The Council last week gave final approval for a massive redevelopment plan that will allow the Queens Development Group, a joint venture between Sterling Equities Inc. and Related Companies, to invest $3 billion to transform Willets Point into a mixed-use neighborhood.
The approval marked the culmination of the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and followed similar approvals by Queens Community Board 7, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, and the City Planning Commission.
The Queens Development Group said, “Today’s approvals mean that the historic vision for a redeveloped Willets Point is finally going to become a reality. Thanks to today’s actions, we are going to transform a contaminated site into a new community with thousands of new jobs, affordable housing, retail, and open space.”
The Willets Point redevelopment will clean up 23 acres of long-contaminated land and unlock five million square feet of new development that will include 2,500 housing units — of which 875 units will be affordable — retail, hotel and commercial space.
It will also create more than acres of new open space — without removing any existing open space, as well as a new school and recreational facilities for the area.
The redevelopment will create 12,000 union construction jobs and 7,100 permanent jobs, with MWBE and local hiring goals of 25 percent.
According to reports, Related and Sterling could begin building 2,500 apartments in 2025. The second group of 3,300 units is slated to be built in 2030 as part of a separate phase of development.
The City Council also gave the go-ahead to a plan to build two new apartment towers on the site of the Long Island City graffii mecca, 5Pointz
