By Stephen Stirling
After taking the temperature of the current construction climate, the city said this week it will delay soliciting a developer for its massive Willets Point project and adopt a piecemeal approach to construction as they move forward.
Since the City Council voted to approve the Willets Point redevelopment plan in November, the city Economic Development Corp. said it has regrouped and restructured its approach to the project — the first public indication that the withered economy is having an effect on the multibillion−dollar proposal.
The city now plans to begin the process of selecting a developer for the project no earlier than the end of 2009 rather than this spring and said it will begin with construction on only the southwestern portion of the site — directly adjacent to Citi Field — before moving forward with the rest of the 62−acre site.
The city will be moving ahead on schedule with some aspects of the plan however. On Tuesday the city issued a request for qualifications, or RFQ, to formally begin the bidding process for $150 million in necessary off−site infrastructure around Willets Point — an announcement that was hailed by some as the first tangible step forward in the development process.
“The release today of these RFQs is another step forward in the journey to develop Willets Point,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. “Offsite infrastructure will be integral as this project moves forward and incorporates itself in theoretical and practical ways with surrounding communities.”
The EDC said the $150 million will go toward the construction of storm and waste water systems, a sanitary force main, design upgrades to sewers and outfall on 126th Street and potentially a new sanitary pump station in the area surrounding Willets Point. Also included in the RFQs are plans for the design of new connection ramps from Willets Point to the Van Wyck Expressway and additional bicycle and pedestrian paths connecting the district with surrounding neighborhoods.
Although the EDC stressed that when it selects a developer — likely in early 2010 — it will be choosing a firm it believes can develop the whole site. The agency said a focus will be placed on constructing a large retail and housing complex to complement the newly completed Citi Field.
According to officials with knowledge of the project, construction will be limited to an area that today runs from Roosevelt Avenue on the south to 35th Avenue on the north along 126th Street. The officials said that behind the initial development extending out to what is now 127th Street, a landscaped buffer area will separate the retail and housing complex from the rest of Willets Point — which may or may not still include businesses that exist there today, such as Tully Construction and Fodera Foods.
The decision represents a significant shift for the city, which for months maintained the entire site would need to be developed as a whole to facilitate environmental remediation rather than piece−by−piece. This is a position the city has gradually stepped back on, most notably when it struck a deal to allow three of the largest Willets Point businesses to remain in the area in the hours before the City Council voted on the full project.
The EDC countered, however, that from an environmental, engineering and practical standpoint, it makes sense to begin construction from the southwest portion of the site and the adjustment should allow the agency to achieve its goals of building out the entire site in 10 years.
The city said it will also refocus its efforts to acquire additional property at Willets Point, particularly in the southwestern portion of the site. While the city has control of more than 50 percent of the land in the area first targeted for development, at least three dozen plots of land remain in private hands.
More than 10 of those private land owners are members of Willets Point United against Eminent Domain Abuse, a group that is determined to stop the city’s plans.
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at sstirling@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 138.
