NYC Cuts New Deal To Redevelop Willets Point With Mets Owners

New York City has cut a new deal to redevelop Willets Point with the Mets ownership group. Willets Point has long been eyed for redevelopment. It's a neighborhood that is largely off the grid - it lacks sewer hookups and is a warren of junkyards and repair shops in the shadow of the gleaming new CitiField. Since construction got underway to build the stadium a few years back, Mayor Bloomberg had looked to get the redevelopment going.

Those efforts had stalled until now.

A new deal between the Bloomberg administration and a group of developers, including the owners of the Mets, will call for the remediation and redevelopment of a 20-acre area of the blighted neighborhood next to Citi Field, adding retail and ultimately new housing in a time frame that extends past an initial proposed 10-year plan, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press.

The person requested anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter ahead of an announcement.

Under the agreement, the developers, Related Companies and Sterling Equities, would clean up the area and construct a mall on the west side of the ballpark. A 200-room hotel and “two retail strips” are part of the plan for the opposite end of the stadium, the New York Times reported.

Then, no later than 2025, they would start construction on a mixed-use component that would include housing and measure anywhere from 1.3 million square feet up to 4.5 million square feet. The founders of Sterling Equities are Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the owners of the Mets.

The redevelopment of the area, currently populated by auto-repair shops and junkyards and lacking infrastructure as basic as sewers, has long been a goal of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s. In 2007, he announced a 10-year initiative that would bring homes and commercial space to the area.

The new agreement extends past that period, but the person speaking to the AP said that by the original end point of 2017, much would have been done including the vital first step of cleaning the area up and construction of some of the retail spaces.

Sterling Equities is run by Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, both of whom are embroiled in the ongoing fallout of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors. The Wilpons have been claiming that they were as much victims of the scam as everyone else, but the trustee has targeted funds owned by the Wilpons for reimbursing other victims.

The Mets have had a serious cash crunch for the better part of the past couple of years, and it's limited their ability to field competitive teams. They've also sold off minority ownership shares to investors to help raise funds for operations on and off the field.

So, how is it that the City thinks that Sterling Equities is in a financial position to make any of this happen?

One has to wonder whether they're actually going to be putting up any money of their own and are instead hoping for others to pay the way for them to move ahead on a deal that would benefit them financially in the long run.

Related Companies has deep pockets, and their real estate ventures includes getting another one of Bloomberg's pet redevelopment projects underway - the Hudson Yards. They've got the ability to get this done and they have the experience to build out combined retail and commercial space.

It would be really interesting and insightful to figure out the real working relationship here - and how it is structured.

Cuomo's Convention Plan Makes Little Sense

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued the annual state of the state address yesterday, and there were several nuggets of gold for Southern Queens. He suggested that Genting International, which operates a racino at Aqueduct Raceway, should operate a new 3.1 million square foot convention center facility.

He further suggested dismantling and redeveloping the West Side where the Javits Center is currently located.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an ambitious plan to raze the Javits Center to make room for a multibillion-dollar “21st century neighborhood” on Manhattan’s West Side, as part of a far-reaching State of the State address delivered Wednesday in Albany.

Cuomo proposed replacing the 1986 I.M. Pei-designed complex with a massive new 3.8 million square foot convention center at the Aqueduct Race Track in Queens — built using $4 billion in private funds.

“Let’s build the largest convention center in the nation. Period,” said the governor, who panned the current 842,000 square-foot hall, which is sandwiched between the Hudson River and other properties, as “not competitive” because of its size.

“We’re not getting the shows here,” he said.

The Javits Center recently underwent an expansion — the addition of a modern, column-free hall called Javits Center North that was completed in 2010. It is also in the midst of a major renovation involving the replacement of the roof, skylights and entranceways, which are set to be completed in 2013.

The complex — which is operated and maintained by the state-controlled New York Convention Center Operating Corporation and built on state-owned land — is also near the terminus of the 7 train extension, which is nearing completion as well.

The Javits Center is currently undergoing a nearly $500 million renovation to upgrade and expand the space, which will top out at 860,000 square feet. That's not enough to woo business from other large convention center spaces, but I question the move to redevelop the Javits Center and move conventioneering to Queens.

For starters, the MTA is busy expanding the 7 Line to provide direct access to the subway at the Javits, and it's a 10 minute walk to Herald Square or 20 minutes to Times Square. If you're attending a convention in Queens, you might have easier access to JFK airport, but that's about it. There isn't the kind of mass transit connectivity, nor is there the kind of attractions and businesses that can cater to such development, even if thousands of hotel rooms and other spaces are developed in Queens. People attending conventions want to be in the heart of the city, and a facility in Aqueduct doesn't quite cut it.

It would be a mixed blessing for Queens, and traffic would be even more of a nightmare in that part of Queens to boot (in part due to the lack of transit options).

What would appear to be a better path would be to engage in a serious redevelopment and expansion of the Javits Center into the Hudson Yards area or even atop the West Side Highway. Such a move would make sense from a capital investment perspective. It would also allow for the construction of a bus depot to handle overflow from the Port Authority Bus Terminal for NJ Transit so as to reduce delays and congestion through the Lincoln Tunnel. That's far more critical than trying to build a brand new facility in Queens where the infrastructure isn't even present to deal with the kind of traffic that such a facility would bring.

