The city’s public and private development projects are a testament to its bright future, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in his weekly radio address on 1010 WINS yesterday. Bloomberg praised the job-creating new NYPD College Point Police Academy, a $750 million project that he said will create 2,000 construction jobs after being on the drawing boards for more than 20 years. In Williamsburg, the vacant “30-acre eyesore” known as the Broadway Triangle is awaiting final approval from the City Council on its rezoning, which Bloomberg said will allow close to 1,900 new apartments, nearly half of which will be designated affordable. Bloomberg also cited the last piece of the West Side rail yards’ rezoning decision, expected this week, as a way for the city to preserve affordable housing options, as well as the Hunters Point South development on Queens’ East River waterfront, where construction broke ground six weeks ago. “All these projects in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan spell j-o-b-s for New Yorkers,” Bloomberg said. TRD

The Home Shopping Network is moving into 545 Madison Avenue

Construction has begun on a controversial new police academy in the Queens neighborhood of College Point. The new academy, which has been designed to garner a silver LEED
certification and will include an energy-efficient central utility
plant and green roofs, will help address the growing “complexities of
[the NYPD’s] mission,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Meanwhile, the Home Shopping Network has signed a seven-year full-floor lease at LEED gold-certified 545 Madison Avenue at the corner of 55th Street, according to a press release from building owner LCOR. The 7,114-square-foot space will be used for the network’s executive offices, boardrooms and marketing center. Click here for more.

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Though a new Queens police academy has been approved by the City Council, local leaders are concerned that the $1.5 billion project will have an adverse impact on the surrounding community. The academy building, which the city is constructing on a 35-acre campus in the College Point Corporate Park at 129-05 31st Avenue, has plans for 3,000 parking spaces, though 5,000 people are expected to occupy the building at any given time. Because mass transit to College Point is limited, City Council member Tony Avella, whose Bayside, Queens district includes the site, said most people will drive to the site. It could also burden the water and sewage lines in the district. Avella has called the planned academy a “monstrosity” that “goes well beyond what it really needed.” It is intended to consolidate police facilities across the city. The completed project is slated for 2013 and will have a museum, shooting range, classrooms and dorms.
[NYDN]

The owner of a mansion in Queens’ College Point neighborhood hopes to
sell a property despite having 125 open housing violations on record, the New
York Daily News reported. Eva Rohan wants to sell the 19th-century
building to contractor Robert Cunniffe by the end of the month. The
Department of Buildings last year said conditions at the building, the
Schleicher House on 123rd Street, were “imminently perilous.” Tenants
alleged that Rohan neglected repairs at the building in an effort to
force the tenants out. Rohan said tenants have withheld rent, making
her unable to pay for repairs. The Landmarks Preservation Commission is
reportedly considering landmarking the mansion. Comments

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