NEW YORK | Willets Point Development (Flushing)

[chris08876]

Mets owner airs development plans for space around Citi Field
Steve Cohen focused on open space, entertainment for 50-acre area

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen has big plans for 50 acres around the team’s ballpark in Queens.

Cohen is seeking community input for the area around Citi Field in a visioning session aimed at furthering his priorities and prior discussions with community groups and leaders. His stated mission for the development includes eliminating vacant space and removing barriers dividing neighborhoods from each other and the Flushing Bay waterfront.

Cohen’s vision for the space includes building green spaces, increasing waterfront access and expanding walkability and transit options.

A central focus is also bringing “year-round entertainment” to the area, which typically hosts most of its events — i.e. baseball games and concerts — during the spring and summer months.

Mention of a “casino” was absent from the press release, but Cohen’s pursuit for one next to Citi Field is well known. Cohen was reported earlier this year to have pitched Mayor Eric Adams and City Hall officials on a casino in the Citi Field parking lot. But the push for a casino by Cohen and potential partner Hard Rock is a tricky one, as even the parking lot is mired in lease and bond agreements; the area around Citi Field has been notoriously difficult to develop.

The land for which Cohen is seeking public input is separate from the Willets Point development plan, which is east of Cohen’s tract, according to Queens Post.

Related Companies and Sterling Equities last month reached an agreement to develop 2,500 affordable housing units across 23 acres, as well as a 250-key hotel and a 25,000-seat soccer stadium for Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club.

Cohen is putting his dream of bringing year-round entertainment to the area in an early test. He’s set to host a visioning session in the afternoon on Jan. 7 at the ballpark.

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https://therealdeal.com/2022/12/20/mets-owner-airs-development-plans-for-space-around-citi-field/

[NYguy]

https://www.pincusco.com/related-compani...n-loan-for-development-in-willets-point/


Related Companies signs $430.8M construction loan for development in Willets Point


December 7, 2023

Related Companies through the entity Willets Point Phase I Housing Development Fund as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender NYC Housing Development Corporation valued at $430.8 million for three parcel development site at 126-20 Willets Point Boulevard in Willets Point, Queens.
On these lots, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 850,233 square feet. The largest is a new building project for a 534-unit, 521,402 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Related Companies and filed by Frank Monterisi with plans filed November 3, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a new building project for a 347-unit, 328,831 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Related Companies and filed by Frank Monterisi with plans filed November 3, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The deal closed on November 21, 2023 and was recorded on December 6, 2023. The three properties have zero square feet of built space and 356,724 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 356,724 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $N/A and the price per buildable square foot is $1,207 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)

The signatory for Related Companies was Frank Monterisi.

[mrnyc]

from the other day and yeah probably the worst dirty window 7 train pic ever lol, but at least you can get an idea of the enormity of this development --

[NYguy]

It's time to bring some life to that area.

[NYguy]

[NYguy]

• Video Link

[mrnyc]

100% affordable housing — now that is impressively terrific.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

100% affordable housing — now that is impressively terrific.

The City needs more of it where possible. The state needs to remove that FAR limit ASAP. I know they are looking to jump from a 12 to 15, a 20% increase. But I think that's too timid. There is a shortage of housing in the city, and they need to do everything they can to make building more housing both possible and attractive for developers. And there's no earthly reason why NYC should have the same maximum housing density as some small town upstate. Just ridiculous.

One other thing is, there could have been a lot more housing in Willets Point, had they decided to put the soccer stadium on the opposite side of Citi Field where Cohen wants to put a casino. You would have had better luck with that, with the bonus of using the current site for more housing. But, I'm not in charge of things.

[mrnyc]

^ i can’t think of a place where any FAR at all makes less sense than here.

the only limits should be via the faa.

and yes cohen’s yet indeterminant casino dream has rather mucked up planning.

it should be a tabla rasa, but we always have these obstructions to deal with.

