City pitches Willets Point proposal to planning commission
/
Developers and advocates for the Willets Point redevelopment, including City Councilmember Francisco Moya, appeared before the City Planning Commission at a hearing on Wednesday. Photo via Department of City Planning Chair Dan Garodnick/Twitter
By Ryan Schwach
The second phase of the development of Willets Point took another step in its long road to city approval this week, appearing before the commissioners of the City Planning Commission on Wednesday.
The developers behind the Willets Point project, which include the Economic Development Corporation, New York City Football Club, Sterling Equities and the Related Company, presented the long-anticipated project to the DCP, who, though seemingly supportive of the project, raised questions about potential congestion in the new neighborhood, the effects on pre-existing businesses nearby and the total number of affordable housing units being built as part of the project.
Gaining the City Planning Commission’s support would be the next major step toward approval for the project, which has already gained the support of the local community board and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
Although the commissioners’ approval is not set in stone, members, including Chair Dan Garodnick, had positive words to say about the Willets Point plan, which includes affordable housing, a hotel, public space and a new soccer stadium for New York City Football Club, the central feature of the second phase of the project. Phase one of the project was approved by the city last year and is currently under construction.
“Let me just congratulate all of you on what clearly is going to be a transformative project for the borough,” said Garodnick, who formally represented Manhattan in the City Council. “We know how much work has gone into even getting us to this day, so, I just want to congratulate you on that and of course marrying an extraordinary amount of affordable housing with an economic development opportunity for the city as significant as this is a really once-in-history moment.”
Vice Chair Kenneth Knuckles also called the plan a “grand project and a great project.”
Phase two of the project includes 1,400 units of affordable housing, an 18-story hotel, several parking garages, over 75,000 square feet of retail space, a number of pedestrian plazas, open space and the 25,000-seat stadium, which is expected to open for its first match in 2027.
Phase two of the development builds off of phase one, which officials broke ground on toward the end of December.
The first phase of the project includes 880 units of income restricted housing, 220 units of senior housing, a 25-space parking garage, over 22,000 square feet of retail space, around 5,000 square feet of community facilities and over 30,000 square feet of open space. Construction on the first phase is expected to be completed by 2026.
Despite the general support, the commission expressed a number of concerns with some of the project’s details on Wednesday.
The commissioners' main concern was related to the density and traffic that might be created with the construction of a 25,000-seat soccer stadium and the thousands of units of affordable housing on top of the pre-existing traffic created by Citi Field and the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
Commissioners Gail Benjamin and Leah Goodridge both posed questions related to density with the large development. Both were concerned that traffic could overwhelm the area or be disruptive to the entirely new community being constructed there.
These worries were also top of the list for the local Community Board 7, who gave their seal of approval in December.
One of the main requests from board members before giving that approval was that NYCFC soccer games not overlap with New York Met baseball games, potentially creating heavy traffic with NYCFC’s 25,000 seats and the 41,800 fans Citi Field can hold.
“We will be a good neighbor to the Mets and the USTA,” said Daniel White, a communications professional with the development group. “We are working to make sure that we're coordinating all of our matches, we have already coordinated our matches right now with Major League Baseball. That's the first thing to say, and we will continue to do that on a going forward basis.”
Developers behind the plan to create a new neighborhood in Willets Point answered questions and laid out details on the affordable housing, a hotel, public space and new soccer stadium for NYCFC included in the project at a recent meeting before the Department of City Planning. Rendering via Joint Venture Developers, HOK Architecture and Economic Development Corporation.
The soccer team has agreed not to play a home game within seven hours of a Mets home game. Additionally, the developers said that because the stadium is a little more than half the size of Citi Field, it won’t generate as much traffic as an average Mets game.
“The main benefit of the soccer stadium is it will not be an operation for major events, simultaneous to Citi Field,” said Ethan Goodman, a representative for the development group. “We represent about 60 percent of the capacity of Citi Field, and so what you're looking at when the soccer stadium is in effect, is a traffic situation that will be somewhat less than Citi Field.”
In 2023, the Mets had an average home attendance of just shy of 33,000 fans according to ESPN, an attendance record good enough for 11th in Major League Baseball.
By comparison, NYCFC averaged about 19,500 fans per game between games at Citi Field, Yankee Stadium and other venues, according to Soccer Stadium Digest.
Commissioners were also concerned about where fans will park on game days – a deal is currently underway between the soccer club and the Mets to allow NYCFC to use a portion of Citi Field’s parking lot on game days.
“In the rare circumstances where there might be an event on the same day, we've got a sufficient temporal buffer so that there's no danger of parking spaces being used by people at the same time,” said Goodman.
Commissioner David Gold, who posed the question, said the answer sounded like “great progress.”
Benjamin also followed up later in the meeting to ask how a potential nearby casino, an unrelated project proposal from Mets owner Steve Cohen, would further affect density, traffic and parking, particularly if a large portion of the Citi Field parking lot is used for Cohen’s Metropolitan Park.
“I will say that we have had a very productive relationship with our neighbors across the street,” said Goodman.
“We anticipate that will continue and we'll be able to work out any issues,” he added.
Some local fans and officials spoke in favor of the project, including perhaps its biggest supporter, City Councilmember Francisco Moya.
“This project represents the most significant affordable housing initiative for decades, and that's just the beginning,” he said at the hearing. “This investment is not just about buildings, it's about shaping the future of our community. It's about creating stability and security for the working class community that's struggling to make ends meet. It will provide essential support for the educational aspirations of local children. It will stimulate our local economy.”
But just how affordable the housing in the development would be is still up for discussion.
“My only concern which I always raise is that sometimes the affordability isn't actually affordable,” Goodridge told the developers.
The exact breakdown of the income restrictions for each unit of housing in the second phase of the development has yet to be determined.
Goodridge’s question was the only one that developers didn’t have a fully solid answer to.
“The funding plan for the 1,400 additional units is not yet finalized,” said Goodman, who added the intention is for the affordability rates to mirror the first phase of the project.
What Goodman could say was that “right off the bat” half of the units would be around 80 percent of the area median income, with other options ranging from 30 percent or 40 percent of AMI, up to 120 percent.
In phase one, 133 units, or 15 percent of the total phase one units, will be rented to formerly homeless New Yorkers. Sixty units, or 7 percent will rent at 30 percent of the area median income; 99 units, or 11 percent, will rent at 40 percent AMI; 60 units will rent at 60 percent AMI; 109 units, or 12 percent, will rent at 80 percent AMI; 339 units, or 38 percent, will rent at 100 percent AMI; and 80 units will rent at 120 percent AMI.
The Department of City Planning will vote on Willers at a separate meeting in the coming weeks and months, a spokesperson for the agency told the Eagle. Regardless, the “clock” for the commission to weigh in the project ends on March 11, so an answer on approval will come before that date.
If approved, Willets Point phase two will move to the City Council for their backing.
