City seeks to create a Special Willets Point District; local businesses file lawsuit. On April 21, 2008, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development began public consideration for their proposal to rezone a 61-acre area in Willets Point.
The area, roughly bounded by the Van Wyck Expressway, Roosevelt Avenue, 126th Street, and Northern Boulevard, is known as the “Iron Triangle” for its predominantly industrial and auto service-related character. According to EDC, Willets Point is in desperate need of redevelopment and suffers from extensive environmental contamination, numerous building code violations, poor road and sidewalk conditions, and limited storm and sanitary sewer infrastructure. EDC’s proposal seeks to transform this area into a mixed-use district complete with residential, retail, hotel, convention center, entertainment, and commercial office uses. 4 CityLand 165 (Dec. 2007). (more…)
Concerns over eminent domain dominate hearing. On November 29, 2007, the City Council’s committees on Land Use and Economic Development held their second oversight hearing on New York City Economic Development Corporation’s proposal to redevelop 61 acres of Willets Point in Queens. The site, located directly east of Shea Stadium, largely consists of a range of auto-related, light industrial and manufacturing private businesses. EDC seeks to acquire the entire area and create an urban renewal plan for a new 8.9 million-square-foot mixed-use development. 4 CityLand 87 (July 15, 2007).
At the hearing, EDC President Robert Lieber testified that EDC is working with Willets Point businesses on a relocation plan by which the businesses would move to private property or City-owned or controlled property. Lieber also stated that some businesses have already agreed to relocate so long as EDC purchases similar industrial property on their behalf. Moreover, to address potential job losses, Lieber announced that EDC would work with LaGuardia Community College and run a workforce assistance program. (more…)
Business owners criticize EDC’s $3 billion remediation and redevelopment plan for a new Willets Point. Image: NYC EDC.
Concerns over displacement of businesses dominated hearing. On June 13, 2007, the City Council’s Land Use Committee and its Economic Development Committee held a joint oversight hearing on the proposal by New York City’s Economic Development Corporation to redevelop 61 acres of Willets Point in Queens. The site, located directly east of Shea Stadium, is mostly privately owned and currently home to a mix of automobile related, light industrial and manufacturing businesses. EDC estimates that 250 businesses employing about 1,300 people operate from the area. Much of the site lacks paved roads, sewers, or sidewalks and is heavily contaminated from illegal dumping, leaky underground tanks, and spills.
EDC President Robert Lieber presented a redevelopment plan for the area, which would remediate the environmental contamination and raise the grade to bring the area out of the 100-year flood plain. After gaining control of the property, EDC would seek to rezone it from industrial (M3-1) to mixed-use (C4- 4) with a special district overlay, remap many of its streets, and create an urban renewal plan to guide future development. EDC plans to start the public approval process in fall 2007, allowing it to select developers to implement the plan in summer 2008. (more…)
On July 6, 2015 the Appellate Division, First Department voted unanimously to enjoin construction of a shopping mall and movie theater on the site of the former Shea Stadium in Willets Point, Queens. The suit was brought in part by advocates of New York City’s parks, the latest in a long history of actions by New Yorkers to represent their valued open spaces. On October 21, 2005 Adrian Benepe, then Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation, spoke at the CityLaw Breakfast on the parks of Lower Manhattan and the efforts underway to renovate them. The speech in its entirety is available after the jump.
(more…)
Billboards on Citi Field as seen from a highway. Image Credit: Google Maps
Advertising companies sought to erect outdoor billboards in the Willets Point neighborhood. Mucho Media and other property owners in Queens’ Willets Point neighborhood sought to construct large advertising billboards on their property. For safety and aesthetic reasons, the City denied or ordered the removal of billboards in the Willets Point neighborhood. These actions were pursuant to the City’s zoning law that prohibits commercial billboards within two hundred feet of an arterial highway. (more…)