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by NYguy

The City needs more of it where possible. The state needs to remove that FAR limit ASAP. I know they are looking to jump from a 12 to 15, a 20% increase. But I think that's too timid. There is a shortage of housing in the city, and they need to do everything they can to make building more housing both possible and attractive for developers. And there's no earthly reason why NYC should have the same maximum housing density as some small town upstate. Just ridiculous.

Yes.

One other thing is, there could have been a lot more housing in Willets Point, had they decided to put the soccer stadium on the opposite side of Citi Field where Cohen wants to put a casino. You would have had better luck with that, with the bonus of using the current site for more housing. But, I'm not in charge of things.

Or even better parked next to the house that Ruth built in the Bronx but whatever...

[NYguy]

https://pix11.com/news/local-news/queens...housing-development-gets-final-approval/

Willets Point stadium, housing development gets final approval


by: Eileen Lehpamer
May 22, 2024

It is a done deal!

The Queens Borough Board voted to approve the land lease agreement for Phase 2 of the Willets Point redevelopment.

The New York City Council had already approved the project in April, but pursuant to 384(b)(4) of the New York City Charter, the Borough Board had to vote.

Phase 2 includes the building of a professional soccer stadium, a 250-room hotel and 1400 affordable housing units. Construction has already begun on phase one, which includes 1100 affordable apartments.

“We scored a huge GOOOAALLL for Queens! What better place to have a deal like this done than in the most diverse county in the United States, Queens,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards told PIX11 News after a brief meeting Wednesday night.

“during an affordable housing crisis, to be able to put thousands of units online, of 100% affordability, 15% set aside for what will now be the formerly homeless is a big win,” Richards added.

There has been no official date set yet for groundbreaking on Phase 2.

[NYguy]

Mark 2400

[chris08876]

Credit: willetspointdev

[chris08876]

Credit: CT_Citizen

[NYguy]

• Video Link

[mrnyc]

went to see muh guards schweep the metsies today — and wow are they going at it on the affordable housing in the old iron triangle next to the ballpark —













you can see a lot more is going on in the foreground behind the signage in the ballpark —

[NYguy]

• Video Link

[NYguy]

https://queenseagle.com/all/2026/5/19/first-building-opens-in-massive-willets-point-redevelopment

First buildings open in massive Willets Point redevelopment


By Jacob Kaye
May 19, 2026

City officials and private developers cut the ribbon on Willets Point Commons, an 880-unit affordable apartment complex on the outer edge of what will one day be an entirely new neighborhood in Willets Point.

It was the first two buildings to open in the development, which will have 2,500 income-restricted apartments, a new school, a hotel and the city’s first-ever soccer stadium by the start of the next decade.

The neighborhood’s first residents will begin moving in later this month.

A little more than 100 years ago, Willets Point served as the inspiration for a particularly desolate setting in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, “The Great Gatsby.” He called it the “Valley of Ashes,” named for the conditions created by the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company, which dumped heaps of ash onto the site until 1930, when the company was booted from the neighborhood to make way for the World’s Fair. For a time, the area served as a city dump. It later became home to scores of auto mechanic shops, earning it the nickname “the Iron Triangle.”

The two buildings opened on Monday sit at the southeast corner of the neighborhood. In front of them is a new public plaza, replete with benches, tables and a smattering of young trees. To support the new residents, the city and private developers Related Companies and Sterling Equities had to build out the neighborhood’s infrastructure, including a new water line and a sewage system, which the area previously lacked. The city also had to create a number of new streets.

Despite being surrounded by active construction sites, the newly opened area was in pristine condition on Monday. In stark contrast to much of the rest of the city, Willets Point’s streets and sidewalks were free of litter and grime, flower beds by the curbs were full and beginning to bloom and save for a few trucks hauling construction materials, the neighborhood was free of traffic.

That won’t likely be the case for long. For the next several years, the area will be one of immense change.

[NYguy]

https://s9architecture.com/willets-point

[Busy Bee]

I wanted to like these, but I can't. They read cheap, and that seems pretty unfortunate for what is already and will be even more of a highly visible location in the future.