Willets Point

On Nov. 12, at an event announcing his support for the Bloomberg administration’s planned Willets Point redevelopment, Queens Councilman Hiram Monserrate made a round of thank-yous, mentioning city officials, other electeds, his staff and, with a smirk, the unions.

“I want to thank all my labor partners, who ensured and reminded me how important this project was along the way,” he said.

The smirk came perhaps on account of one union in particular, the New York Hotel Trades Council, which had been especially persistent, lobbying, advocating and badgering Mr. Monserrate for months to gain his support.  read more »

Two of the largest planned developments of the Bloomberg administration were approved by the City Council this afternoon, rezoning two sites in Queens that will allow for more than 10,000 new apartments, more than half of which would be at below market rates.

In two separate votes, the Council approved the redevelopment of the 61-acre Willets Point industrial site by Shea Stadium and the 30-acre Hunter’s Point South site south of Long Island City along the East River. Based on numbers released by the city, in a full build-out of what’s allowed under the zoning, Willets Point would have more than 1,900 units of below-market-rate housing while Hunter’s Point South would have about 3,000.  read more »

The deal to redevelop Willets Point may not be quite the clean, easy victory for the city as was portrayed yesterday, when officials and members of the City Council announced an agreement.

The Bloomberg administration has agreed to leave in place—at least temporarily—the three largest businesses, Tully Construction, House of Spices and Fodera Foods, a move that would substantially decrease the size of the site to be bid out to a developer.

The deal, brokered primarily between Tully and the city, was done in part to placate Councilman Hiram Monserrate’s concerns, according to people familiar with discussions. We’re still sorting out details, but the businesses, located on the eastern portion of the triangle-shaped district, would stay in place for an unspecified amount of time as remediation and then development begins on the rest of site.  read more »

Apparently, all land use fights do, in fact, have the same conclusion.

After months of negotiation, lobbying, threats, protests, counter-protests and a fair bit of grandstanding, the Bloomberg administration has reached a deal with key members of the City Council to approve a redevelopment of Willets Point, the industrial area by Citi Field in Queens.

The Willets Point plan, which calls for the development of 5,500 apartments in the place of a district filled with car repair shops, had been one of the few major developments marked by legitimate uncertainty over whether or not the Council would give its approval.  read more »

Having reached a deal on affordable housing, the Bloomberg administration's plan to redevelop the 61-acre Willets Point in Queens is expected to pass the full City Council on Thursday, according to officials involved with the vote, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

More shortly.

Michael Bloomberg is making a rare appearance in the Red Room in City Hall in a few minutes for a press conference to announce a deal on the affordable housing in the redevelopment of Willets Point.  read more »

A deal for below-market rate housing at Willets Point has been brokered, with an announcement scheduled for 1 p.m. today. We'll have more later, but affordable housing group ACORN, local Councilman Hiram Monserrate and the Bloomberg administration reached an agreement to set 35 percent of the more than 5,000 planned units as below-market rate, with over 800 for low-income families.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation just announced another deal with a major landowner at Willets Point, the 62-acre Queens industrial site the Bloomberg administration wants to redevelop. The landowner was Feinstein Iron Works, which owns a 36,000-square-foot lot. With the agreement, the Bloomberg administration now controls about 25 percent of the private land on the site, though more than 60 landowners are without deals.

The City Council must vote on a proposed rezoning by Thursday; however, as of yesterday evening, the administration had yet to commit to a level of below-market rate housing that's satisfactory to affordable housing advocates.

The biggest private landowner, Tully Construction, does not have a deal and is viewed as the largest obstacle to Council approval.  read more »

On Election Day, the Daily News comes out with an endorsement: the paper supports the city’s plan to redevelop Willets Point.

From the editorial:

“The Council needs to get past distractions like the eminent domain red herring, and residual bitterness over term limits and vote for the Willets Point plan on the merits. And the merits make a yes vote mandatory.”

The Post has signaled its support before, and Crain’s pushed the plan in this week’s paper.

The Bloomberg administration yesterday announced two more deals with the private landowners, bringing the total number of deals struck up to 10, and the city boasts (as did the News editorial) that it now controls 40 percent of the land in the 61-acre swath of Queens.  read more »

Just on the heels of the highly contentious City Council term limits vote, Mayor Bloomberg has personally injected himself into the push to sway the council on his administration's plan to redevelop Willets Point.

