NEW YORK | Willets Point Development (Flushing) - Page 8

J. Will · #**141** Posted **May 18, 2012, 9:43 PM**

No reason the parking to the west of the stadium couldn't just be replaced with underground parking beneath the mall. I assume the mall would have parking anyways, so that can be the replacement for the surface parking they will be getting rid of to build the mall.

NYguy · #**142** Posted **May 21, 2012, 1:36 PM**

I'm not sure what the particular issue is with the City regarding underground parking, but it's safe to assume that any parking on the mall site would be for peope driving to the mall itself, and not the stadium.

J. Will · #**143** Posted **May 21, 2012, 1:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYguy

I'm not sure what the particular issue is with the City regarding underground parking, but it's safe to assume that any parking on the mall site would be for peope driving to the mall itself, and not the stadium.

There's no reason it couldn't be used for both. Hell, build enough parking for both. You can even have seperate floors with seperate entrances if necessary. If there's a game on say a Sunday night, the mall stores would probably be closed before the game started anyways.

There's no reason to build acres of new surface parking in an area like this when structured parking would do. If it couldn't be underground, but an above-ground parking garage on top of the mall. There are numerous approaches that could be taken that would not necessitate devoting any new land to surface parking.

This is what the site to the east of the ballpark was supposed to get. And not maybe, some time many, many years in the future:

NYC4Life · #**144** Posted **Jun 14, 2012, 10:53 PM**

UPDATED 12:39 PM
City Strikes Deal On Willets Point Redevelopment Effort
By: NY1 News

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stori...lopment-effort

Quote:

The Bloomberg adminstration announced Thursday it has reached a deal to redevelop the Willets Point section of Queens near Citi Field.

The city says the Queens Development Group -- a joint venture of the Related Companies and Sterling Equities -- will acquire about 20 acres east of the stadium.

The plan calls for retail, hotel, and commercial space along with affordable housing units.

It also calls for a retail and entertainment attraction west of the stadium.

The Willets West part of the project will convert one of the stadium's parking lots into a one million square-foot retail and entertainment center with stores, movie theatres, and public spaces.

Mayor Bloomberg says the city is now set with about 95 percent of the land needed to go ahead with the project.

"All told, this will bring $3 billion of private investment to Queens, creating 12,000 union construction jobs, 7,100 permanent jobs, and generate $4.2 billion in economic activity over the next 30 years," Bloomberg said.

The city is kicking in about $100 million toward the project, which is expected to create thousands of jobs.

The proposal would still require City Council approval.

401PAS · #**145** Posted **Jun 15, 2012, 12:28 PM**

Cannot believe that these buildings could be to tall seeing how the planes approaching LaGuaria bank left over the stadium just where this is going to be built. Hopefully they will have thick glass and good insulation to reduce the sound.

NYguy · #**146** Posted **Jul 3, 2012, 10:18 PM**

^ I used to live right near JFK, u can live with it.

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/06/...ts-point-plan/

Bloomberg officially unveils Related, Sterling’s Willets Point plan

June 14, 2012

Quote:

After spending two years cleaning up 23 acres of Willets Point, the Related Companies and Sterling Equities will start developing the site with a hotel and retail development just east of Citi Field on 126th Street, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today...

The developers will start with $100 million in capital funds from the city to demolish faulty infrastructure, clean contaminated lands and build permanent improvements that form the groundwork of the project. Once complete, they’ll begin construction on a 200-room hotel and 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurants. After the first phase for the eastern portion of the site is finished, Related and Sterling will begin work on Willets West, which calls for the conversion of a stadium parking lot into one million square feet of retail and entertainment space, including 200 retail stories, movie theaters, restaurants and entertainment venus. Willets West also includes parking for 2,500 cars and public spaces.

Following Willets West, the developers will return to the east side of Citi Field and create 2,500 housing units, including 875 affordable ones, 280 more hotel rooms, 900,000 square feet of street-level retail space and 500,000 square feet of office space. Additional phases would progress has planned, and the full 62-acre Willets Point plan would allow for up to 5,500 units of housing, a convention center and an eight-acre park.

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/...ts_west_02.jpg

http://observer.com/2012/06/inside-m...-point/#slide1

Inside Metslandia, 52-Acres of Fun at Willets Point

NYguy · #**147** Posted **Jul 3, 2012, 10:39 PM**

Better renderings...

nycmayorsoffice

NYC4Life · #**148** Posted **Aug 2, 2012, 6:44 PM**

9:48 AM
Report: Walmart Takes Swing At Possible Spot Near Citi Field
By: NY1 News

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stori...ear-citi-field

Quote:

Its plans to open up shop in Brooklyn have faced stiff opposition, but that's reportedly not stopping Walmart from hoping for a location near Citi Field.

According to the Daily News, the big box retailer is lobbying lawmakers to set up shop in the retail and entertainment complex that's planned as a central part of the area's redevelopment.

Walmart's other proposed site in East New York is on a site being developed by Related companies, which is also co-developing the site at Willets Point.

Most elected officials oppose Walmart's proposed store, citing the company's labor practices.

