Wednesday, June 3, 2009 7:32 PM EDT
TimesLedger Newspapers

Via YourNabe.com

The city will formally kick off plans to seize control of the remaining privately owned land at Willets Point this month, an announcement that left shocked property owners scrambling for legal help and prompted questions as well as criticism from borough elected officials.

The city Economic Development Corp. said a public hearing on eminent domain would be held at Flushing Town Hall June 22, a procedural first step in the legal process through which the city plans to take the remaining 22 acres of land at Willets Point.

Property owners at Willets Point said representatives from Cornerstone Realty Group, a firm hired by the city to assist in business relocation in the area, canvassed the Iron Triangle last week informing people that the city intended to begin eminent domain proceedings and a letter would arrive Thursday detailing the process.

Jerry Antonacci, co−owner of Crown Container Co. and president of Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain, said he was miffed that city officials did not show up to tell property owners themselves.

“I said to the guy, ‘Why are you here? Why are you telling me this? The city should be the ones telling me this,’” he said. “They’re pretty quick to pull the trigger on eminent domain. But I guess they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do and we’re gonna do what we have to do to stop them.”

He said the property owners group expects to hire a legal firm to fight the city plan within the next week. Private property owners will have 90 days to file a lawsuit after the city files a formal report on its plans, which the EDC expects to occur by early next year.

Out of the 62 acres that make up Willets Point, the city controls approximately 40 acres of land, which it either already owned or acquired in 20 separate land deals with property owners during the last year. Dozens of property owners have yet to reach deals with EDC negotiators, however, and the city’s move toward eminent domain indicates the time to do so outside of a courtroom is drawing to a close.

The EDC said it will continue negotiating indefinitely with property owners to make land deals and did not give a point when such talks would end.

“We have always said condemnation remains our method of last resort for these transactions, and we have reached agreements with property owners as recently as last week. Regardless of the acquisition method, all property owners who sell land to the city via negotiated transaction or via eminent domain will receive fair market value,” said David Lombino, a spokesman for the EDC.

The decision ruffled some feathers among those in the City Council, who have been closely involved in the project as the use of eminent domain generated a firestorm of controversy throughout the public approval process, which ended when the Council backed the city redevelopment plans in November.

Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D−Corona) and state Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D−East Elmhurst) said the move toward eminent domain unfairly alters negotiations moving forward.

“I don’t think the city should be imposing eminent domain on land owners while trying to negotiate property deals privately at the same time,” Ferreras said.

Councilman Tony Avella, who along with Councilman Charles Barron (D−Brooklyn) was one of two people to vote against redevelopment plans last fall, said the city lied and his colleagues in the Council fell for it.

“It just goes to show that the Bloomberg administration can’t be trusted,” Avella said. “What’s it going to take for my colleagues to stand up to this guy?”

The EDC said the move to begin the eminent domain process does not represent a departure from its stated intentions and added that no business will have to relocate from Willets Point for at least one year. The June 22 hearing is a procedural prerequisite in the eminent domain process required by state law and formal court proceedings are expected to take close to a year to finalize.

Last week, as Community Board 7 gave its blessing to move five of his fellow Willets Point landowners to College Point, Joe Ardizzone sat silently and watched.

For the work-worn resident of Willets Point — the only person who still lives in the industrial business community — the board’s monthly ritual is nothing new.

For the better part of the last two years, Ardizzone has been a fixture at community board meetings, press conferences, rallies and anything else involving Willets Point. And in speaking to him, one might call him a glutton for punishment.

“They say this is a democracy,” he said, as he calmly left the meeting, clad in a ruffled wool sweater. “I used to believe that.”

Ardizzone said he has grown weary of fighting the city’s plan to transform his home into a large residential and commercial community, a battle he said has dealt him a heavy financial toll.

“I’ve been there for so long, it’s all I know,” he said. “And it’s all diminishing returns for me at this point. I really have nothing left.”

The 76-year-old has lived at 126-96 Willets Point Blvd. for decades, residing in an apartment above the bar and restaurant Master’s Express Deli — which he rents to Marcos Neira, the President of the Willets Point Defense Committee.

