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From the
NY Times:
As the gateway to a half-dozen subway lines, the sprawling Broadway Junction transit hub commands a prime location at the crossroads of six neighborhoods and serves as the unofficial welcome center in a fast-growing part of New York City.
The problem? It is anything but welcoming.
The dingy warren of passageways and platforms linking the A, C, J, Z, M and L are so packed that rush hour turns into a crawl. Outside, bus stops and a Long Island Rail Road station are plopped down in a depressing terrain of trash-strewn streets, chain-link fences rimmed with barbed wire and panhandlers camped out on sidewalks.
“You could do way better than this,” said Roody Fevry, 32, an exterminator who lives nearby. “It’s like nobody cares.”
Now Broadway Junction may finally get the makeover it has long needed. City officials are taking steps to create a destination stop with nearby restaurants, stores, gyms and other commuter-friendly amenities. Their aim is to turn the tired station and the surrounding area into a bustling economic center for a swath of Brooklyn that has long struggled with unemployment, poverty and crime.
The city’s Economic Development Corporation recently began a $200,000 study to identify potential avenues of economic growth in and around the transit hub — including office, retail and educational uses. A group of elected officials and community leaders has also been convened to come up with a vision for the area. The Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, and City Councilman Rafael L. Espinal Jr., a Democrat who represents the area, are the co-chairmen.
From
AM-NY:
Some local merchants say they need more guidance on how to be part of a business boom the city seeks to spur in downtown Far Rockaway.
Under the city’s plan, larger residential buildings with retail spaces on the ground floors would rise where, today, a half-vacant shopping center and buildings with small businesses sit. To ensure that they can make it happen, the proposal includes a 13-acre urban renewal area, which allows the government to seize property and compensate occupants through a highly regulated process.
But if the City Council approves the plan, existing business owners said they are not sure where they will land amid the anticipated construction spree.
Lookran Jagdeo has run Far Rockaway Auto Glass Inc. in the targeted area for 21 years. Even if he is offered some sort of compensation to pack up, Jagdeo said he doubts he could find another nearby business location.
[Council Member Donovan] Richards said some merchants may have written off this plan because similar attempts have sputtered over the years.
He said the city is not eager to seize property classified for urban renewal, but said it may prove prudent, if the private market does not develop as planned.
Under the city’s plan, 16 businesses would likely be relocated from the urban renewal area, at least temporarily. Another dozen stores may be displaced if the real estate market proceeds as planned, city paperwork shows.
However, some shops in the urban renewal area have already struck deals to remain in the community long-term, Richards said. And the city’s Economic Development Corporation said it would help any merchant seeking advice.
From
Crains:
The city officially launched its search Wednesday for a developer to transform more than six acres of underutilized land on the Lower East Side into a vibrant, mixed-use development. The massive Seward Park development is five decades in the making and is the largest redevelopment of fallow, city-owned land south of 96th Street in Manhattan.
A request for proposals to build on nine city-owned sites, located near the intersection of Delancey and Essex streets at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, was issued by the city Economic Development Corp. and city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The city is looking for a developer to build a 1.65-million-square-foot development that will include 1,000 apartments—half of which will be permanently affordable—plus commercial space and public space. There is also space reserved for a possible new school. Proposals are due May 6.
"Today marks another historic milestone for the Lower East Side generally and Seward Park in particular," said Seth Pinsky, president of the city Economic Development Corp., in a statement. "The release of this RFP is the culmination of an unprecedented community planning process, and we look forward to receiving a robust set of proposals that will ultimately reintegrate these sites back into this vital community."
The redevelopment of the sites, now parking lots, has been controversial for years. The sites known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area were home to tenements that were demolished by the city in the late 1960s. There were several different plans to build on the site that were not well-received by the community and city officials prior to the latest plan, which was unanimously approved by the City Council in October. In the past, the community and city could not agree on how much affordable housing should be included in the project.
From the
Daily News:
The city missed out on a chance to purchase a piece of property in Rockaway that will now be developed into a transient hotel, officials said.
The lot, located at Rockaway Beach Blvd. and Beach 44th St., is part of the Edgemere Urban Renewal Area and was listed in city documents as a site that could be acquired as part of that project.
Instead, the property was snatched up by a private owner who is planning to build a six-story hotel on it.
Local residents are fighting the plan, saying a hotel could ruin their efforts to revive the neighborhood.
“We can’t dwell on what they didn’t do,” said Stephen Cooper of the Frank Avenue Civic Association of Edgemere. “We’re looking forward to political actions and community actions that can be taken.”
Cooper said the group is hoping to put pressure on Sandhu — with the help of local officials — and change his mind about the project.
Opponents are mulling a plan to visit his Long Island neighborhood for a protest.
