City buys Willets Point site for nearly $8 million

Purchase moves Related Companies and Sterling Equities closer to $3 billion redevelopment

From left: Willets Point auto repair shops and a rendering of the planned Willets Point redevelopment
From left: Willets Point auto repair shops and a rendering of the planned Willets Point redevelopment

The city has paid nearly $8 million to buy one of the remaining plots of Willets Point it does not control.

Property records indicate the city picked up 126-23 37th Avenue from the Paterno family of Flushing, according to the Commercial Observer. The purchase moves the city closer to its goal of redeveloping neighborhood following a months-long effort to entice business owners to relocate.

In March, a contingent representing nearly two thirds of holdouts agreed to vacate a 62-acre area of Willets Point and move to the Bronx. That left about 50 businesses that have not agreed to move on.

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The New York City Economic Development Corporation says the city controls 95 percent of the land on which the first phase of the Related Companies and Sterling Equities’ $3 billion redevelopment will be built, reports the Observer. In October, the City Council approved a key component of phase one, a mega mall that will rise on a lot adjacent to Citi Field. [NYO] — Tom DiChristopher