Though he plans to continue to fight for his land on principle, he said he struggles philosophically with the costs he incurs being an active member of groups like Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain and the Willets Point Defense Committee.

“All it’s doing is costing more and more and more.  They say we need more money for lawyers and for this and that,” he said. “I pay for them to protect the land I already own. The land I have the right to own by living in this country. I just don’t understand what the city of New York is doing.”

“Shame on this country,” Ardizzone added before exiting the Union Plaza Care Center in Flushing, where the CB 7 meeting was held. “I feel like an American Indian.”

TimesLedger Newspapers
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 5:47 PM EDT

After taking the temperature of the current construction climate, the city said this week it will delay soliciting a developer for its massive Willets Point project and adopt a piecemeal approach to construction as they move forward.

Since the City Council voted to approve the Willets Point redevelopment plan in November, the city Economic Development Corp. said it has regrouped and restructured its approach to the project — the first public indication that the withered economy is having an effect on the multibillion−dollar proposal.

The city now plans to begin the process of selecting a developer for the project no earlier than the end of 2009 rather than this spring and said it will begin with construction on only the southwestern portion of the site — directly adjacent to Citi Field — before moving forward with the rest of the 62−acre site.

The city will be moving ahead on schedule with some aspects of the plan however. On Tuesday the city issued a request for qualifications, or RFQ, to formally begin the bidding process for $150 million in necessary off−site infrastructure around Willets Point — an announcement that was hailed by some as the first tangible step forward in the development process.

“The release today of these RFQs is another step forward in the journey to develop Willets Point,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. “Offsite infrastructure will be integral as this project moves forward and incorporates itself in theoretical and practical ways with surrounding communities.”

The EDC said the $150 million will go toward the construction of storm and waste water systems, a sanitary force main, design upgrades to sewers and outfall on 126th Street and potentially a new sanitary pump station in the area surrounding Willets Point. Also included in the RFQs are plans for the design of new connection ramps from Willets Point to the Van Wyck Expressway and additional bicycle and pedestrian paths connecting the district with surrounding neighborhoods.

Although the EDC stressed that when it selects a developer — likely in early 2010 — it will be choosing a firm it believes can develop the whole site. The agency said a focus will be placed on constructing a large retail and housing complex to complement the newly completed Citi Field.

According to officials with knowledge of the project, construction will be limited to an area that today runs from Roosevelt Avenue on the south to 35th Avenue on the north along 126th Street. The officials said that behind the initial development extending out to what is now 127th Street, a landscaped buffer area will separate the retail and housing complex from the rest of Willets Point — which may or may not still include businesses that exist there today, such as Tully Construction and Fodera Foods.

The decision represents a significant shift for the city, which for months maintained the entire site would need to be developed as a whole to facilitate environmental remediation rather than piece−by−piece. This is a position the city has gradually stepped back on, most notably when it struck a deal to allow three of the largest Willets Point businesses to remain in the area in the hours before the City Council voted on the full project.

The EDC countered, however, that from an environmental, engineering and practical standpoint, it makes sense to begin construction from the southwest portion of the site and the adjustment should allow the agency to achieve its goals of building out the entire site in 10 years.

The city said it will also refocus its efforts to acquire additional property at Willets Point, particularly in the southwestern portion of the site. While the city has control of more than 50 percent of the land in the area first targeted for development, at least three dozen plots of land remain in private hands.

More than 10 of those private land owners are members of Willets Point United against Eminent Domain Abuse, a group that is determined to stop the city’s plans.

Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at sstirling@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 138.

TimesLedger Newspapers
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 3:38 PM EST

In the warped reality of Willets Point — where the sight of roosters prancing through mangled auto parts is not out of the ordinary — little shocks the business owners and workers of the area.

But late last week, several bore witness to something they said they have not seen in the area in more than a decade: a road crew.

The city Department of Transportation spent several days during the last week filling potholes and repaving sections of Willets Point as part of what a spokeswoman for the agency called “routine maintenance.” Most of the streets at Willets Point resemble those in a war−torn city — gaping potholes and cave−ins littered among patchy asphalt, gravel and dirt — but the work upgraded the roads facing the new Citi Field stadium.

