But a large portion of the area, which is bordered by Flushing Creek, the Whitestone Expressway and Roosevelt Avenue, was owned by the city, which, at various points, failed to develop it. <\/p>\n
It was until 2021 that a plan to develop Willets Point \u2013 the first phase of which was completed this week \u2013 began to move forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor almost a century, this very spot we’re standing has been maligned, ignored, and forgotten,\u201d Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said on Monday. \u201cBut\u2026a phoenix has risen in the form of New York City’s newest community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part is that we’re only just getting started here in Willets Point,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Of the approximately 100 city workers, developers, elected officials and construction officials who attended Monday\u2019s ribbon cutting, many had been working on the project for years. <\/p>\n
Among them was Chuck Apelian, the chair of Community Board 7, which has been involved in the development of Willets Point for decades. <\/p>\n
Apelian and his fellow board members had spent countless hours over the years debating, examining and helping to plan the city\u2019s attempts to develop the area. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think, in the beginning, we could have never envisioned this,\u201d Apelian said. \u201cWe knew there’d be a transformation. We knew that they were going to take the junkyards and they would be gone, but to see this?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a great place to live, right?\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
The two buildings opened on Monday sit at the southeast corner of the neighborhood. In front of them is a new public plaza, replete with benches, tables and a smattering of young trees. To support the new residents, the city and private developers Related Companies and Sterling Equities had to build out the neighborhood\u2019s infrastructure, including a new water line and a sewage system, which the area previously lacked. The city also had to create a number of new streets.<\/p>\n
Despite being surrounded by active construction sites, the newly opened area was in pristine condition on Monday. In stark contrast to much of the rest of the city, Willets Point\u2019s streets and sidewalks were free of litter and grime, flower beds by the curbs were full and beginning to bloom and save for a few trucks hauling construction materials, the neighborhood was free of traffic. <\/p>\n
That won\u2019t likely be the case for long. For the next several years, the area will be one of immense change. <\/p>\n
In addition to cutting the ribbon on Willets Point Commons, officials on Monday also broke ground on a third building, which will include 220 senior affordable housing units. There\u2019s also a new school, which will be built just down the road from the buildings opened on Monday. <\/p>\n
The city will also soon begin building out phase two of the project, which will include an additional 1,400 residential units, more open space, a hotel and Etihad Park, New York City Football Club\u2019s 25,000-seat soccer stadium that is expected to host its first match next year. <\/p>\n
Beyond the borders of what was once the Iron Triangle, Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock will soon break ground on Metropolitan Park, a massive casino, resort and entertainment complex that will be built on Citi Field\u2019s parking lot, which is separated from Willets Point Commons only by the baseball stadium. <\/p>\n
With several active construction sites in the area, Willets Point Commons\u2019 first residents will likely have to be comfortable with noise. Even when the construction of the neighborhood is complete, the area likely won\u2019t be the quietest in New York City. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But a large portion of the area, which is bordered by Flushing Creek, the Whitestone Expressway and Roosevelt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-236781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}