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The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

batmagadanleadoff Jun 15 2012 07:59 AM

Willets Point land a shameful steal of a deal for Mets City is on the way to paying $500 million for tract and gifts 23 acres to Wilpons and partners for retail, entertainment and hotel complex by Citi Field ONLY in Michael Bloomberg’s New York are we asked to believe that giving away huge swaths of city-owned land to millionaires is a wonderful deal. The mayor announced Wednesday that the city had selected the Wilpons, of the Mets and Sterling Equities, and Steve Ross of The Related Companies, to develop 23 acres of land in the Willets Point redevelopment area in Queens. The Wilpon-Ross partnership, Queens Development Group, will be handed this land completely free of charge, so it can build its own new retail, entertainment and hotel complex adjacent to the Mets’ Citi Field. Yes, free land, even though the city is on track to spend nearly $500 million buying that very land from scores of industries and auto repair firms that operated there for decades, putting in new sewer lines, and erecting new Long Island Expressway ramps. Free land, even though Queens Development has committed to developing only one-third of the entire 60-acre Willet Points project City Council approved back in 2008. Queens Development won’t even have to begin construction on a single unit of residential housing — part of the original lure of the project — until 2025. “How do you give away 23 acres of land for nothing?” Jerry Antonacci wants to know. He has run Crown Container, a waste hauling and recycling plant in Willets Point for nearly 40 years and has been battling the city’s efforts to move him out. “This is like the biggest heist ever,” Antonacci said, “We all knew the Wilpons wanted our land for themselves all along, and now they got it.” But when City Hall originally got Council’s approval for Willets Point, there was no mention of giveaways or of the Wilpons as a possible developer. Just the opposite. Back then, Bloomberg’s aides assured the Council that any taxpayer money spent on Willets Point would be recouped when the city sold the land to a developer that would be chosen later. Council was understandably skeptical. For one thing, all previous development projects always had a developer’s name attached to them when they came up for vote. This one didn’t. Then there was the big city money upfront for acquiring private land. On Oct. 17, 2008, for instance, then-Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber was grilled by former City Councilman Hiram Monserrate about the land sales. “Our goal would be to get the city taxpayer money back out of this,” Lieber said “In the sale of the properties?” Monserrate asked. “That’s correct,” Lieber said. Lieber conceded that if potential developers claimed the cost of cleaning up the polluted land was too high, the city might agree to “get less for land.” He never said anything about free land. Back then, the city’s skin in the game was $400 million. That has now gone up by another $80 million to build the LIE ramps for the project. Back then, the project’s timeline was five to 10 years. It included a convention center, a new school, twice as much housing. Now, you won’t see any housing open for maybe 15 years. No convention center. No school. And two-thirds of the Willets Point site will remain undeveloped and polluted possibly for decades. “We are thrilled to have been selected by the City to . . . rejuvenate Willets Points into a stunning, new, mixed-use neighborhood,” Jeff Wilpon said as he stood next to Bloomberg. Sure, they’re thrilled. You’d be, too, if you had just been handed 23 acres of land paid for by taxpayers, right next door to your own new baseball stadium. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/wil ... z1xs1Jnj6R

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 15 2012 08:10 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Bloomberg really is the rich developer's best friend. Yesterday I spent lunch hour at a rally* on City Hall steps calling attention to the shenanigans surrounding a Bloomberg land "deal" that rezoned the whole riverfront in Greenpoint and Williamsburg opening it up for high-rise condo development in exchange for the city's pledge to develop and/or redevelop several parks along the same stretch. Seven years later the high-rises are up but only a tiny bit of the promised parkland was ever delivered, while $$ earmarked for them has been revoked under Bloomy's austerity measures. He's a crook. He and the Wilpons deserve one another. *-embarrassingly poorly attended I must say.

Edgy MD Jun 15 2012 08:19 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Wait, was there ever any lack of clarity that a land grab was going on?

Benjamin Grimm Jun 15 2012 08:21 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

This might be the new part: The Wilpon-Ross partnership, Queens Development Group, will be handed this land completely free of charge Had it been previously assumed that the city would sell the land to a developer?

Nymr83 Jun 15 2012 08:24 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Hey Bloomberg, I want my 64 oz. coke back!! Oh and stop bullying property owners off their land, thanks!

