Sketch of Willets Point redevelopment

With Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan for a convention center near the Aqueduct in Queens grabbing headlines, the New York Times checked in on the status of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan for a similar, albeit smaller, convention center in the borough.

The Willets Point convention center is still in the works, the Times found. It’s a curious development — two centers within miles of one another — considering the general appetite for convention centers has faded with the growth of the Internet. [more]

Harvard graduate Jukay Hsu and the city’s plans for Willets Point

City Council members are encouraging the city to consider a Harvard University graduate’s plan for a so-called Silicon Valley 2.0 at Willets Point in Flushing. The city had previously dimissed Jukay Hsu’s proposal, saying that it strayed too far from the city’s plans for affordable housing near Citi Field, the New York Daily News reported.

Hsu said the area, in close proximity to the 7 train and LaGuardia Airport, presents the perfect opportunity for a university campus and space for tech startups.

Council member Dan Halloran called Hsu’s plan “phenomenal,” but said it wouldn’t be easy to convince the city Economic Development Corporation to change its strategy for the area. [more]

Two years have passed since the opening of new stadiums for the Yankees and Mets, but local businesses around the areas are still struggling.
In the Bronx, retailers near Yankee Stadium are looking for a pick up in the economy to boost sales. “I was very excited in the beginning when the new stadium opened and thought it was going to be better for us, but it was not,” said Mike Hong, owner of D&J Variety Store on 161st Street near the stadium.
In reality, the new stadium included more bars, restaurants and shops selling Yankees merchandise and memorabilia to compete with local merchants, a Metro-North commuter train stop and more parking spots that diverted foot traffic. [more]

New York City Economic Development Corp. submitted a Request for Proposals for the first phase of development of Willets Point today, and wants developers’ submissions, due Aug. 12, to include a concept plan for the entire 62-acre area. In Phase 1, the city wants to turn the 12.7-acre parcel located next to Citi Field, into a mixed-use, green neighborhood that will bring some 4,600 construction jobs and 1,800 permanent jobs to the area. Phase 1 is slated to include 680,000 square feet of retail space, 400 housing units, 2 acres of open space and parking. TRD [more]

The Bloomberg administration granted permission yesterday for the construction of two highway off-ramps for the Van Wyck Expressway that city officials had slated as essential for the redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens, according to Crain’s.

Several Willets Point property owners had been attempting to stall the redevelopment project, claiming that the city had pledged not to condemn state land until the ramps had been okayed. A New York City Economic Development Corp. spokesperson said that the procedural hurdle had now been overcome, and they could move on to the required public review process. [more]

A massive project that would upgrade Flushing’s Long Island Rail Road station at Main Street and create new housing units around it is now taking a back seat to higher-priority projects like Flushing Commons, the Macedonia Plaza and Willets Point, city officials told the Daily News. The plan, first proposed by the Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp. during the fall of 2009, calls for new station elevators and a platform extension, plus housing and commercial space on a parking lot adjacent to the station and currently owned by the city’s Department of Transportation. [more]

Willets Point landowners will take legal action against the city for beginning construction on traffic ramps meant to ease congestion expected with the redevelopment of the area near Citi Field, according to the Daily News. Some property owners have been at odds with the city over the space for more than a year. This time, the landowners believe the city reneged on a promise to begin construction on the Van Wyck Expressway ramps only after obtaining permission from the Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Transportation. [more]

Opponents of Walmart’s big move to the city plan to apply pressure to Gateway II shopping center developer the Related Companies this week in an effort to persuade the company to find a different tenant for its 650,000-square-foot site in East New York, according to Crain’s. Related has been in talks to lease the site to Walmart, and has already received the City Council’s go-ahead to do so. But while opponents — including unions, small business owners and City Council members — have thus far been unsuccessful in convincing the discount giant to steer clear of Brooklyn, they believe they have a better bargaining chip when it comes to Related, in part because the company is said to be angling for a contract to redevelop Willets Point. [more]

Time is running out for the holdouts in Queens’ Willets Point, where the city is planning to make its first move towards seizing a 20-acre swath of land through eminent domain next week. According to the Wall Street Journal, the parcel represents the first phase of the 62-acre development project, for which the city will begin soliciting bids from developers in April. Among the developers who have previously expressed interest in the project are the Related Companies, Muss Development and the Wilpon Family’s Sterling Equities. Comments

A metal fabricating company currently housed in Willets Point within the footprint of the city’s $3 billion mixed-use development project bought a $3 million parcel that is more than three times the size of its current location about a mile north in College Point.
Feinstein Iron Works, which produces structural steel, bought the approximately 118,000-square-foot parcel near the intersection of 31st Avenue and College Point Boulevard on Dec. 16 from the city’s Economic Development Corporation, property records published Tuesday show. At the same time, the city gave to the industrial firm a $3 million purchase money mortgage, city records show. [more]