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NYC Council approves Willets Point plan for soccer stadium, affordable housing
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Apr 11, 2024
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Courtesy of New York City Football Club
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Apr 11, 2024
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Willets Point, a corner of Queens that has long been synonymous with auto repair shops and urban neglect, got the go-ahead on Thursday for a lavish makeover that includes a new soccer stadium and 2,500 units of affordable housing.
The City Council voted 47-1 to approve 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.
The project's first phase, 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’Sullivan 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 budget office'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
Local environmentalists have also criticized the redevelopment proposal, and noted that the area is home to wetlands and could present new residents with significant challenges 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, the community board's members 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 oversee 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.”
Tagged
housing
economy
queens
Race And Justice Unit
Politics
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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