On Nov. 12, at an event announcing his support for the Bloomberg administration’s planned Willets Point redevelopment, Queens Councilman Hiram Monserrate made a round of thank-yous, mentioning city officials, other electeds, his staff and, with a smirk, the unions.

“I want to thank all my labor partners, who ensured and reminded me how important this project was along the way,” he said.

The smirk came perhaps on account of one union in particular, the New York Hotel Trades Council, which had been especially persistent, lobbying, advocating and badgering Mr. Monserrate for months to gain his support.  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/hotel-union-discovers-its-muscle#comments Real Estate Hiram Monserrate Michael Bloomberg New York Hotel Trades Council Peter Ward Willets Point Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:26:26 -0500 Eliot Brown 79025 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/big-day-mega-project-council-approves-willets-point-hunter-s-point-south

Two of the largest planned developments of the Bloomberg administration were approved by the City Council this afternoon, rezoning two sites in Queens that will allow for more than 10,000 new apartments, more than half of which would be at below market rates.

In two separate votes, the Council approved the redevelopment of the 61-acre Willets Point industrial site by Shea Stadium and the 30-acre Hunter’s Point South site south of Long Island City along the East River. Based on numbers released by the city, in a full build-out of what’s allowed under the zoning, Willets Point would have more than 1,900 units of below-market-rate housing while Hunter’s Point South would have about 3,000.  read more »

The deal to redevelop Willets Point may not be quite the clean, easy victory for the city as was portrayed yesterday, when officials and members of the City Council announced an agreement.

The Bloomberg administration has agreed to leave in place—at least temporarily—the three largest businesses, Tully Construction, House of Spices and Fodera Foods, a move that would substantially decrease the size of the site to be bid out to a developer.

The deal, brokered primarily between Tully and the city, was done in part to placate Councilman Hiram Monserrate’s concerns, according to people familiar with discussions. We’re still sorting out details, but the businesses, located on the eastern portion of the triangle-shaped district, would stay in place for an unspecified amount of time as remediation and then development begins on the rest of site.  read more »

Apparently, all land use fights do, in fact, have the same conclusion.

After months of negotiation, lobbying, threats, protests, counter-protests and a fair bit of grandstanding, the Bloomberg administration has reached a deal with key members of the City Council to approve a redevelopment of Willets Point, the industrial area by Citi Field in Queens.

The Willets Point plan, which calls for the development of 5,500 apartments in the place of a district filled with car repair shops, had been one of the few major developments marked by legitimate uncertainty over whether or not the Council would give its approval.  read more »

Having reached a deal on affordable housing, the Bloomberg administration's plan to redevelop the 61-acre Willets Point in Queens is expected to pass the full City Council on Thursday, according to officials involved with the vote, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

More shortly.

Michael Bloomberg is making a rare appearance in the Red Room in City Hall in a few minutes for a press conference to announce a deal on the affordable housing in the redevelopment of Willets Point.  read more »

A deal for below-market rate housing at Willets Point has been brokered, with an announcement scheduled for 1 p.m. today. We'll have more later, but affordable housing group ACORN, local Councilman Hiram Monserrate and the Bloomberg administration reached an agreement to set 35 percent of the more than 5,000 planned units as below-market rate, with over 800 for low-income families.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation just announced another deal with a major landowner at Willets Point, the 62-acre Queens industrial site the Bloomberg administration wants to redevelop. The landowner was Feinstein Iron Works, which owns a 36,000-square-foot lot. With the agreement, the Bloomberg administration now controls about 25 percent of the private land on the site, though more than 60 landowners are without deals.

The City Council must vote on a proposed rezoning by Thursday; however, as of yesterday evening, the administration had yet to commit to a level of below-market rate housing that's satisfactory to affordable housing advocates.

The biggest private landowner, Tully Construction, does not have a deal and is viewed as the largest obstacle to Council approval.  read more »

On Election Day, the Daily News comes out with an endorsement: the paper supports the city’s plan to redevelop Willets Point.

From the editorial:

“The Council needs to get past distractions like the eminent domain red herring, and residual bitterness over term limits and vote for the Willets Point plan on the merits. And the merits make a yes vote mandatory.”

The Post has signaled its support before, and Crain’s pushed the plan in this week’s paper.

The Bloomberg administration yesterday announced two more deals with the private landowners, bringing the total number of deals struck up to 10, and the city boasts (as did the News editorial) that it now controls 40 percent of the land in the 61-acre swath of Queens.  read more »

Just on the heels of the highly contentious City Council term limits vote, Mayor Bloomberg has personally injected himself into the push to sway the council on his administration's plan to redevelop Willets Point.

Today, Mayor Bloomberg met about the plan with groups of council members, including the Brooklyn and Queens delegations, according to one member. Even with another contentious issue on the horizon--property taxes--the mayor devoted the meeting to the issue of Willets Point. He and other officials, including Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, gave their pitch on the plan and fielded questions on cost, the environment and other aspects, according to one in attendance.  read more »