Willets Point, a corner of Queens that has for decades been synonymous with auto repair shops and urban neglect, got the go-ahead Thursday for a lavish makeover, including a new soccer stadium and 2,500 units of affordable housing.
The City Council, by a 47-1 vote, approved the final phase of the redevelopment plan slated for a 62-acre tract alongside Citi Field.
“We’re building the largest, 100% affordable housing development New York has seen in over 40 years,” said Queens Councilmember Francisco Moya, who has championed the project, which he called a “once in a lifetime chance to build a new neighborhood, forever changing the map of our city.”
The plan now heads to the desk of Mayor Eric Adams, a major supporter of the redevelopment, who said it would transform “a neighborhood in Queens that used to be known for its junkyards.”
Artist rendering of the sprawling Willets Point development, with the anchor professional soccer stadium, dubbed The Cube, in the foreground.
Courtesy of New York City Football Club
“Housing is the goal — and with today’s City Council vote, I’m proud to say that we just scored the goal of the decade,” Adams said in a statement.
Phase I of the project, which includes 1,100 residential units, has already been approved. Attempts to redevelop the area gained ground under Mayor Michael Bloomberg but eventually faltered before being reinvigorated with the inclusion of a soccer stadium. The new plan also includes a public school for 650 students and a 250-room hotel.
Jennifer O’Sullivan, the chief operating officer for the New York City Football Club, noted that the 25,000-seat, $780 million stadium would be privately financed and “100% union-built,” and said the plan is for it to open in time for the 2027 season.
A sign welcomes development at Willets Points, Queens.
Arun Venugopal / Gothamist
“With a World Cup coming to New York in 2026, you start to see that this is an opportunity to build New York as one of the soccer capitals of the world,” O’Sulllivan said in an interview after the vote.
Queens Councilmember Shekar Krishnan cast the sole dissenting vote. He noted that the NYCFC’s majority owner, Sheikh Mansour, is “one of the wealthiest men on the planet” and that the redevelopment deal would allow the team to avoid paying property taxes.
The city’s Independent Budget Office estimated the arrangement would cost taxpayers $516 million in property tax revenue over the course of the stadium’s 49-year lease.
“This is a bad deal for New York City,” Krishnan said. “And this is a terrible precedent for land use. A stadium on public land, subsidized by hundreds of millions in public funds, is not a good deal.”
City officials have rejected the IBO’s assessment, arguing that it didn’t take into account the $6.1 billion in projected economic activity or 14,200 construction jobs.
Photo from Willets Point as seen between 2018 and 2020. The “urbanized wetlands are now gone, totally razed in Fall 2022,” according to Cody Herrmann, Community Board 7 member.
Courtesy of Cody Herrmann
The redevelopment proposal has also come under criticism from local environmentalists who note that the area has been home to wetlands and could present significant challenges to new residents in the face of climate change.
Cody Herrmann, an artist, environmentalist and member of Community Board 7, said the city is making a mistake by placing “marginalized people” in thousands of affordable housing units in “such a vulnerable place.”
However, members of CB7 overwhelmingly voted in favor of the project, as did Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. Many supporters have pointed to the city’s housing crisis as driving the need for the redevelopment plan.
The project would bring “desperately needed homes for families and seniors that will stand for generations,” Jeff Blau, the CEO of the Related Companies, and Scott Wilpon, a partner at Sterling Equities, said in a joint statement. The two companies formed a joint venture, Queens Development Group, which will be overseeing much of the redevelopment.
“We are going to have a neighborhood in a place that was once a maze of unpaved roads featuring the city’s first soccer-specific stadium,” the statement said. “We’re going to finally have a community.”