NYguy · #**149** Posted **Aug 8, 2012, 11:30 PM**

^ The latest report from Related is that they're not in talks with Wal-Mart for the site.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012...t-retail-giant

No Walmart for Willets Point

CLARE TRAPASSO
August 02, 2012

Quote:

The developers of a mall complex next to Citi Field have put the kibosh on Walmart’s behind-the-scenes effort to be included in the project.

The big box retailer has been quietly lobbying Queens officials, as the Daily News reported Wednesday, but the Queens Development Group broke its silence to dismiss the notion that Walmart might be included in the Willets Point West project.

“We have not had any talks with Walmart … and we have absolutely no intention of discussing this site with them,” the developers, a partnership between the Related Companies and Sterling Equities, said in a statement.

NYguy · #**150** Posted **Feb 5, 2013, 1:10 PM**

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/b...y4cJtLtuqgMmkK

Mets eye casino at Citi to help offset losses suffered in Bernie Madoff scandal

By RICH CALDER
February 5, 2013

Quote:

It’s an Amazin’ gamble!

The Mets’ owners want to roll the dice on building a Las Vegas-style casino next to Citi Field to recoup some of the $162 million for which team brass are still on the hook following the Bernie Madoff Ponzi-scheme debacle, plans obtained by The Post reveal.

While team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz are still having trouble opening their tight pockets for high-priced free agents, that didn’t stop their development arm, Sterling Equities, from betting on a proposal that called for bringing a massive casino with gaming tables and slots, a 500-room, full-service hotel, 1.8 million square feet of retail and other amenities to the Willets Point development site in Queens.

The Southampton-based Shinnecock Indian Nation signed on to operate the casino, and the Wilpons and partners even offered the city $100 million for the 62-acre site, according to the development team’s proposal, which was first obtained by project opponents Willets Point United and NYC Park Advocates.

“This will be a place about fun — for families, sports fans and thrill seekers alike,” the proposal says. “[It] will attract millions of visitors from the New York area and around the world and will serve as New York’s newest and most unique entertainment destination.”

The revelation that the Mets owners’ want a casino comes as the state Legislature is considering a constitutional amendment to allow Las Vegas-style table gaming. And Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has begun talking up a casino at Willets Point or Coney Island. Gov. Cuomo has so far said he’d support only three casinos “upstate” for the “foreseeable future” if the amendment passes.

City officials pulled the casino from the Willets Point plan partly because they thought the government-approval process would take too long, sources said. However, a city spokesman declined to comment when asked if the city would push for a casino there if the state Legislature eventually backs it.

Busy Bee · #**151** Posted **Feb 5, 2013, 4:03 PM**

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__...s-panorama.jpg

NYguy · #**152** Posted **Feb 5, 2013, 10:34 PM**

^ LOL

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...4562--mlb.html

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/articl...-mets-best-bet

Quote:

The story is largely moot at this point, since the proposal was both submitted and rejected over a year ago. The idea is less an indication of ownership's current plans than it is a fascinating period piece which also happens to indicate something about the seriousness of the financial problems from which they've yet to liberate themselves.

Back in September 2011, when the casino proposal (part of a larger proposal including a shopping mall and hotel) was rejected, the Mets' owners, Fred Wilpon and his partners at Sterling Equities, had just publicly parted ways with a major potential investor, David Einhorn. The Wilpon group had agreed to sell a minority stake in the Mets to Einhorn, with the catch that if they couldn't Einhorn out within five years, he would have the right to purchase a majority interest in the team for a token amount.

That left Sterling with a major cash crunch to pay debts, one ultimately satisfied by a minority sale in the team primarily to themselves and to S.N.Y., in exchange for an extension of the television rights deal.

By contrast, the casino offered something over the longer term. If Sterling could hold onto the team, a casino could draw more people to the area in and around Citi Field. In essence, it was Sterling Equities taking the Mets from an entity that should have been making money in its own right, but wasn't, and using it as the center of a real estate venture that, theoretically, would.

NYguy · #**153** Posted **Feb 7, 2013, 12:07 AM**

And just for the hell of it, a new NIMBY group...

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1257097

Casino a bad bet for Willets Point, says newly formed community group
Don’t Gamble on Our Community coalition joins business and civic leaders to reject any gaming in immigrant-heavy Queens area

Members of Don’t Gamble on our Community, a newly formed group that plans to protest any casino proposal in the Willets Point area.

By Irving Dejohn
February 6, 2013

Quote:

A new group has formed to oppose any proposal to create a casino in the Willets Point area.

But their efforts may be moot considering that the site’s developer insists that wagers on gambling aren’t on the table, despite rumblings to the contrary.

Officials with Don’t Gamble on our Community, a coalition of business, civic and political groups, said Wednesday that they plan to collect 25,000 signatures against a gaming development in the largely immigrant neighborhood.

“This is true grassroots,” the group’s founder, Michael Olmeda, said at a senior center in Corona. “We don’t want it here.”