Crown Container Inc. Owner Jerry Antonacci said he was puzzled by the repairs, particularly since the city recently won the right to transform the property into a sprawling residential and commercial neighborhood — a project that will require the entire area, roads and all, to be razed.

“A few of the guys were talking to the DOT guys and they said they’re doing it because of Citi Field,” Antonacci said, referring to the New York Mets’ new stadium across the street from the area, which will open this April. “But whether or not they’re doing it because of the Mets, it’s a good thing. Ain’t nobody moving out of here for years. Whoever’s left, you’ve gotta give us bearable conditions to work with.”

Business owners in the area, many of whom have claimed the city has purposefully neglected the 75−acre parcel of land for decades, were taken aback by the sight of city workers toiling on the streets.

“You can actually drive down Willets Point Boulevard at more than 15 miles an hour. It’s nice,” Antonacci said. “But where were they 30 years ago? If they just did this sort of thing in the first place, maybe this whole area would look a lot better.”

Willets Point has been known as much for its disrepair as the ramshackle collection of auto−repair yards and industrial businesses that gave it its nickname: the Iron Triangle.

The repairs follow several weeks of protest by members of the Willets Point Defense Committee, a coalition of about 60 auto−related businesses in the area, who said untreated snow and ice on the roadways combined with massive potholes were driving away their customer base.

“Now we can have more customers because they aren’t scared to go down the roads,” Neira said. “It’s going to be a big benefit for us.”

While much of the area’s roads were just patched or minimally repaved, the area in front of Willets Point’s three largest businesses — Tully Construction, Fodera Foods and House of Spices — was completely revamped. In November, the businesses struck a deal with the city that will allow them to stay in the area for up to 15 years as redevelopment occurs around them.

Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 138.

TimesLedger Newspapers
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:17 PM EST

A deepening rift has emerged between tenant businesses at Willets Point as they struggle to negotiate with the city for more funding for relocation expenses.

The Willets Point Defense Committee, which represents about 200 tenant businesses in the Iron Triangle, met last Thursday with Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, Borough President Helen Marshall, City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst) and members of the city Economic Development Corp. to discuss relocation assistance for the group.

But they are not all standing together.

Willets Point Defense Committee President Arturo Olaya said a faction of his group is hoping to get the $3 million fund, which was set up to help the more than 200 tenant businesses currently at Willets Point, divvied up among about only 60 of the businesses.

Splitting the relocation fund among 60 of the businesses rather than 200 could give each of the businesses between $36,000 and $60,000 to attempt to relocate their businesses elsewhere in the city.

Olaya has contended that $3 million is not enough to spread across all of the businesses at Willets Point, but said leaving more than 70 percent of the group out of negotiations is not an option.

The defecting group, which also claims to be the Willets Point Defense Committee, said Olaya was deposed as leader of the business collective after his relationship with Monserrate soured in the wake of the Council vote.

Olaya said he has legal documentation proving he is the leader of the committee and is considering legal action to force the defecting group’s leaders, Sergio Aguirre and Marcos Nadia, to stop using the name.

“We legally represent this committee and the city knows that. Sergio doesn’t even have a business here. He is here putting different ideas into the mind of the people here. He’s a real poisonous man,” Olaya said.

Calls to Aguirre and Nadia were not returned for comment.

Monserrate appears to be one of the key points of contention between the feuding groups. Olaya said he wants Monserrate to have no part of negotiations with the city, while Aguirre and Nadia believe his support remains crucial.

Olaya said he believes Monserrate “sold out” the tenant businesses at Willets Point by agreeing to support the city’s plan to redevelop the area, and the two had harsh words the morning of the Nov. 14 Council vote. Communications were further strained when Monserrate began meeting with Aguirre and Nadia’s group on the morning of the vote without Olaya.

During one of Monserrate’s meetings, Olaya was briefly held by police from the 110th Precinct after NY1 broadcast a video showing Olaya using red paint to cover Monserrate’s name on a flatbed truck often used by his campaign.

