Location with a ‘million dollar view’

Hunters Point South to begin development

BY VICTOR G. MIMONI

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:50 AM EDT

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and a host of officials stood before a “million dollar view” of the Manhattan skyline and announced that the development of “affordable housing” at Hunters Point South in Long Island City will begin this fall.

The city took title to the land from the Port Authority and the state Economic Development Corporation for $100 million on May 24. It will become the largest middle income housing development since the 1970s, authorities say.

At a news conference on Thursday, June 25, Bloomberg, Borough President Helen Marshall, Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, Councilmember Eric Gioia and state, city and local officials eagerly anticipated the 5,000 new housing units, 11 acres of waterfront parkland and infrastructure including a 1,100-seat high school.

Bloomberg said the project is expected to prompt more than $2 billion in private investment and create more than 4,600 jobs. The fist step would be $175 million in infrastructure and park design work, he said.

“With the acquisition of the site and the start of the design work,” Bloomberg said, “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.”

Saying that Hunters Point South “will continue to transform the waterfront in southwest Queens into one of the most desirable places to live in our city,” Marshall thanked Bloomberg the others “for their vision and support for this project.”

The 30-acre site spread from 50th Avenue south to the mouth of Newtown Creek in Long Island City was formerly known as Queens West Stages 3 and 4.

The four-part Queens West was a massive project to build residential and commercial towers on former industrial land by the East River. Part 1 and 2 involved luxury housing.

It had been part of a planned “Olympic Village” to house athletes in the city’s failed bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, with permanent housing to be constructed afterwards. With this plan, the housing gets a “three year head-start” several officials pointed out.

“Hunters Point South should be a model in revitalizing the waterfront and rebuilding the middle class,” Gioia said.

“A cop married to a school teacher ought to be able to live in New York City, and so should a maintenance worker or a crossing guard,” he stressed, adding, “We need affordable neighborhoods where families can put down roots, with options for homeownership.”

Hunters Point South also includes the re-zoning of an adjacent, privately-owned 7.5-acre “Site B,” to allow for compatible development, including at least 330 units of low-income housing.

It is an integral part of the city's $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan which calls for the preservation and creation of 165,000 affordable housing units, with over 112,000 units – 68 percent – serving low-income New Yorkers, with at least 3,000 permanent low-income units built in Queens over the next 10 years.

THE QUEENS COURIER/Photos by Catherine Thompson
Mayor Michael Bloomberg (at podium) announces that infrastructure work for Hunters Point South will start in the fall. Behind him are (from left) city Parks Commissioner Andrew Benepe; Assemblymember Cathy Nolan; Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber; City Councilmember Eric Gioia; Community Board 2 chair Joseph Conley; Borough President Helen Marshall; HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero and Economic Development Corporation president Seth Pinsky.