Friday, December 29, 2017

City about to transfer 23 acres of land to developer without approved plan

From Willets Point United:

Through the Willets Point grapevine, we hear that the City is about to transfer ownership of 23 acres comprising the “Phase One” area of Willets Point, to Queens Development Group (“QDG”) – the joint venture of Sterling Equities (whose owners also own the New York Mets) and The Related Companies that the Bloomberg administration designated as the developer. This is the infamous give-away of 23 acres of valuable taxpayer property, which cost hundreds of millions of public dollars to acquire, to developers for the unjustified price of $1 (one dollar).

For the de Blasio administration to proceed with this sale at this time is outrageous and potentially illegal, for reasons summarized below.

First, Bill de Blasio is squandering a golden opportunity to cancel the Bloomberg administration’s planned, unjustified give-away of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of taxpayer property to QDG for the price of $1 (one dollar), and instead to establish a legitimate price that is truly in the taxpayers’ interest.

Second, recall that the key reason that QDG was chosen to develop the Willets Point Phase One site, to the exclusion of several other developers that had submitted proposals, was that only QDG claimed to be able to expand the project by constructing its proposed “Willets West” mega-mall on public parkland located west of Citi Field stadium. If QDG is now unable to deliver that mega-mall on parkland, then the basis for choosing QDG as the developer in the first place no longer applies. Allowing QDG to develop the Willets Point Phase One property despite QDG being unable to deliver the Willets West mega-mall is to allow a “bait-and-switch” on the grandest of scales.

Third, it appears that the de Blasio administration is on the verge of transferring ownership of all lots that comprise the 23-acre Willets Point Phase One site to QDG for $1 (one dollar), on the basis of authorizations granted by then-Mayor Bloomberg and the Queens Borough Board during December 2013, pursuant to City Charter § 384(b)(4).

Since the City acquired additional lots within the Willets Point Phase One area after December 2013, whose sale could not have been authorized pursuant to City Charter § 384(b)(4) during December 2013, new authorizations of Mayor de Blasio and the Queens Borough Board are necessary before all of the lots within the Phase One area may legally be transferred to QDG.

Fourth, Francisco Moya, who has been elected the new City Council representative of Willets Point and nearby neighborhoods, previously announced his own plan concerning Willets Point development. Among other aspects, Moya intends to form an advisory council of neighborhood stakeholders, to evaluate and help to guide development decisions.

No irreversible action, including property sale, should take place at Willets Point before Councilman-elect Moya’s advisory council is in full operation and has had ample opportunity to significantly participate in decision-making.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is a mall being planned when they're going out of business all over rthe country? Queens is filled with poor immigrants...what will the mall house? A Dollar General, a Dollar Tree, a Family Dollar, etc.? Oh and cell phone stores, toxic fast food joints, and pharmacies.

Queens doesn't need any more of that garbage!

Anonymous said...

I guess they need more sneakers and baby clothes stores!

Credit to Chris Rock.

Anonymous said...

Again we hear on how the Wilton's will profit from something that is not even theirs anymore.their plan was shot down so are they now going to build on the 23 acres which is the direct opposite of what they said they can do when they bidded the project.they said they needed a mall.so either they lied and were trying to get that casino build with the mall as a excuse or this is a political mafia payoff to the Wilton's from the city....it's amazing how a guy wanted the land in 1992 when he proposed his own plan to the city than pushes it for 15 years only to win the bid and than change it to include a mall , get defeated and still gets 500million in land for free to block any future willets point project that doesn't include mr met....who say these politicians are honest? Not me

Anonymous said...

what will the mall house?

Democrats. Next question.


More future slum retail. Taste of Queens indeed.

(sarc) said...

I would be happy to pay TWO DOLLARS for the TWENTY THREE acres...

Joe Moretti said...

And don't forget a shady medical/dental center, cheap electronic store, a fabric store, wig store and beauty supply store because a Queens community can never have enough crap. Oh and throw in a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbin to top it off.............oh and an local elected official's office that screams ghetto.

Anonymous said...

From one end of the borough to the other, nothing is sacred or has value but the dirt to these people. Not you. Not me. Nor they. Nothing. Nada. Everything is for sale, the cross, and yes, even the nails.

Its all lip service and smoke and mirrors fed to gullible people. From right to left.

Sure, anything can be ethically done right to benefit all. That is what they do (mostly) elsewhere. But Queens?

Run like an ex-Soviet republic.

Izayoi said...

Hooray! A mall! Who's up to go shopping for crappy android smartphones at shady used cell phone kiosk and we can top that with a trip to family dollar to see what knockoffs of SC Johnson products we can buy for $1 less? Don't forget about the thousand calorie platter of Panda Express at the oversized food court, you'll burn the calories off looking for where the hell you parked your car in the horribly designed parking lot.

Anonymous said...

Of course developers get their way, since all City pols are beholden to them and their campaign $$.

Anonymous said...

Why is a mall being planned when they're going out of business all over rthe country?

Look at the shit going on with the East Side LIRR access project.
Drudge report just blew a whistle "The most expensive Mile On Earth"
Where 200 "extra" MYA people are being paid $1000 a day and nobody can account for what here jobs are.
--Most are from the Caribbean and dont appear to be engineers or sand hogs WTF ?

See:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html

Anonymous said...

It's just too bad no one is going to be held criminally accountable for this land give-away.

Anonymous said...

More "Crap" for the masses !

Anonymous said...

I thought the NY State Court of Appeals struck down the mall already?

Anonymous said...

C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N.

Anonymous said...

Let the land grow wild like the Ridgewood Reservoir.

Anonymous said...

Why hasn’t anyone called Heir DeBlasio on his lying to the taxpayer about the fact that He , the City , can take back the land given away by Bloomberg and build that affordable housing he is always talking about??????Its right there in the contract the city made with the developer when this all started? It’s because he’s made the lucrative BACK ROOM DEAL which fills his pockets and the gullible taxpayer is being fleeced !! Wake up New Yorkers .

Anonymous said...

"Why is a mall being planned when they're going out of business all over rthe country? Queens is filled with poor immigrants."

Not anymore! The wave of college educated, liberal, white girls is coming. And just like that, they'll need a place to shop.

Jackson Heights is already partly "British".

Anonymous said...

Happy new year. Happy old year. Same old Shiite corruption! What is Chuck Apelian's cut from all this? That rug trader is a sharp one!

Anonymous said...

$1. Our land being given away for $1. The rich get richer on our dime.