Queens community board demands role in Aqueduct redevelopment plan
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Queens Community Board 10 told the state on Thursday it wants a seat at the table as the state crafts a master plan for the redevelopment of Aqueduct Racetrack. Photo via Empire State Development
By Ryan Schwach
The community board with jurisdiction over the 100-acre Aqueduct Racetrack site up for redevelopment wants a seat at the table as the state crafts a master plan that could entirely reshape a corner of Southern Queens.
Members of Queens Community Board 10 told the state on Thursday that they have “some serious concerns” about the future of the racetrack site, and want a key role in shaping whatever development is bound to come there.
The state announced last week that it would soon kick off the process of redeveloping the racetrack, which is slated to close over the summer, with a round of public hearings. The area will soon be one of the largest empty plots of state-owned land in New York.
“Any Aqueduct community master plan that results from this process, in our view, must be guided by the people in our Community Board 10 neighborhoods that surround that property,” said longtime board Chair Betty Braton. “It is the people here in our community board district who are in Aqueduct.”
In a statement to the Eagle last week, Governor Kathy Hochul said the site “represents a significant opportunity.”
“We will ensure its future reflects the priorities of Queens residents while expanding housing, economic opportunity, and public amenities,” she added.
The state, through Empire State Development, said it intends to let the community shape what the project looks like starting next week with a series of public workshops.
Little is known about the state’s framework for the redevelopment, other than that it will likely include housing.
“I want to say that it's a clean slate, because we want to hear everything you have to say,” said Bob Tuttle, the vice president of the real estate division at ESD. “But I do want you to know that the framework we are coming into this under a directive that housing has to be part of that conversation, and certainly the complementary uses of retail, public spaces, open space, that should all be part of the conversation as well. Hopefully that helps give you kind of a sense of at least our starting point.”
On Thursday night in Howard Beach, ESD implored CB10 to show up for the workshops, and to encourage its neighbors to attend.
CB10's leaders stressed that they want to make sure the board itself has a real role in creating the master plan to redevelop the site that goes further than the workshops.
“We strongly believe in meaningful involvement,” said the board’s second vice chair, Frank Gulluscio. “It should include a formal role in shaping the development of the framework. Ongoing input, not just not one-stop shopping with regard to land use zoning and community benefits.”
“It's defining the future of this community board and everyone who lives around us for decades to come,” he added.
The board gave little indication about what it may want from the site, but encouraged its members to be part of the process.
Braton said that the board would be in favor of housing, and floated that a new police precinct should also be up for consideration as part of the plan.
Members also asked that Resorts World New York City, which runs the casino adjacent to the site and is undergoing a massive redevelopment plan of its own, also be involved.
“Any plan that comes out of this process that excludes Resorts World risks duplication and a missed opportunity to build and develop what we have been aiming for over 15 years – a full destination resort that includes some of the things the state is talking about,” Braton said. “We've been discussing the site for years, and what it could be…now it's kind of like switching horses.”
ESD said Resorts World, which just opened the city’s first full-fledged casino in April, would likely have to bid for the site alongside any other potential developers once the state starts taking requests for proposals in about two years.
“Resorts World could apply in that RFP process, and we encourage them to do so,” said Tuttle. “We hear loud and clear that they've been good neighbors to you. That's great. They're producing a lot of tax revenue. That's great. I work for the state. We like that. So those are all good things.”
Coming into Thursday, CB10 already had a long history with the Aqueduct site, going back half a century, according to Braton.
“We have almost a 50-year history where the concerns of this board have been about that land and what was going to go on,” she said.
Aqueduct has been used to host horse races in one capacity or another for the past 132 years, making it one of the oldest horse racing venues in the country.
But dwindling attendance and a crumbling facility led the state to announce in 2022 that it planned to close the longtime track and consolidate it with the tracks at Belmont Park just over the Queens border in Elmont, Long Island. Belmont’s redevelopment is expected to be completed in September.
The track’s impending closure sparked new proposals for the site.
In 2024, former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who represented the racetrack in the Council, said during her State of the City speech that the state should turn the plot into a new neighborhood with ample housing at its core. The former speaker has since been chosen by Hochul to run as her lieutenant governor.
The site was also previously eyed by Resorts World, which told the Gaming Commission when it was vying for one of the state’s three downstate casino licenses that Aqueduct could be used to build employee housing.
Even before Aqueduct’s closure was solidified, the site sparked the imaginations of state leaders.
Former Governor Eliot Spitzer considered selling the site off in 2007 but didn’t after local officials pushed back on the plan – the New York Racing Association, which leases the land, ended up agreeing to allow the state to auction off around 7 acres of vacant land near the track to raise money for the struggling venue.
Several years later, former Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed building the country’s largest convention center at Aqueduct. But he later scrapped the plan in favor of a deal to bring Resorts World’s electronic casino to the area.
“I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all of the different proposals, some crazy, some not crazy,” Braton said.
“It's got to be a transparent process, and thankfully, the state is engaging in a transparent process,” she said. “But I would hope that that transparency becomes very clear to the community. We don't need short-term decisions.”
The first workshop will be held on May 12 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at John Adams High School on Rockaway Boulevard. The second workshop, which will be held on May 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., will be virtual.
The sessions will include an opening presentation about the site and an interactive open house where residents can use mapping tools to give their input about what they’d like to see built at Aqueduct, including housing, open space, retail, schools, community facilities, or arts and culture facilities, according to ESD. More workshops will be held in the coming year.
The state says it plans to unveil a master plan for the site in early 2027.