Bias Attack Bottle Bomber Caught On Video; Additional Long Island Incidents Identified

In the span of a couple of hours, four Muslim and Asian businesses, mosques, or temples across Queens were firebombed by a man who used Starbucks drink bottles. A fifth location on Long Island may also have been attacked by the same individual:

A fifth building — a Long Island home — has been hit by a Molotov cocktail, and cops are investigating if the attack is linked to four similar incidents in Queens, authorities said Monday.

The harrowing Queens arsons, including one at a mosque, took place within a mile of each other in Jamaica between 8 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Sunday.

At 9:40 p.m. Sunday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Glafil St. home in Elmont. Nassau County police said there were no injuries or damage to the home.

Bejai Rai, 77, was having dinner with his wife and two sons when they heard glass smash and saw fire sparks.

“My son thought the chandelier had fallen,” Rai said. “We saw that a bottle, like a coffee glass bottle, hit our front window then landed in the concrete.” It was similar to the ones cops described as Starbucks bottles found at the mosque scene and at a bodega that was attacked.

“It sparked, but didn’t catch a fire,” he said. “We were lucky.”

They saw a two-door silver Honda Accord lingering.

Video at one of the locations caught the man throwing the bottle bomb at the location:


One of the locations was a convenience store, and a disgruntled customer may have decided to take revenge on that location and the others:

A worker at the deli said the man showed up at the store about three nights ago, tried to shoplift and threatened employees when they caught him in the act and ejected him. Police said the suspect had tried to steal milk and a Starbucks Frappuccino and appeared to be of Guyanese descent.

Paterson Aides Set To Walk Plank Over Casino Deal

New York State has been in talks to open a casino at the Aqueduct race track in Queens. It's turned into yet another disaster for Governor David Paterson, who apparently approved the deal not with a major player in the casino industry like Pinnacle, MGM, Wynn, or even the Trump organization, but to the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, which is made up of politically connected players and the tiny Navegante Group, which operates the Red Lion Casino and Hotel group of Elko, Nevada and several other casinos.

This deal stinks - which is par for the course for many of the Red Lion's hotel rooms, which reek of tobacco smoke despite any apparent renovations on rooms. It's a deal that reeks.

Now, some can point the fact that Navegante has owned, operated, or consulted with some of the big players in the past. Yet, their current portfolio suggests that they've gone backwards in a big way. All of their casino operations are in Elko, Nevada. The big names - like the Hard Rock Casino, Bally's, Venetian, etc., are all in the past - and as consulting clients - not as current casino operations. The company apparently shifted its focus away from consulting with big names to being a casino operator in Elko.

So, it's with little wonder that aides to Governor Paterson are said to be apoplectic over the decision.

"Aqueduct was the last straw for many of them, they all want out," said a source close to Paterson's aides. "Even on the inside, the Aqueduct decision is seen as corrupt," added a second administration source.

For months, aides to Paterson privately complained about what they called the governor's lack of focus on critical issues, his poor work habits and late-night, booze-fueled "disappearances" at trendy nightclubs and undisclosed locations -- when even his State Police bodyguards don't know where he is.

They've also groused about his penchant for spreading false rumors about aides and a peculiar reliance on two little-known assistants, Clemmie Harris and David Johnson, who have more power than his senior professional appointees.

But Paterson's decision to award the huge contract to operate thousands of video lottery machines to the Aqueduct Entertainment Group at the same time he was blatantly seeking Flake's endorsement was seen by many as the final unacceptable step.

"People on the inside have put up with a lot, but they're embarrassed by what the governor has done, he did it behind their backs, and he did it for reasons that they're very uncomfortable with," said a source close to the situation.

Several sources said Paterson has turned with a fury on his own aides, blaming them for a series of disastrous press reports on the Aqueduct contract, his once-again declining poll numbers, and a new round of rumors and reports -- including two recent disclosures in The Post -- that he is involved in relationships with women other than his wife.

As I noted over the weekend, rumors continue swirling around the Governor's personal life and that the New York Times is holding on to a report that would absolutely kill Paterson's reelection chances (as though that wasn't already a given his current political circumstances with no support-- from the Democratic party establishment or otherwise).

Aqueduct would be a huge deal for the casino industry and how a major player wouldn't have won the contract is baffling. After all, building world-class casino facilities and hotels are what the big players do. It's how the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas came into being. Building a major casino operation in New York City would be bringing a bit of Vegas to the biggest city in the US.

Now, you can question the appropriateness of having casinos as an economic development tool or that the problems with gambling that outweigh the benefits, but this deal reeks on all levels. Was the AEG bid the best, or just the most politically connected?

Who exactly were those politically connected that got this winning bid?

UPDATE:
Drudge is running a headline with a link to a Fox News story that pretty much recaps all the rumor and innuendo that I've been covering over the weekend. It's pretty much a meta-story. There's no actual news broken here, just that Paterson continues denying that there's any wrongdoing or scandal set to break, and that the Times continues to not release whatever story some media outlets believe it's holding.

Still, it is quite possible that the career-ender may be related to the casino deal and that the Times is waiting for the right moment to spring it. Of course, it might find out that because it waited, it got scooped by other outlets, like the Daily News or Post. Trying to find a suitable moment to release a juicy scandal on New York this week might be tough, especially with another major snowstorm heading to the area midweek - settling the score with New York City pretty much missing out on the snowpocalypse to the South.

UPDATE:
Well, the New York Times was apparently holding off on the story until they could get Paterson to respond to the allegations. That's apparently going to happen tomorrow, and the story should run some time after that. Gothamist has more.