It’s Arverne with a ‘Y’

Thursday, November 9 marked a watershed for south Queens, with groundbreaking on a 30,000 square foot home for a new YMCA as part of a massive $1.4 billion real estate development in Arverne, at Beach 77th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Congress-member Anthony Weiner and others praised the project as &#8220Serving the community for years to come,” and &#8220The right kind of development.”
The two-story structure will provide services for over 10,000 people and include child-care services, a day camp, a gymnasium and an indoor pool, and be the first actual facility in the area. Until now, the Y has only had virtual centers in two Rockaway public schools, P.S. 197 and P.S. 256, according to Greater New York YMCA officials.
The project consists of two phases, Arverne-by-the-Sea and Arverne East, covering over half of a long-neglected 308 acre swath in the eastern portion of the Rockaway peninsula, which was first designated as an Urban Development site in November 1963 by the City Council. When finally completed, it will provide 4,000 homes, 500,000 square feet of commercial space, a new elementary school and over three-quarters of a square mile of nature and dune preserve.
&#8220It’s very exciting,” said City Councilmember James Sanders, Jr. who represents the 31st district, which includes Arverne, adding, &#8220It’s the size of a small city.” Sanders, 49, who was born in the nearby Hammels Houses remarked, &#8220The area has been neglected for a long time – I lived through the bad times. Real estate development is good, but it has to be community development. The Y can be one foundation of that.”
Sanders said that he will be meeting with the developers, who he was sure were &#8220people of good faith,” to reach a &#8220Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).” CBA’s, as they are commonly called, provide assurances of jobs and other opportunities for local residents and businesses as a part of large development projects.
The disabled former U.S. Marine, who is the first African- American to chair the Council’s Economic Development Committee, expressed hope for even more affordable housing, as a buffer against &#8220gentrification” of what has become known as &#8220New York’s Riviera.”
Arverne-by-the Sea already has 484 residential units, over half of which are designated as &#8220affordable” according to the developer, Benjamin-Beechwood, LLC. For a family of four, the stated income limit is $92,170. The first phase of the project is scheduled for completion in 2009. When the entire project is finished, all but $50 million in funding will come from private sources.