Today, Mayor Bloomberg met about the plan with groups of council members, including the Brooklyn and Queens delegations, according to one member. Even with another contentious issue on the horizon--property taxes--the mayor devoted the meeting to the issue of Willets Point. He and other officials, including Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, gave their pitch on the plan and fielded questions on cost, the environment and other aspects, according to one in attendance.  read more »

The landowners at Willets Point seem to have been inspired by John McCain's flurry of negative ads. The main group of owners, seeking to resist a Bloomberg administration redevelopment proposal that's before the City Council this month, just launched a TV ad that smears the Bloomberg plan, complete with deep-voiced narrator.

"It's a crisis," the ad says. "School cuts—$180 million; police cuts—nearly $100 million; tax cuts on the way. Incredibly, there's a plan to spend $1 billion on a land grab at Willets Point."

The group, the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association, says it will run on "local cable television." A WPIRA spokeswoman did not provide the cost of the ad purchase, but said it was a "solid buy that will get people's attention."  read more »

City Comptroller Bill Thompson this morning endorsed construction of planned mega-projects, including Willets Point, as a means to "prime the economy."

As the debate over term limits rages on (Mr. Thompson is opposed to extending term limits and said he plans to mount a mayoral bid regardless), Mr. Thompson turned his attention to the financial crisis at a Crain's breakfast forum this morning. His broad, three-pronged solution for the local economy: tighten budgets, spur economic development and diversify the economy.

In the speech, according to prepared remarks, he took a tangent to endorse the city's plan to redevelop the 61-acre industrial zone of Willets Point in Queens (the Council must vote on the contentious proposal by Nov. 18), though he said that affordable housing and business relocation issues must be addressed.  read more »

Following testimony at today's Willets Point hearing before the City Council, I caught up with Dan Scully, vice president of Tully Construction, the largest landowner in the 61-acre industrial site and a driver of much of the opposition to the Bloomberg administration's redevelopment plan for the area. [More on the political controversy surrounding the issue here.]

Despite giving testimony against the plan and the full-court opposition effort, Mr. Scully said Tully is still in active negotiations with the city, though he did not seem hopeful that an easy solution was on the horizon.

"We've always had an open door to the EDC.  read more »

We’re past the two-hour mark at today’s major City Council hearing on the city’s Willets Point redevelopment plan, and there’s been a noticeable lack of the yelling, grandstanding and vituperation often seen when contentious issues come before the Council. In place of the typical attacks on the administration have been docile back and forths over numbers, dollars and specifics about environmental issues.

Following testimony from city officials, local Councilman Hiram Monserrate—who has generally been critical of the plan and whose vote is influential in the Council—engaged in a relatively tame interrogation of Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, questioning him on the finances of the project, among other issues.  read more »

Testifying before a packed hearing at the City Council this morning, Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber announced a set of new property deals in the Bloomberg administration’s bid to redevelop Willets Point, including ones involving two members of the main opposition group.

In testimony before a Council subcommittee, Mr. Lieber said the city had reached agreements with three new landowners, with the amount of land controlled by the city up to 12 percent of the private property at the 61-acre site.

Two of the three new deals were done with members of the main opposition group, the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association. The group has fueled opposition on the part of many council members, who have spoken out against the large-scale use of eminent domain. (The deals today were with T. Mina Supply, the Parts Authority and Willets Point Property LLC, together composing three acres on the site.)  read more »

The folks at the New York City Human Rights Initiative sent over an advisory about a bus tour today to criticize a set of Bloomberg administration development initiatives brewing right now. "All of the stops will focus on projects which in some way divide communities, displace longtime residents, and deny their right to adequate housing and jobs," the advisory says.

The stops: Willets Point, Harlem, Chinatown, and Sunset Park (where a mostly contextual rezoning is planned).  read more »

For at least the past year, the Bloomberg administration’s official line has been crystal clear regarding its planned mega-projects citywide: All were to battle the clock and gather enough momentum so that come Dec. 31, 2009, they could not be reversed by the next mayor.

As the boom turns to bust, it’s evident that those projects, almost all of which have yet to be implemented, missed their chance at the latest thriving economy. So now that Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants another four years in the captain’s chair, the main obstacle to his agenda of high-profile economic development will likely shift from limited time to the economic climate.  read more »

With a do-or-die City Council vote approaching, today has already brought two tidbits in the fight over the Willets Point redevelopment: A new promotional video by a city-sponsored group, and a rally critical of the plan by affordable housing advocates.

