By Stephen Stirling
The seesaw struggle for Willets Point trudged on at City Hall Friday as the Bloomberg administration attempted to paint a picture of progress to a skeptical City Council and the opposition tried to derail the multibillion−dollar redevelopment plan.
The city updated the Planning, Concessions and Dispositions Subcommittee on its $3 billion plan to redevelop the 62−acre business enclave during the only hearing scheduled ahead of the Nov. 12 City Council vote.
Robert Lieber, the city’s deputy mayor for economic development, spoke highly of continuing negotiations with property owners at the site and hammered home the need to clean up the area, characterizing the industrial business community as an eyesore surrounded by economic growth.
“It’s like a hole in the middle of a donut,” Lieber said. “The surrounding neighborhoods are vibrant, but the hole is, well, a hole.”
Support for the city’s plan to transform the area into a sprawling retail and commercial neighborhood was not uniform, however.
Former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., who is lobbying on behalf of property owners in Willets Point, blasted the city’s plan as “a wrongheaded approach” to redevelopment, accusing the city Economic Development Corp. of poor planning and abysmal negotiating tactics. He contended that if the city had invested in the area decades ago, it would have flourished.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Vallone said. “No Council member I know would ever allow something to be built in their district without knowing what it was. [The mayor] is asking for the entire City Council to do that here. It’s wrongheaded. I think we’re really putting the cart before the horse.”
Lieber announced three new property acquisitions during his testimony, meaning the city now controls 12 percent of the 48 acres of privately owned land in the area.
The city revealed that agreements have been reached with Parts Authority, T. Mina Building and Supply Co. and Willets Point Properties LLC, which combined own more than three acres of land at Willets Point.
Lieber pointed out that the city already owns 22 percent of the land in the redevelopment area, mainly made up of the streets, meaning the city has control of 36 percent of the 62−acre parcel of land targeted for redevelopment.
The city is hoping to purchase the land in the area and transform it into a sprawling residential and commercial neighborhood that would include up to 5,500 housing units and more than 2 million square feet of retail and office space.
City Councilman John Liu (D−Flushing) questioned the city’s ability to acquire property at Willets Point and said he could not support the project if deals with a clear majority of property owners were not struck by the Nov. 12 City Council vote.
“The problem here is you don’t have one or two holdouts, you have 88 percent of the people holding out. We shouldn’t be taking land like this,” he said. “You need to make more progress and you need to make it quickly.”
Lieber said he is confident about the ongoing negotiations, but said making deals is a two−way street.
“We have to be working with people that are willing to negotiate,” he said.
Following the hearing, Dan Scully, vice president at Tully Environmental and a member of the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association, said the property owners in the area have been more than willing to negotiate.
“This kind of a sense that we’re banding together and holding a gun to the city’s head is ridiculous. We’ve told all of our members if something makes sense to you, then good luck,” Scully said. “But we’re very leery about the city actually being able to make this project happen. If someone signs a deal predicated on this happening, they’re really tying their hands.”
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, ext. 138.
