NEW YORK | Willets Point Development (Flushing)

[NYguy]

https://queenseagle.com/all/2026/5/19/first-building-opens-in-massive-willets-point-redevelopment

First buildings open in massive Willets Point redevelopment


By Jacob Kaye
May 19, 2026

City officials and private developers cut the ribbon on Willets Point Commons, an 880-unit affordable apartment complex on the outer edge of what will one day be an entirely new neighborhood in Willets Point.

It was the first two buildings to open in the development, which will have 2,500 income-restricted apartments, a new school, a hotel and the city’s first-ever soccer stadium by the start of the next decade.

The neighborhood’s first residents will begin moving in later this month.

A little more than 100 years ago, Willets Point served as the inspiration for a particularly desolate setting in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, “The Great Gatsby.” He called it the “Valley of Ashes,” named for the conditions created by the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company, which dumped heaps of ash onto the site until 1930, when the company was booted from the neighborhood to make way for the World’s Fair. For a time, the area served as a city dump. It later became home to scores of auto mechanic shops, earning it the nickname “the Iron Triangle.”

The two buildings opened on Monday sit at the southeast corner of the neighborhood. In front of them is a new public plaza, replete with benches, tables and a smattering of young trees. To support the new residents, the city and private developers Related Companies and Sterling Equities had to build out the neighborhood’s infrastructure, including a new water line and a sewage system, which the area previously lacked. The city also had to create a number of new streets.

Despite being surrounded by active construction sites, the newly opened area was in pristine condition on Monday. In stark contrast to much of the rest of the city, Willets Point’s streets and sidewalks were free of litter and grime, flower beds by the curbs were full and beginning to bloom and save for a few trucks hauling construction materials, the neighborhood was free of traffic.

That won’t likely be the case for long. For the next several years, the area will be one of immense change.