Long-Delayed Willets Point Redevelopment To Move Forward: City

CORONA, QUEENS -- A long-delayed redevelopment of Willets Point is back on track to revitalize the Queens industrial neighborhood after the city reached a deal for more affordable housing with the project's developer.

The agreement with Queens Development Group will create 1,100 affordable apartments - 225 more than the developer originally proposed - across six acres of Willets Point, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday. Half of those homes, along with a new public elementary school, are expected to be built in the neighborhood by 2022.

Under the new plan, three buildings will be dedicated entirely to affordable housing, including a 220-unit space just for low-income seniors, de Blasio said. Apartments will also be available to families in lower income brackets than originally proposed, with nearly 100 set aside for formerly homeless families.

"This project delivers big on the number-one priority for people in Queens: finding an affordable place to live," de Blasio said.

The new homes will be the first built on Willets Point, a 23-acre site within Corona commonly referred to as the "Iron Triangle" whose development City Council initially approved in 2008.

In 2013, then-Mayor Bloomberg's administration originally posed a plan for the site with the same developers that included less affordable housing - around 875 units over all 23 acres - but officials later scrapped it.

With more affordable housing slated for nearly half that space, de Blasio appointed Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and City Councilman Francisco Moya (D-East Elmhurst) to lead a task force to determine what should be done with the development's remaining 17 acres.

"Willets Point has been 12 years of bad politics and broken promises," Moya said. "With this deal, we can look to providing some great housing relief for a lot of people who need it."

The project also includes a new public elementary school with 450 seats, which Katz noted in her 2018 State of the Borough address is needed to reduce critical overcrowding in Queens schools.

"The City has immediate, desperate needs for affordable housing units and school seats, especially here in Queens," Katz said.

While the original agreement would have sold Willets Point to Queens Development Group, the new deal lets the City keep the site under a long-term ground lease with the developer, de Blasio said.

Queens Development Group, for their part, said they were pleased to strike a deal with the mayor's administration on Willets Point. The developer pledged to source 25 percent of its work from the city's Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises and will use its HireNYC program to recruit local employees.

“This is an important step forward in our longstanding mission to reverse 100 years of pollution at Willets Point, create good-paying jobs and turn vacant lots into a vibrant community," a spokesperson for the developer said.

Lead photo by Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press