Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday that the city has paid the Empire State Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey $100 million to buy 30 acres at Hunter's Point South in Long Island City Queens at the entrance to Newtown Creek.
The city plans to develop the largest vacant property with about 5,000 new units of housing of which 60 percent will be reserved for "moderate- and middle-income families."
The planned project includes more than 11 acres of landscaped waterfront parkland, new retail shops, community facility space and a new 1,100 seat high school and it is anticipated, according to the Mayor's announcement to "catalyze more than $2 billion in private investment and create more than 4,600 jobs."
The first phase of the $175 million infrastructure and park design work is expected to begin this fall.
"Creating jobs and affordable housing for the City's middle income families is a critical component of our Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan and today's announcement allow us to make great progress on both those fronts," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "With the acquisition of the site and the start of the design work, we are setting the stage for the largest investment in permanently affordable housing for our police officers, nurses, teachers and public employees and other middle income New Yorkers."
The project will serve moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers with a range of incomes. It is expected that of the 3,000 total affordable units at Hunter's Point South, 1,000 will be for households with incomes at 80 percent of the HUD income limit, another 1,000 will be for families with incomes at 130 percent of the HUD income limit, and the remaining 1,000 units will be for households with incomes at 165 percent of the HUD limit. This translates to 3,000 units available to households with incomes between $55,000 and $158,000 for a family of four.
The Hunter's Pont South Plan also includes the re-zoning of an adjacent, privately-owned 7.5-acre site, Site B, to allow for compatible development, including at least 330 units of low-income housing.
"Today's announcement moves the Hunters Point South development forward with a giant step," said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. "Infrastructure improvements, a new school, housing construction and a timetable for work to begin this fall will transform this underutilized property in southwest Queens into an attractive, mixed use development that will continue to transform the waterfront in southwest Queens into one of the most desirable places to live in our city."
In the late 1980s, the Hunter's Point South site was slated to become the third and fourth phase of New York State's Queens West Development which called for 2,200 apartments and more than two million square feet of office space. Later the site was envisioned as the location for the Olympic Village in the City's 2012 Olympic bid. On the heels of the sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in 2006, Mayor Bloomberg announced the City's intention to acquire the site from ESDC and the Port Authority to create the City's first large-scale moderate and middle income housing in decades.
The plan completed the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure in November 2008.
In addition to affordable housing, the new Hunter's Point South community will feature an 11-acre waterfront park.
The street network will create pedestrian-scaled streets that tie into the existing street grid and neighborhood. The 7 train is two blocks away, and in 2010 a ferry landing will allow riders to connect to the East River Ferry Service with a 3 minute ride to Midtown and 27 minute ride to Lower Manhattan. The City has also been working with the MTA to extend bus service to the site.
The city plans to develop the largest vacant property with about 5,000 new units of housing of which 60 percent will be reserved for "moderate- and middle-income families."
The planned project includes more than 11 acres of landscaped waterfront parkland, new retail shops, community facility space and a new 1,100 seat high school and it is anticipated, according to the Mayor's announcement to "catalyze more than $2 billion in private investment and create more than 4,600 jobs."
The first phase of the $175 million infrastructure and park design work is expected to begin this fall.
"Creating jobs and affordable housing for the City's middle income families is a critical component of our Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan and today's announcement allow us to make great progress on both those fronts," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "With the acquisition of the site and the start of the design work, we are setting the stage for the largest investment in permanently affordable housing for our police officers, nurses, teachers and public employees and other middle income New Yorkers."
The project will serve moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers with a range of incomes. It is expected that of the 3,000 total affordable units at Hunter's Point South, 1,000 will be for households with incomes at 80 percent of the HUD income limit, another 1,000 will be for families with incomes at 130 percent of the HUD income limit, and the remaining 1,000 units will be for households with incomes at 165 percent of the HUD limit. This translates to 3,000 units available to households with incomes between $55,000 and $158,000 for a family of four.
The Hunter's Pont South Plan also includes the re-zoning of an adjacent, privately-owned 7.5-acre site, Site B, to allow for compatible development, including at least 330 units of low-income housing.
"Today's announcement moves the Hunters Point South development forward with a giant step," said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. "Infrastructure improvements, a new school, housing construction and a timetable for work to begin this fall will transform this underutilized property in southwest Queens into an attractive, mixed use development that will continue to transform the waterfront in southwest Queens into one of the most desirable places to live in our city."
In the late 1980s, the Hunter's Point South site was slated to become the third and fourth phase of New York State's Queens West Development which called for 2,200 apartments and more than two million square feet of office space. Later the site was envisioned as the location for the Olympic Village in the City's 2012 Olympic bid. On the heels of the sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in 2006, Mayor Bloomberg announced the City's intention to acquire the site from ESDC and the Port Authority to create the City's first large-scale moderate and middle income housing in decades.
The plan completed the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure in November 2008.
In addition to affordable housing, the new Hunter's Point South community will feature an 11-acre waterfront park.
The street network will create pedestrian-scaled streets that tie into the existing street grid and neighborhood. The 7 train is two blocks away, and in 2010 a ferry landing will allow riders to connect to the East River Ferry Service with a 3 minute ride to Midtown and 27 minute ride to Lower Manhattan. The City has also been working with the MTA to extend bus service to the site.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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