Don’t need no release, when a reporter’s on da beat. