Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee
Twenty years is a good definition of "not anytime soon". But I still predict talk will start regarding its future and I fully expect 20 years from now we will see efforts to build a satellite convention center at Sunnyside and/or a major redevelopment attempt that takes advantage of all the opportunities above Javits. I envision a convention center of its current size in a floating podium about 30' above street level with a reconnected grid to 9A running below. It would share a lot of characteristics with the PABT plan with towers above aligned with the street grid.
|
They have to get serious about Sunnyside. And when they do, they will take decades going back and forth over just what to do with it. That is, unless someone comes along and takes charge. A Robert Moses if you will. Meanwhile, the state doesn't want to take the convention center out of Manhattan because being in Manhattan is a huge draw. It's removed from much of what makes Manhattan an attractive place to visit, but it would be further removed placed in the middle of Sunnyside. I remember the proposal to build a completely new convention center at Aqueduct, that would have been paid for by Resorts World. But only if they got exclusive rights to the city's first casino. Any talk of a major convention center is removed from Resorts World's proposal for a casino license there now. All of the proposals feature some type of meeting space. Perhaps if there were some major landfill added along the shoreline, I could see a convention center being built there.