Gov. Cuomo proposes building a very large convention center at Aqueduct in Queens

In his State of the State speech yesterday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed the building of a new convention center near the Aqueduct Racetrack and a casino in the South Ozone section of Queens and the redevelopment of the existing Jacob K. Javits Conventional Center in West Midtown.

The new center he proposed would contain about 3.8 million square feet as opposed to the 840,000 square feet of exhibition space at the 25-year-old Javits Center, which is completing a $500 million renovation that is expected to be completed in about two years.

Mr. Cuomo declared that "right now the Jacob Javits Center is not competitive," adding that it smaller than centers in Anaheim and Atlanta. He said that the proposed new facility would be the nation's largest convention center and that the redevelopment of the existing, 18-acre Javits Center site would become a mixed-use facility with housing, hotels and office space that would complement the mixed-use developments planned for the nearby Hudson Yards.

Mr. Cuomo said that the Javits Center redevelopment would be modeled after the Battery Park City Authority and he estimated that more than $2 billion in private sector investment would redevelop it.

Genting Americas, a Malaysian gaming company, would have to obtain financing for the new center in Queens that would cost more than $1 billion. A subsidiary of Genting runs a casino at the racetrack.

The Javits Center was designed by I. M. Pei and was heralded at its opening for its multi-faceted, all black-glass design. Despite its location adjacent to the West Side Highway, it offers no vistas of the Hudson River and was widely considered too small when it was in construction as most of the country's major conventions are held in huge centers in Chicago and Las Vegas.

Since it was built, the area around the Javits Center has become more valuable given the plans of The Related Cos. to develop the Hudson Yards, west of Penn Station, the extension of the 7 Line subway from Times Square to the Hudson Yards and the possible redevelopment of the Farley Post Office complex on Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets.

Plans for a station on 42nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues for the 7 Line were considered too expensive even though the amount of residential development along the West 42nd Street corridor is very impressive. Among the many prominent and large new apartment complexes there are Silver Towers, Riverbank West, the Atelier, the Strand, MiMa, and the Orion.

West Midtown has many hotels and restaurants and theaters whereas Ozone Park is quite a distance from Manhattan's attractions.