborhood development in America: gentrified Long Island City.

We believe the land should remain public, and are working with multiple local groups to bring back much-needed deeply, truly affordable manufacturing space, a new school, artists studios, a rooftop garden, a commissary commercial kitchen for street food vendors, a food co-op, music studios for the local community, a community tool lending library, and more.

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