The Long Island City Railroad Yards have been a major topic as the various borough and state development politicians determine what to do with the site. In fact, two influential organizations claim that the future of conventions in New York City lies not on the west side of Manhattan, but in Long Island City. The Empire State Development Corporation's downstate chairman, Patrick Foye is a strong supporter of utilizing the space as a convention center. Clearly, space is just too limited on the west side for a major expansion of the Javits Center.The railroad lines in Long Island City offer several different train lines that can be dedicated to the new facility, along with the Queens' highways and close proximity to LaGuardia airport. A convention center in the neighborhood would bring thousands of new jobs to the community, new hotels, commercial and residential development, space for new schools, parks and hospitals. This could be a real groundbreaking change the borough has needed and wanted for years.
Ken Hillman
Director of Sales
Massey Knakel
17 comments:
No thought about the impact that this would have on the surrounding community - Steinway Street and Queens Blvd would become third world shopping districts and the hollowing out of housing in the surrounding communities would take a big jump - like Co-op City did to the Bronx.
I guess we will need a 2nd bridge and another two or three transit tunnels - to be paid not by gassy Massy but you and me.
But perhaps the biggest issue here is that by putting a city on top of a railyard you are putting a big fat terrorist target on someone's plate.
Get real, boys, and start to have some respect for the citizens and taxpayers of NY.
This should be a massive and much needed park.
If Hillman is talking about an Airtrain from Laguardia to Sunnyside and Queensboro Plaza, I say go for it.
If he's talking about building an entire neighborhood above the railyards, I propose that we cover up the highway trenches first.
with luxury condos, PLEASE, & perhaps a new arena for ... the Islanders! which, although memory is short, is a faaaaaar more storied franchise to swipe than the New Jersey Nets.
NYC 2012 might have been a bust but LIC 2012... Sunnyside 2016... Woodside 2020:
let's rename Queens Blvd the New Utopia Parkway & stop thinking small.
wwib
I wouldn't mind decking the thing if there was a large swath of parkland - the kind without astroturf - included as part of the plan. But as that would actually be an amenity for the people who already pay taxes and doesn't make money, I am sure it's not on the table.
But as that would actually be an amenity for the people who already pay taxes and doesn't make money, I am sure it's not on the table.
Good point, but as we BLOG and VOTE maybe things will change?
"The convention center in the neighborhood would bring thousands of new jobs to the community, new hotels, commercial and residential development, space for new schools, parks and hospitals."
How is this going to be good for me?
" This could be a real groundbreaking change the borough has needed and wanted for years."
Don't know of a single person from Queens that I have talked to in the last, say, 40 years or so, that has ever expressed these views.
Now if they wanted to do something about campaign reform, cleaning streets, better schools, and a transient population served by abentee landlords, well, lets just sit right down.
I have plenty of people that would love to have a little chat with you.
' This could be a real groundbreaking change the borough has needed and wanted for years."
The only change we have needed for years is to get rid of the clubhouse.
They have been talking about decking over the yard for decades now. I'll believe it when I see it. Anything that involves the feds and amtrak will take decades. Look at the 'new' penn station that has been in limbo how long now? How long did it take them to actually get around to painting hell gate bridge? (even then the contractor watered down the paint...).
I'll believe this when I see it. I just hope if it ever does happen that the vast majority of the deck is used for a park. the measely waterfront park in LIC is not going to be enough if they're going to develop all of LIC into the mess they got going on down on the coast.
Unless they do to this what they did to the LIC waterfront, turn it over to the state ....
the city never moves fast unless building building building is in the cards.
amazing how nimble they can jump, then.
That is soo stupid, we dont need another convention center, they are already planning one where Willets Point is, which is a perfect location for a convention center, considering Shea is right there, plus airports etc. They should turn the sunny side yards into parkland...
While garbage like this is being kicked around, our elected officials and community boards, which should be pushing for something for the community (no I don't mean housing or more shopping), remain quiet until the issues are difined by others.
I guess this is the time that donations are made to help them formulate their positions.
Once done, they get someone not to swift from, lets say, Dutch Kills to come out in favor of developers to give it a 'public' face.
Wait a minute, Dutch Kills aleady came out for development of the yards without even waiting for any details.
Morons.
Dutch Kills fell hook line and sinker for Mickeljohn, what do you expect?
Hey, George, like the new neighborhood? Want to see it spread further?
CB1 the community board from hell.
"CB1 the community board from hell."
- Wow! Could you possibly be a life long resident too?
I think a convention center with a great park for the community would be benefit to the city and the surrounding neighborhood.
Yea Ken Hillman is living in Utopia with his ideas. Does he actually think that a convention center would be a good thing. try going down QB during rush hour. about we make queens into pompei and rebuild everything over the tracks. what a joke
All the comments calling for no new development and just decking it over as parkland seem a bit misguided. People are a bit too quick to criticize their elected officials sometimes. It will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to deck this thing over. The only way that would be even a remotely reasonable proposition as a use of taxpayer money would be for the city to offset some of that cost by making some money back from developers (or having developers pay to deck this thing over themselves). One of the better proposals I've heard would be a relocation of the Javits Center to this location with a good mix of residential, retail, and park space, and possibly a direct connection to LaGuardia.
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