The video, commissioned by the Flushing/Willets Point/Corona Local Development Corporation, paints a cheery picture of the development as a series of business leaders and elected officials supportive of the plan laud its merits.

The protest, scheduled to be going on midday by City hall, is organized by affordable housing groups ACORN and the Pratt Center for Community Development, which promised appearances by elected officials.

For the multi-billion dollar plan pushed by the Bloomberg administration, judgment day is nearing. The City Council has a hearing scheduled later this month, and a vote could conceivably come before November (though it must happen before December), and for now, the administration and the Council are far apart.  read more »

In a push for the redevelopment of Willets Point, a group of 75 business leaders, elected officials, industry representatives and others wrote the City Council this week a letter that urged the body to approve the city's proposed rezoning, an act it must take up within the next two months.

The letter, reported this morning in the Post, said that, "after more than 50 years of unsuccessful attempts the clean-up of Willets Point is at hand and we as community leaders face a historic opportunity."

The letter came in response to a statement of opposition to the plan by the majority of the Council. Check out the PDF here and here.

A new blog has popped up out of the ruckus surrounding the proposed redevelopment at Willets Point in Queens, the Iron Triangle Tracker, put up by Times-Ledger reporter Stephen Stirling.

From the site:

"Iron Triangle Tracker will feature profiles and up-to-the-minute news covering every facet and every opinion of the proposed project in hopes of generating a meaningful and intelligent discussion."

It's the second such blog (that we know of) to emerge specifically about the topic, the first being the pro-Bloomberg plan Develop Willets Point site, run by legislative staffer Chris McShane. (The landowners also have an active site.)

With two months until the project is due to get its make-or-break vote from the City Council, the issue has yet to have the same level of blogospheric contagion as did the Atlantic Yards plan, which spawned a slew of sites—many of them still active.

Two of the city's largest planned developments are headed to the City Council for consideration, as the Planning Commission voted this morning to approve the Willets Point and Hunter's Point South developments in Queens. The two Bloomberg administration-led rezoning plans would permit the development of more than 10,000 apartments, though many on the Council have publicly resisted Willets Point.

The planning commission voted 11-1 and 12-0 in favor of, respectively, Willets Point and Hunter's Point South, according to a Department of City Planning spokeswoman, an unsurprising vote given that the board is controlled by mayoral appointees. The one vote against came from the representative for Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.  read more »

Queens Crap scored a copy of the letter Council members opposed to the Willets Point redevelopment plan sent to City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden yesterday afternoon. The missive says, in part:

We write to share with you our absolute opposition to the current Willets Point Development Plan. The project that comes before the Department of City Planning on August 13th is far from the best our city can offer for a long-term plan that will affect hundreds of thousands of residents for decades to come…Since the first community meetings of the Flushing redevelopment process, when community residents expressed a desire to include the Iron Triangle in any long-term development plans, the details of this plan have been determined not by residents, but by the Economic Development Corporation.

 read more »

A majority of the City Council signed a letter firmly opposing the Bloomberg administration's proposed redevelopment plan for Willets Point today, demanding more commitments to below-market rate housing and the creation of a broad relocation plan for the existing workers and employers. The letter, signed by 30 members of the Council, marks the planned 61-acre redevelopment by Shea Stadium with additional uncertainty as it moves nearer to the end of the city's seven-month public approval process [here's the letter as a Word file].

The Council members wrote that they were in "absolute opposition to the current Willets Point Development Plan," a troubling statement for the Bloomberg administration, which needs City Council approval for its plan.  read more »

No Willets Point protests this afternoon.

The main Willets Point landowners group had planned a big truck rally at the Mets-Pirates game, planning to stop traffic as the contest came to a close, but now per an advisory, the group has canceled the event due to rain.

The organization, the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association, planned the protest as the City Planning Commission is slated to hold a hearing on the planned Queens redevelopment Wednesday, part of a mega-hearing that includes the proposed rezonings of the Lower East Side and the planned middle-income development in Queens at Hunters Point South. The 61-acre Willets Point slated for redevelopment sits across the street from the Mets' new stadium, Citi Field.

The landowners group said via email that it would reschedule the protest.

As expected, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall on Wednesday gave her conditional endorsement of the Bloomberg administration's plan to redevelop Willets Point, the 61-acre industrial area by Shea Stadium.

