https://gothamist.com/news/queens-co...-willets-point
Queens community board endorses plan to bring soccer stadium to Willets Point
By Catalina Gonella and Phil Corso
Dec 5, 2023
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Queens Community Board 7 voted on Monday to advance a plan that would bring a $780 million soccer stadium to the borough.
Queens residents, union workers and soccer fans packed St. Luke Roman Catholic Church in Whitestone for the community board’s monthly meeting on Monday to comment on the proposal and see how its members would vote. The board voted 37-2 to endorse the plan, fulfilling its role in the city's lengthy land-use approval process.
The final vote landed to applause and chants of “NYCFC,” the Major League Soccer team that may soon call Queens home. Next, the borough president and city planning commission will evaluate it, and eventually the City Council and mayor.
“We are excited to see [15] years of everyone’s hard work come to fruition,” said Vice Chairman of CB7 Queens in a statement following the meeting. “Welcome to our new neighbors!”
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In November 2022, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled his administration’s plan for what he billed as the next phase of the transformation of Willets Point in Queens – an area known for its auto repair shops and other industrial businesses in the shadow of Citi Field and the U.S. Tennis Association's Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
At the meeting on Monday, a representative of Related Companies, the developer of Hudson Yards and Sterling Equities, outlined the proposal. Through a partnership with the MLS’s New York City Football Club, which for the last decade had been playing its home games at Yankee Stadium, the plan includes a 25,000-seat stadium, 2,500 new "affordable" housing units, a hotel, and a new 650-seat public school. Everything except the residential projects are slated to be union-built.
City Hall referred to Deputy Mayor of Housing Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer for comment.
“From the beginning, our administration’s goal for the Willets Point development was to take the needs of the community seriously,” Torres-Springer said. “As we prepare to make this transformational investment, we are thrilled that Community Board 7 has affirmed their support for the project.”
The stadium was slated to debut in 2027.
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Outside the church where the meeting was held, a group of residents led by advocacy group Queens Neighborhoods United held their own public hearing in objection to the land-use process. A projection on the front of the church read “100% affordable housing? affordable for who?”
Speaking to Gothamist, organizer Arianna Martinez criticized the project as the "privatization of public land in Queens," and the land-use process as a “scam process that is not really interested in community engagement.”
City Hall estimated the project would generate $6.1 billion in economic impact over the next 30 years, creating 1,550 permanent jobs and 14,200 construction jobs. And while Martinez said that kind of economic activity may be enticing to workers in the city, it would ultimately result in a venue that’s unaffordable to them.
"A lot of people may be soccer fans, they may be Mets fans, but they can't afford, especially residents of Corona, for example, they can't afford to actually ever buy tickets to get inside of these stadiums,” she said. “Like the U.S. Open stadium, how many people in the surrounding community actually go to the U.S. Open, right?"
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Inside the church, a majority of the public commenters at the meeting voiced support for the project. Clad in light-blue NYCFC merchandise, Queens resident and NYCFC season ticket holder Braidys Arias shared her excitement for the borough to become home to the city’s first major league soccer stadium.
“There have been a lot of improvements, but this is an opportunity that we cannot let pass,” she said, before rejoining the crowd of soccer fans. “This is an opportunity to bring affordable housing, to bring a school and so much more for this community.”
Rafael Morales, district leader of 32BJ, a union representing property service workers, shared his support for the plan that would bring union jobs to Queens.
“We have a credible commitment from NYCFC for good stadium jobs,” Morales said. “The inclusion of the NYCFC stadium in this proposal is a critical component to our job growth in the area. Our members have a track record of working stadiums across New York City including iconic brand names like MSG, City field. The football club’s new flagship home would join the ranks of New York stadiums.”
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Still some, like lifelong Queens resident Margaret Flanagan, expressed skepticism about the project and land-use process.
“The soccer stadium is only one small part of a much larger proposal that needs more clarity and more obligations in all its different land uses,” Flanagan said. “On top of it all, developers and stadium owners are well known to make deals exempting themselves for taxes, not paying for any of this infrastructure.”
In a statement following the vote, NYCFC Vice Chairman Marty Edelman thanked CB7 for its “vote of confidence.”
“NYCFC committed 10 years ago to build in the five boroughs, and we are thrilled to be closer to bringing this promise to life in Queens – the World’s Borough will be our home for The World’s Game,” Edelman said.
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https://queenseagle.com/all/2023/12/...roved-by-board
NYCFC soccer stadium approved by board
December 06, 2023
By Ryan Schwach
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Soccer is to many considered to be a great unifier, bringing people from different countries and cultures together.
On Monday, it brought soccer fans, politicians, union workers and community members into a church basement in Queens for a community board vote on the plan to bring a 25,000-seat soccer stadium, 1,400 units of affordable housing, a hotel and more to what the city has dubbed “phase two” of the Willets Point redevelopment project.
Community Board 7, which includes Willets Point and other areas of Eastern and Northern Queens, voted 37 to 2 to approve the project, marking the first thumbs up on the city’s review process that will play out over the coming months and culminate with a vote in the City Council.
While support for the project was overwhelming, the negotiations over the proposal were at times tense and featured substantial stipulations from the board, including a commitment from the city to explore the possibility of creating a new police precinct in Northeast Queens.
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“Look at the years that we've spent seeing those stops and starts, stops and starts, and finally it's here,” said local Councilmember Francisco Moya, who is arguably the stadium project’s most vocal government supporter. “It is the proudest moment to stand with all of you.”
Phase two of the massive Willets Point development includes 1,400 units of affordable housing, a 250-key hotel, 2.8 acres public open space and the soccer stadium, which will be the city’s first built specifically for soccer and the future home of New York City Football Club. The second phase of the project builds off the first, which has already made its way through the city’s review process and includes 880 units of income restricted housing, 220 units of senior housing, a 25-space parking garage, over 22,000 square feet of retail space, around 5,000 square feet of community facilities and over 30,000 square feet of open space.
Combined, it is the largest affordable housing project created in the five boroughs in the past 40 years, officials said.
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The board has also expressed concern that the new stadium and housing would cause traffic and parking woes throughout the area.
Some of those worries were partially assuaged on Monday after NYCFC announced that they had come to a tentative agreement with Mets owner Steve Cohen over use of the baseball team’s parking lot at Citi Field.
While the soccer club initially was asking for 2,500 spots during game days, the deal, which has yet to be officially agreed upon, has been upped to 4,000 spots.
Apelian called the increase in parking spots and the tentative deal “good news.”
The board said they were also happy to hear that NYCFC home games will not take place on days where the Mets are scheduled to play at home or during any major tennis event at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center across the street.
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Once Kelty read the final 37-2 vote, the crowd erupted in cheers and chants of “N-Y-C-F-C.”
Among those celebrating was NYCFC CEO Brad Sims.
“[I’m] very pleased that [we had] such overwhelming support,” he said. “It's an amazing project. The city and Queens have been waiting decades to try and figure out a great solution for Willets Point and we've got it – it's a transformative project.”
Moya also saw the vote as a big win for the project, which still has a ways to go before any shovels hit dirt.
“This is a big milestone,” he said. “I think for all of us who have been involved in this project, it's been a passion, a labor of love. But I think tonight is indicative of what happens when you involve the community, transparency, and really work with the right partners to do something special.”
“This is really creating a real economic engine, not just for the city of New York, but for the borough of Queens,” he added.
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