The troubled plan to turn the so-called "Iron Triangle" of 225 auto repair shops and other industrial businesses in Willets Point, Queens into a gleaming new mega-development has hit a new snag. The issue this time is affordable housing. NY1's Ruschell Boone filed the following report.
Things are not looking good from where the auto mechanics are sitting in Willets Point. With few customers and little money they are just scraping by. Now, they may have to leave. The city just issued 30-day eviction notices to clear the way for the Willets Point Redevelopment project, even though the $3 billion mega development is in legal jeopardy.
"Seven of us went to go speak to a lawyer yesterday," said Miguel Nieto, owner of Grino's Auto Parts Express.
The area already looks like a ghost town, but many were hoping the city would put evictions on hold while the developers appeal a ruling prohibiting a planned mega mall next to Citi Field. The mall suffered another setback Wednesday when the city did not join the developers in their appeal.
"When we looked at it in the context of this moment legally we felt it did not make sense to participate further," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The sticking point? Affordable housing. In a deal with the Bloomberg administration, the developers agreed to build 2,500 apartments, a third of them affordable.
"Our focus is affordable housing.We want affordable housing quickly and we think we can do much better on that site going forward," the mayor said.
One expert says the city issued those eviction notices to gain leverage in negotiations with the developer.
"If you have a bunch of holdout businesses on that land, the developer’s going to give you much less in terms of affordable housing, parkland, whatever they're offering," he said.
A source with knowledge of the negotiation said the city did not mention anything about affordable housing until a day before the appeal was supposed to be filed and that left little room for negotiation. The development company says it's looking forward to working with the de Blasio administration.
The Queens Development Group said, it's "committed to significantly accelerating the housing portion of this plan." But some experts think it will be years before anything is built, leaving that plan in limbo like many of the mechanics in Willets Point.