"There is no doubt that the existing businesses and people who work there provide valuable services and goods," she wrote. "However these activities are no longer compatible or appropriate to the progress of the communities and institutions that have grown around Willets Point."

Her endorsement [PDF] comes as part of the city's seven-month public approval process for a rezoning of the area, which requires approval from the City Council by November.  read more »

The city's Economic Development Corporation announced today it made a deal with a fourth landowner at Willets Point, the 61-acre site by Shea Stadium the Bloomberg administration wants to redevelop.

The landowner, Carlos Canal, agreed to sell his 4,000-square-foot property if the city completes a rezoning of the area, a process that will come to a head in November when it is slated for a vote before the City Council.

The news comes five days after the main opposition group of landowners and businesses at the site, the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association, announced its group had grown by five businesses to 14 (one of the original 10 businesses agreed to sell his property to the city).  read more »

The road to approving a mega-project in New York City often follows a similar formula, with a months-long political dance carried out between the city or developer and local member/members of the City Council. Last-minute compromises and agreements are routine, and once a project starts the city's land-use approval process, defeats are almost without precedent.

However, the dynamic surrounding the planned redevelopment of Willets Point is proving far less simple than the typical fare, as both observers and those involved seem genuinely unsure as to how the Council will ultimately vote on the project.  read more »

Among the issues adding complexity to the political scene: A Council that was offended by the start of the rezoning process; a Council speaker who has been

The city today announced a third deal to buy land at Willets Point, agreeing to acquire 22,000 square feet from Met Metals if the area is rezoned by the City Council. However, the deal leaves a long road left for the city in terms of acquisitions and relocation deals at the 61-acre site next to Shea Stadium, as there are over 250 businesses in the area

The city seems to be strategically timing its announcements, at least so far. Last month, the first two deals were announced the same day that the main landowners group held an opposition rally in Queens at a public meeting on the project, and today's announcement came just minutes before a scheduled rally at Queens Borough Hall, where Borough President Helen Marshall is holding a hearing on the issue later today.  read more »

The city hasn't heard much out of former mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer since he lost his bid against Mayor Bloomberg in 2005. Now, the former Bronx Borough President has joined the camp of landowners and critics who oppose the Bloomberg administration's plans for Willets Point, the 61-acre industrial site by Shea Stadium.

According to a release from the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association, Mr. Ferrer will join local Councilman Hiram Monserrate at the event, where the main Willets Point property owners' group will call for the ouster of the chairman of Queens Community Board 7. The board voted last week to endorse the city's plan, with some conditions.  read more »

Following last night's late-night Queens Community Board 7 conditional endorsement of the city's redevelopment plan for Willets Point, the landowner and business group opposing the redevelopment there is hailing the vote as a victory.

The margin of support, the group noted, was closer than it was just a week ago when a community board committee voted on the plan (20-15, compared with 22-3 a week ago), also noting that the conditions placed on the endorsement are rather restrictive.

Release below.

Willets Point Business Owners Declare Victory at Community Board Vote

Conditions Placed on EDC Plan Demonstrate Distrust of City

 

(New York, NY) July 1, 2008 -The Willets Point business owners fighting to protect their private property from an unprecedented and potentially illegal land grab by the Bloomberg Administration declared victory in the latest skirmish with the City, noting that opposition from members of Community Board 7 increased dramatically at Monday's vote while those board members who approved the plan imposed such severe conditions that the vote was tantamount to a rejection of the Economic Development Corporation plan.  read more »

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The local community board in Queens has endorsed the Bloomberg administration’s plans to redevelop Willets Point, the industrial 61-acre site by Shea Stadium, according to a late-night release from the Bloomberg administration. The vote comes despite opposition from the local City Council members, housing advocacy groups and property owners.

We don’t yet have key details—such as the margin of the vote or the conditions attached to the endorsement—but the city sent out an announcement hailing the vote a bit before 1 a.m.

Such community board endorsements are rather uncommon early in the process of contentious rezonings, as the boards usually vote against the developments with a set of conditions they want to see satisfied.  read more »

After months of trying to cut deals, the city has made its first two agreements to buyout landowners at Willets Point, the 61-acre site by Shea Stadium slated for redevelopment, the city announced today. The first to give in were Sambucci Bros., an auto salvage business, and BRD Corp.

