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June 15, 2012
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
NY Daily News
by Juan Gonzalez
Wow. Who knew Bruce Ratner got stiffed on his Atlantic Yards land grab — at least compared to the Wilponzis of WIllets Point.
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.
Posted by eric at June 15, 2012 6:21 PM