Quickie recount of CB2’s public hearing yesterday on 49th Ave & HP South
Hunters Point South, Long Island City
Last night Community Board 2 held a public hearing at St. Mary’s Church in Long Island City regarding the 49th Ave traffic changes and the Hunters Point South “Open Space” project. A liQcity reader emailed us some quick details from the hearing:
“CB2’s public hearing yesterday started with a discussion about 49th Ave between 5th St & Vernon Blvd. DOT [Dept of Transportation] briefly presented how 49th Ave’s size and location cause it to fit their “one-way” conversion model. And, they did some kind of a ’speed study’ and the average speed they clocked means the street fits their mandate for a speed hump, but they will only do it if CB2 votes for it.
The longer presentation and discussion was about the Hunters Point South open space – a really beautiful park will be built! The controversy is about the proposed artificial turf. A long list of people got up and opposed the turf citing hygiene, cleanliness, heat, injuries and other issues as negatives.”
It’s the city’s project, Bloomie’s jewel in the crown. The city also know they messed up allowing Amanda Burdan to rezone, so this is their version of how to do it right. It will be interesting to see how they deal with remediation. I would love to follow the money on that one. Personally I think the affordable housing (which isn’t that affordable) is the only thing that will bring any sanity back to this neighborhood.
the park is going to be covered in astroturf
The astroturf proposal is not a given. It was just about voted down unanimously by those in attendance. I am sure they will be taking it back to the drawing board before any final decisions are reached. The reason for such a meeting is to get community input before final plans are in place.
I’m no fan of the affordable housing component, but if you are hoping that this will bring sanity back to pricing I think you are mistaken. First only a portion of this is affordable the rest is market value. If this follows most other project of this type the affordable housing componet decreases as time goes on. Two, the driver of the increase in rent and prices has been the desirability of the neighborhood. For a long time LIC was an outpost. as more building get built, more store that open and amenities get build the neighborhood will become more desirable increasing demand and drive up prices.
Put real grass in the park.
this might be a silly question, but i’m trying to understand why anyone would pay a market price for a bulding that is 60% subsidized? won’t the rents be below market as a result of being considered less desirable? if so, how can that 40% “non-affordable” component be expected to make the project profitable for a developer?
That’s a pretty good question. I think the city has always had pretty unrealistic assumptions about the costs involved and the amount developers would pay to build the market rate component. This will end up costing quite a lot to taxpayers.
#6, that is partially what I was getting at with my post in #5. Once the developers come in and are unable to get the numbers to work the \affordable\ portion gets whittled away. You are artificialy holding down rents, which in turn make the building less attractive to a developer / buyer – their costs are still the same, but now the revenues are less. The only way to get them to play ball is to inject taxpayer money to make it more attractive. I’ve not seen any mention how much the city is will to put in to incentivise developers. Until a developer of the site has been named I’m not losing any sleep over it. In the end it may be all smoke and mirrors and this may get built as market rate housing or not at all. Another good example of government meddling where it is not needed. In the middle of a budget crisis taxpayer dollars should not be wasted on handouts to developers to socially engineer a middle class enclave.
I think the apartments facing the water/city will be the market rate ones, while ones facing East will be the affordable ones, this way the “less desirable’ ones are ’subsidized’ by the more expensive ones. Also, they’ll be mixing rentals and condos within the building, if I’m not mistaken.
The NYC Economic Development Corporation is the developer of this project, not a private developer. It will be all rental apartments similiar to what Peter Cooper Village and Styvesant Town were before dropping out of the Mitchell-Lama program and being sold.
Becca, that is incorrect. Private developers will build (and finance the building) and manage these apartment buildings.
I really hope #10 is wrong – that sounds horrible and if true we should all be very worried!
Hunters Point South reincarnates what was supposed to be part of an Olympic Village. The taxpayers probably would have kicked in a hefty share if NYC had been selected as the host city, after which I’m guessing the housing would have been marketed to people who like riding crowded trains and grousing about brick oven pizza.
Townie, so bitter . . .
Citylights was also built as affordable housing. There’s penhouses there listed for over $1M now. These programs tend to be a lottery for the lucky few who are about to subsequently cash in.
there’s a big difference between providiing “affordable housing” for buyers vs. renters, no?
I guess it’s possible to witness this abstruse nightmare without bitterness, but aside from those who profit from it, and the occasional ascended Buddhist, I know of no one. Nevertheless, perhaps I should thank Anonymous # 14 for the valuable comment, as I have a long way to go on my personal journey toward what enlightenment might be obtainable, in this cycle, for my little soul. So, thank you. :-)
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The Hunters Point South project will have a mix of buying opportunities and rentals, although mainly rentals.
I will be shocked if this comes to fruition. Did anyone notice that they put up a sign next to duane reade congratulating themselves on the park they built, with a map of the full park to be built, which is in fact only about 40% built!. I love that. Congrats on building a park that is not even close to finished and who knows when it will get done.
You are FUNNY…just go to the Lhaus or hunterpoint and see how many lights are on at 7-8pm pm maybe 2 or 3….they are feakin Empty
Hunterspoint south will be section 8…when this depression is over.
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The Hunters Point South project will have a mix of buying opportunities and rentals, although mainly rentals.
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Wow, this is really moving forward. I thought it would take years…