NYCEDC
News: City Buys Fourth Piece of Land in Willets Point
From a NYCEDC press release:
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced that it has signed another property acquisition and relocation agreement with a business with which it had been negotiating at Willets Point, Queens. The deal is the fourth such agreement in recent months as the City proceeds through the Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).
Flushing Towing has agreed to have NYCEDC acquire 4,000 square feet of industrial land. The sale is contingent upon ULURP approval of the Willets Point Development Plan.
“Our efforts to negotiate with each of the businesses and landowners at Willets Point continue to show results,” said Seth W. Pinsky, President, NYCEDC. “We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Flushing Towing and we remain committed to reaching more as we move through the approval process.”
“I’m happy with my agreement and to have the opportunity to move my business,” said Carlos Canal, owner of Flushing Towing. “I now have a future I can look forward to.”
Under the City’s plan, the 62 acre site, which includes the property on which Flushing Towing had been operating will be remediated and prepared to be part of a new mixed-use community that will include housing, restaurants, stores, parks, and a school. The project will also provide 18,000 construction jobs and more than 5,000 permanent jobs.
NYCEDC has been engaged in active relocation and property acquisition negotiations with many businesses and property owners of all sizes at Willets Point since announcing its redevelopment plans last spring, holding well over 100 meetings with such businesses and owners during this period.
Please visit the NYCEDC website for more information on the Willets Point Redevelopment plan: http://www.nycedc.com/willetspoint
Another piece of good news regarding this development project. It’s good to hear from these businesses, which all seem pretty satisfied with their sales and relocations. The opponents of this project would have you believe that the city is forcing every business to leave Willets Point with little to no compensation. and that seems like it couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I’m sure we’ll hear about a few more property sales as time goes by. Each one is an important step in this whole process.
Link: Queens Ledger Coverage of Borough President’s Hearing
In case you were looking for some follow up on the hearing at the Queens Borough President’s Office, you can get a pretty good idea of what the meeting was like by heading over to the Queens Ledger and the Queens Tribune.
I wish I could have been there, but it definitely sounds like there was plenty of support for the project during the hearing, despite the opposition staged outside of the Borough President’s Office.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall’s report on the proposal is due next, and all indications say she’ll continue to support the plan as she has all along.
Hope to have some more good updates next week. Enjoy the weekend, and Let’s Go Mets!
News: City Gets Third Piece of Property
I missed this the other day, but as a reader was kind enough to point out, the city was able to make its third purchase of land in Willets Point.
The good news just keeps coming in…
News: Queens CB7 Committee Passes Willets Point Plan
In another sign that things are looking good for the Willets Point development project, the Land Use committee of Queens Community Board 7 passed a motion approving the development plan for Willets Point. Curbed has some details on the happenings at the meeting.
Despite some concerns that were expressed at the meeting, which drew a decent sized crowd for a Community Board committee meeting, the motion to approve the plan passed 22-3 in the committee. The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the full board, which usually approves motions as they are recommended by committee.
A spokesperson for the NYC Economic Development Corporation sent the following to DWP:
“EDC is grateful to the committee for its careful deliberation and commitment to an open and fair public discussion. We look forward to next week’s full board vote and are hopeful that this important development plan will continue to earn support through the approval process.”
Once again, I’m very glad to see this project making progress. It’s great that the community board committee expressed its concerns about the project but still voted overwhelmingly to pass the plan. This, combined with the purchase of the first parcels of land in Willets Point by the city, is a very good sign. I hope the good news keeps rolling in…
News: City Buys First Parcels of Land in Willets Point
Mayor Bloomberg announced today that the City of New York had made its first purchases of land in Willets Point, according to a report from Crain’s New York.
From Crain’s:
The Economic Development Corporation signed contracts with Sambucci Bros. Inc. Auto Salvage for two parcels totaling 52,000 square feet of land and BRD Corp. for three parcels that total 22,000 square feet.
Despite the progress made by these acquisitions, the article notes:
Despite the labor deal and today’s announcement of two land acquisition agreements, the city has much work left on Willets Point.
Well this is certainly big news and great news. Amidst the turmoil that has surrounded the Mets the past few days, a great deal of progress has been going on behind the scenes. The article is absolutely right in saying there is much work to be done by the city, but this is a huge step in the right direction.
The article mentions several Council Members who are urging Community Board 7 of Queens to vote against the development plan. If you live in Queens, I strongly urge you to write to Community Board 7 using the link on the right side of this site and voice your support of this plan.
Update: There’s plenty more on the story from a few sources.
Michael Frazier writes about the deal over at Newsday and sums things up very well. A quote from his piece:
“We have been and continue to be actively engaged in conversations with many, many businesses and landowners in Willets Point,” said Seth Pinksy, president of the Economic Development Corp. “We have made substantive progress with a number of them.”
The New York Times reports on the deal and provides some insight into the mind of the owner of one of the businesses. They say of the owner, “…he would not give details but said it was an offer he could not refuse, which included providing him a new site for his business nearby in Queens.”
Curbed had the following comment on the news:
It’s hard to say whether it’s a sign of confidence or an omen of just how bad things are with the embattled $3 billion plan to remake the Iron Triangle, but the NY Economic Development Corp. sent out a press release this afternoon noting that it had reached an agreement with two landowners in the area
I’m going with sign of confidence on that one. It’s good to hear that the owners of these places feel like they got completely fair deals. That’s a great sign as the city moves forward in its negotiations with the rest of the existing businesses in the area.
Update 2: From the Queens Courier, some more quotes from the Council Members and residents who oppose the EDC’s plan.
First, Councilman Monserrate:
“When they first told me about Willets Point two years ago, they told me it would be market rate condos,” Monserrate said, at a recent Queens Congregations United for Action (QCUA) meeting. “That’s really priced out of our community.”
And now a resident:
““I think the development in Willets Point is unfair,” said Florencio Almazo, a resident of Corona who, along with his wife, shares a basement apartment with two other couples. “It’s unfair to people like me. It is unjust that we and families like ours won’t qualify for the housing to be built in Willets Point.”
Talk about some quotations on the sympathetic side. Has Councilman Monserrate ever heard of economic diversity? It’s not the end of the world if the area has a mix of its current residents and new residents, all of which can be of varying economic status.
Hell, I probably won’t even be able to afford to live in the aera, and here I am running the blog that supports the development wholeheartedly. As for the resident of Corona, I think it’s great that he’s making it in his current home and situation, but there’s absolutely no reason why he must be able to move into the new residential areas of Willets Point. Such a suggestion holds absolutely no weight in an argument.
I definitely don’t see any harm in an area that doesn’t have many market rate condos getting a good amount of them and improving the area as a whole. Attracting new residents that don’t already live in the general vicinity of the wasteland that is Willets Point is not a bad thing, period.
News: City Makes Deal with Unions on Willets Point
Short on time, but check out this great news from the Observer.
I’m never too short on time to post a great quotation from Monserrate, though.
“I commend the administration and the EDC that has moved it along. However, there are still other issues that are still as of yet unresolved,” he said.
Are still…are still as of yet. Awesome.
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