Olaya blamed Monserrate for his detention, but the councilman-turned-state senator denies he had any involvement.

Olaya also said he vehemently disagrees with Aguirre’s and Nadia’s hope to split $3 million in funds set aside for relocation assistance of the tenant businesses.

“They want the money for just 60 businesses. My posters say, ‘Justice for Willets Point,’ not justice for a small group,” Olaya said. “We represent everyone here.”

Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.

TimesLedger Newspapers
Friday, November 21, 2008 10:24 AM EST

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration spent hours in recent weeks convincing members of the City Council that the redevelopment of Willets Point would an essential part of the city’s economic future. With the Council approval now in the rearview mirror, the city now faces a far more daunting task: Turning its elaborate sales pitch into a reality.

Related Coverage:

• Don’t sweep us under rug: Tenant businesses

By a nearly unanimous vote the Council moved 42−2 to approve the project last Thursday, giving the city the green light to begin soliciting bids for its envisioned mixed−use neighborhood expected to feature 5,500 housing units, more than 2 million square feet of retail and office space, an 850−seat school and a 400,000 square−foot convention center.

Bloomberg and the EDC are banking on the project to create more than 18,000 construction jobs, 5,000 permanent jobs, more than $1.3 billion in city tax revenue and an economic impact of $25 billion to $30 billion over the next 30 years.

Just because we are in the midst of an economic downturn and we have to learn to do more with less doesn’t mean that we can afford to walk away from our long−term obligations,” Bloomberg said last week. “Our city made that mistake during the tough times in the ‘70s and it was a near disaster. And we’re simply not going to make that mistake again.”

But the project still faces significant obstacles.

Parcels owned by more than 60 property owners still need to be acquired by the city, and some are already pondering a lengthy court battle to protect their land.

“I ain’t going nowhere, that’s all you need to write,” said Jake Bono of Bono Sawdust and Supply Co.

The EDC warded off one potentially devastating issue in the 11th hour of negotiations ahead of the Council vote, when it negotiated a deal that will allow Tully Construction, House of Spices and Fodera Foods — the three largest property owners at the 62−acre site — to remain at Willets Point for up to 15 years.

The accord, struck the morning of the vote, was viewed as a winning situation for all involved.

For the city, it alleviated the need to spend a large portion of its more than $200 million property acquisition budget on buying up the more than 17 acres of land occupied by the businesses.

The trio of businesses, meanwhile, will be able to continue to operate for up to 15 years at their current sites, taking the pressure off the search for a relocation site and allowing them to sell the land they own directly to a developer once one is chosen by the city.

The EDC said that because the properties are all located on the easternmost portion of the 62−acre site slated for redevelopment, the city will be able to conduct a multimillion−dollar environmental remediation and implement much of the infrastructure improvements — such as a sewer system — needed to sustain the planned development.

The EDC said the deal alleviates the need to conduct costly and perhaps contentious negotiations for agreements itself. How fruitful the city’s negotiations with the remaining 60 property owners at the site, who do not have such an accord in place, remains to be seen.

“Bottom line is, we’re going to continue negotiations,” said Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber. “But we can’t negotiate with ourselves. I have land owners that won’t return my phone calls. We have land owners that won’t return our letters. One way or another, though, we’re going to try to get these people to sign.”

Even less certain is the fate of the more than 200 tenant businesses currently at Willets Point today. With the approval, the EDC said three separate workforce retraining programs — offered by LaGuardia Community College, the Greater New York Auto Dealer’s Association and the Hotel and Motel Trades Council — will begin as early as January while Cornerstone Realty Group has been hired to begin no−fee relocation assistance with the renting businesses.

The workforce retraining programs have received a bristly reception from many of the 1,700 workers in the business community. One worker said he is hopeful he will continue to have his a job in the auto industry he is reluctant to take the city at its word.

“It’s scary, you know?” said Javier Herreras. “I get a job here, I provide for my family and now someone comes and tells me you might not have that in a year or two years or whatever. That doesn’t sound fair to me. That doesn’t seem right.”

Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 138.