The 23-acre project will also include a 250-room hotel and 2,500 units of housing.
The city has been working to redevelop Willets Point for more than 10 years. In 2007 former Mayor Michael Bloomberg released the neighborhood’s master plan, but it took 11 more years—along with an extremely contentious legal fight—for the city to strike a deal with Related and Sterling to develop 6 acres of land by Roosevelt Avenue and Willets Point Boulevard.
Related filed plans last week with the Department of Buildings for two 12-story developments in Willets Point, a portion of the project that will bring about 900 affordable housing units to the Queens neighborhood. The building at 126-43 39th Ave. will span about 527,000 square feet with 534 residential units, and the building at 126-55 39th Ave. will span about 333,000 square feet with 347 residential units.
Related and Sterling planned to construct three buildings with 1,100 units of affordable housing—which will be included in the 2,500 total—along with community space, a public school and open space.
The New York City Economic Development Corp. had released two proposals for the second phase of the project in early 2019, one of which called for a soccer stadium with as many as 25,000 seats, rental housing, a public high school, retail space and new fire and police stations. The other called for residential development across six blocks, a fire station, a health center, retail and open space and a public high school.