The news comes on the same day that a local community board is holding its first hearing on the redevelopment, which is expected to attract considerable resistance from a well-organized group of major landowners.  read more »

Taken with a public endorsement of the project by members of the Central Labor Council

The Bloomberg administration has cleared one of many obstacles standing in the way of redevelopment at Willets Point, reaching agreements with the numerous unions that were opposing the 61-acre project by Shea Stadium.

Members of the Central Labor Council, which generally wields strong influence with City Council members, had been pressuring the administration for wage and other guarantees before giving support to the multibillion-dollar project.

“We are wholeheartedly behind this project now,” said Neal Kwatra, the political director for UNITE HERE! who was working with the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council. Mr. Kwatra said the hotel council was now calling on the City Council to support the project.  read more »

The Bloomberg administration is searching for a firm to help relocate some 260 businesses currently in Willets Point, the 61-acre industrial site by Shea Stadium slated for a complete redevelopment. The city’s Economic Development Corporation today posted on its Web site a request for proposals, seeking a consultant to provide assistance in relocating the businesses, most of which are in the auto-repair/junkyard industry.  read more »

The mayor’s executive budget released yesterday called for $389.7 million in city funding for the proposed Willets Point redevelopment, an amount that would be one of the largest direct city contributions for an economic development project during the Bloomberg administration.

[Summary of the executive budget here as a PDF].

The money would be used for acquisition and infrastructure work, according to a city summary of the mayor’s budget plan, with the capital budget calling for the money to be spread over a 12-year period, with the bulk of it at the start.  read more »

An alternative studied in the Willets Point environmental review suggests a possible compromise strategy for the Bloomberg administration in its contested effort to redevelop the 61-acre industrial area by Shea Stadium.

The proposed redevelopment has turned into a big political quagmire, with elected officials on the City Council jumping at the chance to bash the city about its proposal. While a group of current and former elected officials met at City Hall today to hail the plan, the project clearly will take some convincing in the Council.

The alternative plan, studied in the draft environmental impact statement, calls for acquiring the land and building the project, in two phases. The plan includes acquiring the land on the western portions of the site first, where most of the smaller automotive-related businesses are based, while the owner-occupied businesses on the eastern portion would have more time before they sell their land. The plan would be the same in size, though the first half would be done by 2013, according to the plan studied, while the second half would be done by 2017.  read more »

A bunch of elected officials held a pro-Willets Point redevelopment rally at City Hall this morning in a likely attempt to counter efforts in the City Council to oppose the multi-billion dollar, 61-acre project, at least as currently presented.  read more »

The Bloomberg administration is facing stiff opposition to its Willets Point redevelopment plan.

The city commenced a seven-month rezoning process today for the 61-acre site by Shea Stadium, prompting 29 members of the City Council to declare their disappointment with the plan. (More details on the Council’s concerns here).

The letter seems to spell trouble for the Bloomberg administration on this project, which imagines a complete redevelopment of the manufacturing and car repair-intensive district.  read more »

The Bloomberg administration is plowing forward on its plan to redevelop the industrial area next to Shea Stadium, as it intends to start the rezoning process on Monday despite objections from the City Council.

“We have asked them not to certify Monday,” said Melinda Katz, chairwoman of the City Council’s land use committee. “My feeling is that there are a lot of outstanding issues.”

The plan for the 61-acre site, Willets Point, calls for a large mixed-used community with up to 5,500 units of housing, up to 1.7 million square feet of retail, up to 700 hotel rooms, a public school, and possibly a modest convention center. The decision to jump into the seven-month approval process without the blessing of the Council suggests a rising anxiety among members of the Bloomberg administration, which has 18 months left in office and a slew of large development projects left to implement.  read more »

As a new lawsuit and a press conference loaded with critics yesterday suggest, things don’t seem to be going all that great for the city at Willets Point.

The clock is ticking for the Bloomberg administration’s agenda, and officials are eager to realize its dreams of ousting the chop shops and industry by Shea Stadium for a multi-billion dollar mixed-use community.

But like an airplane leaving from Newark Airport, the project has been stuck on the taxiway for far longer than planned or scheduled, unable to take off as of yet.  read more »

For months, the city had not laid out particulars of how much affordable housing it would require at the 61-acre Willets Point redevelopment by Shea Stadium, only saying that there would be affordability. Now, with the start of the public approval process approaching, the city has gotten more specific.

“They’ve now put on the table affordable housing at an 80/20 rate,” said Councilman Hiram Monserrate, who represents the area. The amount is not enough to please the second-term Democrat, he said.  read more »