Saturday, May 5, 2018

Development plan for Sunnyside to be crafted this summer

From Crains:

The de Blasio administration and Amtrak will begin crafting a development plan for Sunnyside Yard in Queens this summer, city and Amtrak officials will announce today.

The master planning team will be led by Vishaan Chakrabarti's architecture firm, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, which was first reported by Crain's in March.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for civic groups, public officials and residents to create a vision for their borough," Alicia Glen, Housing and Urban Development deputy mayor, said in a statement.

The city has carved out a position within the Economic Development Corp. to oversee the process and announced a steering committee composed of roughly two dozen local and citywide stakeholders to provide input. Last year a city study found that about 80% of the 180-acre yard could be decked over and covered with 24,000 apartments, along with schools, parks and other infrastructure, at a cost of $19 billion. The master planning process is expected to take around two years and will come up with a more specific blueprint of what could be constructed.

8 comments:

Newtown Pentacle said...

No. That's all we say. No. This is the line in the sand.

JQ LLC said...

I hope they include another transit system for this.

These new developments are preposterous and with the L train about to go out of service in just 10 months, fucking dangerous.

ron s said...

"This is a once in a generation chance to further overcrowd the area, and overwhelm the infrastructure of Queens with more hotels, AirBnB's and empty 5000 dollar apartment rentals. We must not fail to act.

Anonymous said...

We will have to mount a huge push against this since the politicians and developers are working together to destroy whats left of any quality of life in Queens while they line their pockets with millions of dollars. All the civics and groups in Queens need to come together to fight this.

We cant say "I live in eastern or southeastern Queens this won't effect me" Everyone in Queens needs to be vocally against this.

This will completely overwhelm transportation, infrastructure, schools etc. This will also open the door for more overdevlopment to push east.

Anonymous said...

That whole area will soon look the barracks of the Ukraine, with people eating toast & spam out of government cans. People in this city outnumber infrastructure and jobs 3:1 Its going to be a disaster worse then Detroit when this bubble pops.

TommyR said...

surprised but glad to see Mitch against this. I'd ask he elucidate more his reasons why.

I've my own personal theory of natural "ugly" boundaries I've noted over twenty something years: that is, that they actually insulate and safeguard the neighborhoods they enclose (tracks, highways, industrial parks, cemeteries, etc). sheer geographic and psychologically perceived distance from "the center" also barricades those areas further to the north and east of the borough. queens has lots of these, as do some parts of the Bronx. Brooklyn less so, but definitely the bay, water, and Jackie Robinson/ cemeteries act in that regard. Manhattan, almost none at all, save perhaps remnant isolated pockets within the area between the lower east side crossings.

the trouble is, there's no easy or pretty way to make that argument, and even explaining it makes policy planners, developers, and rezoners more aware and keen to "remove" these boundaries, robbing them of their protective power.

so homeowners and long time residents need to fixate and focus on "infrastructure first" line of reasoning, though we know that doesn't go far.

Anonymous said...

THAT AREA CANNOT SIMPLY BE TORN DOWN AND REDEVELOPED. AMTRAK HAS RIGHTS OVER MOST OF THE LAND IN THE AREA NOT TO MENTION THE GOVERNOR WHO IS OPPOSED TO ANY CONSTRUCTION ON THAT SITE. GOOD LUCK DIBLASSIO !!

Anonymous said...

Line in the sand?
This is a tsunami. It will wash away that line in the sand.