Edgy MD Jun 15 2012 08:40 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

This might be the new part: The Wilpon-Ross partnership, Queens Development Group, will be handed this land completely free of charge Had it been previously assumed that the city would sell the land to a developer? Yeah, I guess so. I just assumed that was all bullshit --- and under the argument that a new developer would bring jobs and taxes (like the old business were somehow all tax outlaws without employees?), a well-connected dude, likely in the Wilpon circle, would walk away with a sweetheart deal. I just thought that's the way the game was played, and a big part of why I've been objecting all along.

metirish Jun 15 2012 09:17 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

I guess when Jeff opined about diversity in their portfolio he meant stuff like this.

MFS62 Jun 15 2012 09:26 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

The Wilpon-Ross partnership, Queens Development Group, will be handed this land completely free of charge, The only thing Bloomberg asked for in return is some HGH. Later

batmagadanleadoff Jun 16 2012 11:42 PM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Pitching in on Willets Point Today, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a 52-acre development surrounding Citi Field, built a a partnership of the Related Companies and Sterling Equities, which also owns the Mets. Replacing the Citi Field parking lot will be Willets West, a 1 million-square-foot retail and entertainment complex, with more than 200 stores, restaurants, a movie theater and other entertainment venues. (Don't call it a mall, the developers insist.) Once Willets West is complete, a mixed development of 5 million square feet will rise on 23 acres within Willets Point. It will include 2,500 apartments, 900,000-square-feet of community-scale retail, 500,000-square-feet of office space and two hotels. The very first step, after a long clean-up of the 23-acre site, will be a strip of retail along 126th Street, which will later be developed upwards after Willets West is completed. Currently, 126th Street is lined with auto body shops. The city controls 95 percent of the properties it needs within the site but might seek to use eminent domain if it cannot secure the final pieces. Looking south down an eventual 126th Street, with the Citi Field outfield at right. The entrance to the not-mall of Willets West. The site plan for the new Willets Point development. which also shows the five acres of public open space planned for the project. An earlier plan for a phased development of Willets Point, that would have covered only 12.5 acres, with a 7-acre buffer zone. between the industrial core.

Ashie62 Jun 17 2012 07:51 AM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

What was that about term limits Bloomberg?

metsguyinmichigan Jun 17 2012 03:17 PM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Where is everyone supposed to park? But more importantly, isn't Willets West on the land that WAS Shea Stadium??? I hope they still have something showing where the bases were.

Nymr83 Jun 17 2012 03:48 PM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Where is everyone supposed to park? But more importantly, isn't Willets West on the land that WAS Shea Stadium??? I hope they still have something showing where the bases were. They don't want you to park, they want to basically force anyone who doesn't want to pay out the ass for a garage to use mass transit, ignoring that they are not as centrally and conveniently located as, say, the Knicks/Rangers are. Driving home from the game on a weekenight is an hour door to door for me. It would be two and a half hours to take the 7 train, the 2 train, the staten island ferry, and the staten island railroad. That's not happening with work in the morning. They (bloomberg and the wilpons) don't give two shits where the Shea bases were.

Mets – Willets Point Jun 17 2012 06:40 PM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Nymr83 wrote: They don't want you to park, they want to basically force anyone who doesn't want to pay out the ass for a garage to use mass transit, Paying out the ass to park for a baseball game is called "free market capitalism." Setting aside large swaths of valuable urban real estate to provide free or inexpensive parking is in economic terms a gross inefficiency, especially since that parking would be used less than 90 days a year, and maybe a quarter of the hours in those 90 days, laying fallow the rest of the time. To do otherwise would be giving a massive handout to a minority (in this case priviliged white suburbanites) at the expense of the majority (pretty much the entire population of the city whether they attend the games or not). It would be pretty much akin to Socialism.

batmagadanleadoff Jun 17 2012 07:24 PM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Did youse think there'd be no parking lot? Attendance would drop. The plans call for a 2,500 car sfructure at Willets West and 20 acres of parking east of what is, for now, the Iron Triangle.

Ashie62 Jun 17 2012 07:50 PM Re: The Poor Get Richer: Welcome to Wilponville

Mets – Willets Point wrote: Nymr83 wrote: They don't want you to park, they want to basically force anyone who doesn't want to pay out the ass for a garage to use mass transit, Paying out the ass to park for a baseball game is called "free market capitalism." Setting aside large swaths of valuable urban real estate to provide free or inexpensive parking is in economic terms a gross inefficiency, especially since that parking would be used less than 90 days a year, and maybe a quarter of the hours in those 90 days, laying fallow the rest of the time. To do otherwise would be giving a massive handout to a minority (in this case priviliged white suburbanites) at the expense of the majority (pretty much the entire population of the city whether they attend the games or not). It would be pretty much akin to Socialism. I think you nailed it...I am a midtown direct 7 train 2 hour jersey person. I would take mass transit even if parking was free.