Duck From NY · #**154** Posted **Feb 7, 2013, 3:44 PM**

I'm a die-hard Mets fan. The area has never had a likeable character. The chop shops were ugly, and I'm glad they're going away, but a casino and shopping center would make the area seem like it could be any other leisure/entertainment area within 500 miles.

If it makes good economic sense, they should do it anyway. Besides, Flushing can never be to CitiField what Flatbush was to Ebbets field.

NYguy · #**155** Posted **Feb 8, 2013, 1:53 AM**

A mall is a mall, but I'm not a fan of parking lots. So anything they could build there is a plus for me, though I doubt a casino would go through.

NYguy · #**156** Posted **Feb 14, 2013, 11:55 PM**

Bloomberg still hopes for that mid-sized convention center.

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgo...&rc=1194&ndi=1

Quote:

"At Willets Point - ignored by the City since Robert Moses failed to turn it into parkland - we'll work with Borough President Marshall to begin the process of cleaning it up and bringing jobs and open space to the community - and down the road, hopefully even a convention center.

NYguy · #**157** Posted **Mar 19, 2013, 8:13 PM**

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/130319872

Key hurdle cleared in Willets Point redevelopment
A $3 billion makeover of the junk-yard-riddled Queens site can finally begin once developers pass a final public review process over, of all things, a parking lot.

By Annie Karni
March 18, 2013

Quote:

The $3 billion redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens—a barren swath of land between Flushing and Corona best known for its junk yards—received a green light from the City Planning Commission Monday, setting off a long public review process that will give the developers a special permit to allow surface parking and temporary community facilities on the site.

In 2008, the city gained approval for 9 million square feet of land to be developed, before any developer was attached to the project. A joint venture between the Related Cos. and Sterling Equities was designated as the developer of a 23-acre parcel of the site.

But before the clean up and construction there can begin, the developers must pass another hurdle: They need the city to grant them the right to build an uncovered parking lot as an exchange for a lot on the west side of Citi Field, where the plan is to build an entertainment and retail center. Cleanup and redevelopment can't begin without the official approval.

The extra approval is needed because in 2008, the city did not anticipate any of the parking on Willets would be unenclosed. The developer now needs a waiver of that requirement. The progress may sound incremental but the city praised it as a major hurdle that has been overcome.

"This marks a critical step towards beginning the long-needed cleanup of toxic land in Willets Point that for years has damaged the waterfront and been a blight on the community," a spokesman for the city's Economic Development Corp. said in a statement.

The co-developers, the Related Cos. and Sterling Equities, also launched a new website today, NewWilletsPoint.com, which says the official land-use process will begin this spring. The plan now needs approval from the community board. Then the Queens borough president gives approval, before the City Planning Commission votes on the project and sends it before the City Council for final approval.

http://newwilletspointqueens.com/

NYguy · #**158** Posted **May 13, 2013, 2:39 PM**

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/05/...ard-committee/

Related and Sterling’s Willets Point plans subject of Monday community board hearing

May 10, 2013

Quote:

Queens Community Board 7 will hold a public hearing on Monday to discuss the Related Companies and Sterling Equities’ Willets Point and Willets West development plans, as part of the city’s public review process of the 62-acre Queens project, according to a blog operated by advocacy group Willets Point United.

The development includes a 200-room hotel and the conversion of a parking lot into 1 million square feet of entertainment and retail space, as previously reported. Plans also now call for nearly doubling the Willets Point site to 109 acres, according to the blog, which is run by a coalition of business and land owners that oppose the developers’ plans.

NYguy · #**159** Posted **Jul 10, 2013, 1:40 PM**

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...sEnabled=false

Queens borough president Helen Marshall OK’s big CitiField mall project
Retail center would be built on stadium parking lot. Part of a larger, $3B Willets Point revitalization.

By Irving Dejohn
July 9, 2013

Quote:

A proposed mega-mall to the west of CitiField is rounding third base and headed for home.

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall gave her solid blessing to the 1.4-million-square-foot shopping mall on what is currently the baseball stadium parking lot — though Marshall did add some caveats.

Marshall, mirroring Community Board 7, called for local hiring benchmarks and increased input as the development moves forward. But she loves the overall idea of the project — a joint venture by Sterling Equities and the Related Co. — saying it would “allow transformation of a blighted and underutilized area into a vibrant full time retail, entertainment and residential community.”

The larger $3 billion redevelopment model for Willets Point — a host of uses including 2,500 residential units and commercial and retail space — was approved by the Council in 2008.

With Marshall’s approval, the mall project now heads to the City Planning Commission, the final step before a City Council vote.

The commission will hold a public hearing Wednesday.

Willets Point public hearing, 22 Reade St. in Manhattan, July 10, 9 a.m.

Rail>Auto · #**160** Posted **Jul 11, 2013, 6:08 PM**

I wish they would have designed the mall to at least have some resemblance of the old Shea exterior which would have fit in nicely with Citi Field.

On the other side, I guess the arena part of the plan is currently cancelled with the Islanders moving to the Barclays Center? That's a shame because hockey just doesn't look good in a basketball sized arena.