Decades in the making, Willets Point project begins to take shape
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The design concept for the first phase of the Willets Point redevelopment project, which is nearly two decades in the making. Rendering via EDC
By Jacob Kaye
City officials unveiled their latest design plans for the redevelopment of Willets Point on Wednesday evening to Queens Community Board 7 – nearly two decades after whisperings of a redevelopment of the neighborhood first began.
Officials from the city’s Economic Development Corporation unveiled their plans to build three residential buildings, featuring new open space, commercial space and several new roads on the site across the street from Citi Field which has long been eyed for redevelopment.
The new designs come several weeks before the EDC is scheduled to present its plan for approval to the city’s Public Design Commission.
The beginnings of the Willets Point redevelopment date back to the Bloomberg administration. Plans to transform the 23-acre, city-controlled plot that sits in the shadow of Citi Field have come and gone – including a proposition to build a shopping mall there, which was struck down in court in 2017.
Most recently, rumors of a bid to build a casino in the area stemming from new Mets owner Steve Cohen have begun to swirl. Officials at EDC, however, say even if a casino were to make it to Willets Point, it would have no effect on the work currently underway and up for review by the PDC on Oct. 11.
The plan for phase one of the redevelopment – six of the total 23-acres of city-owned land – includes 1,100 units of affordable housing, with a number of them designated for seniors. It also includes over 22,000 square feet of retail space, around 5,000 square feet of community facilities, over 30,000 square feet of open space and a new K-8 school with 650 seats, which is being designed by the School Construction Authority in a separate effort. The affordable units will rent from a range of below 30 percent of the area median income to over 100 percent of the area median income.
No other plan for the redevelopment of Willets Point has made it as far as the one presented to the board on Wednesday night.
“I can't believe it’s been [16] years that we’ve been working on this,” said Phil Konigsberg, a member of the board.
Design plans for the first phase of the Willets Point redevelopment project, pictured in yellow, were presented by the Economic Development Corporation to Queens Community Board 7 on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. Map via EDC
The current plan began to make headwind last year, when the Queens Borough Board gave it the thumbs up in a unanimous vote.
Under the new plan, phase one of the project will be leased for 99 years to the Queens Development Group, a partnership between real estate giants Sterling Equities and The Related Companies.
In addition to the new structures, the development of the area requires the creation of new physical infrastructure.
The developers are tasked with building new streets, sidewalks and utilities, including a sewage system, which the tenants of Willets Point, most of whom are auto shop workers, have long been without.
According to the design plans presented on Wednesday, an existing water main that runs under Willets Point Boulevard toward Flushing Creek will be reconstructed. A brand new sanitary sewer will be installed along Seaver Way and head toward the Flushing Bay – auto shop workers who worked in Willets Point would have to go to nearby businesses to use the bathroom for years.
The area has been undergoing a remediation process for the past year. Prior to the neighborhood housing dozens of auto shops, it was home to an ash removal company that left Willets Point in 1930. A 30-foot thick layer of ash was left by the company upon its departure. That’s what kicked off nearly a century of pollution in the area.
The remediation process began in June and is expected to wrap up next year or early 2024.
Auto shops, which once populated the area of Willets Point now known as phase one, continue operating down the block from where the new development will be. Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye
Brooke Wieczorek, the vice president of land use at EDC, said the remediation process didn’t turn up any pollutants that were too alarming.
“Everything was anticipated and expected,” Wieczorek told the Eagle. “There was nothing earth shattering that was found.”
Community board members raised a number of minor concerns on Wednesday but, in general, appeared to approve of the plans – the board doesn’t have a vote on the plans and the presentation was made solely to keep board members in the loop.
Several board members asked about the plans to protect future residents from noise pollution. The apartments will be sandwiched by Citi Field and the 7 train. The area is also situated near LaGuardia Airport.
Architects and engineers on the project are looking to design the building with insulated windows and mechanical systems that don’t have a lot of noise infiltration, officials said.
Should the design plans be approved by the PDC next month, the next step will be to begin to build – once the remediation is completed.
EDC officials said they expect to get shovels in the ground to begin the build by early 2024, though that may be pushed back because of the remediation process.
Wieczorek said the potential push to bring a new casino to the area will not interfere with the EDC’s current plans.
“We’re continuing with phase one as proposed,” she said. “We’re just all in on the affordable housing delivery.”
THE CITY reported in April that Cohen had met with Mayor Eric Adams earlier in the year to propose one of New York’s two new casinos be built either in the Citi Field parking lot – which is owned by the city and that would likely be subject to a successful legal challenge – or in the non-city owned portion of Willets Point, which Cohen would have to buy.
