Creedmoor redevelopment to run through 2040, new docs show
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The massive redevelopment at Creedmoor in Eastern Queens is looking at a groundbreaking in 2027, and a full project completion by 2040. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
While construction may begin within the next several years on the state’s massive plan to redevelop the Creedmoor Psychiatric Facility campus, new documents show it may be decades until the project is completed.
According to a public scoping report released earlier this month, the substantial yet controversial redevelopment at Creedmoor – a pet project for the state and the Queens borough president – won’t break ground on its first phase until 2027, and it won’t be totally completed until as early as 2040.
It’s the first time Eastern Queens residents have been given a timetable for the large-scale project that aims to develop 59 acres of the larger 125-acre Creedmoor campus – an area which has been mostly untouched for half a century.
The plan was initially rolled out last February and is a joint effort between Empire State Development and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
Though many of the project’s details have yet to be decided, the state has said that the project will essentially amount to an entirely new neighborhood in Eastern Queens.
The redevelopment of Creedmoor will include more than 1,500 housing units, a school, community space and retail. Map via Empire State Development
On July 1st, ESD released its draft scoping document, a basic outline for the next steps related to the studies and analysis that need to be completed for the new development.
While the project is ambitious in its scale when it comes to affordable housing, it will be some time before any of it comes to reality.
Potentially also slowing down the project will be local opposition.
The state and BP’s Creedmoor plan has received contempt from local civic groups, who don’t want to see higher density housing built in their suburban-like neighborhoods.
According to the scoping document, the Creedmoor development will be outfitted with 2,775 total units of housing, 1,249 of which will be listed as affordable. The rest will be multi-family, triplex and semi-detached units.
Initially, the Creedmoor master plan, which was released in December, listed an additional 100 units of housing. ESD did not respond to questions from the Eagle on Thursday about the discrepancy.
On top of the housing, the development will have an area set out for retail, a community facility, an older adult center, an early childhood center and potentially a K through 8 school.
“There was a lot of conversation about housing, and the need for housing for a variety of different populations, including seniors, veterans,” Doug McPherson, an ESD representative, said when the initial plan was released in December.
Regardless of what the final project looks like, ESD is currently estimating it will be split into four or more different phases, with total completion by 2040.
"Empire State Development is committed to transforming the underutilized Creedmoor campus into a vibrant, mixed-use community,” ESFD said in a statement on Thursday. “This redevelopment will provide much-needed mixed-income housing options while creating amenities and open space. ESD looks forward to continued collaboration with local stakeholders to rehabilitate this state owned property.”
Richards' office was unable to provide comment on Thursday on the scoping document or the plan, but told the Eagle that the BP still strongly supports the Creedmoor development.
Most of the 44-page scoping document lays out environmental factors that need to be reviewed as the project progresses, like noise quality, traffic and potential transit needs, which will most certainly need to be examined since the area where Creedmoor is located is widely recognized as a transit desert and has few public transit options outside of a few bus lines.
While the project is still in its earliest stages, it still has stirred tensions in the neighborhood that shares more similarities with parts of Long Island than it does Manhattan.
Many in the community, who live in surrounding neighborhoods like Oakland Gardens, are deeply unhappy with the current plan. In a number of public forums, they argued it includes too much housing that will be out of character with the area, and could lead to infrastructure and traffic issues.
“We're not very happy with what we saw at all,” local civic leader Bob Friedrich said in December. “The Creedmoor plan is high density and this is not what we signed up for. We've had discussions with them, we gave them a well thought out plan and basically, they've ignored most of it.”
On the other side of the coin are housing advocates who have been happy to see the development, but want to see more information regarding how affordable the affordable units will actually be.
“It's a good start,” said Jamaica-based Reverend Father Patrick O’Connor in December. “The master plan doesn't tell us the affordability level and that is critical to being a successful development for families who are leaving or planning to leave New York.”
“The governor and her team need to spell out what the affordability levels are,” he added.
Those questions were not answered with the scoping document.
Locals on both sides of the issue will potentially be able to get more information out of ESD on July 18, when the state agency plans to hold a virtual scoping hearing.
ESD hopes to finalize the plan for the development mid-to-late next year.
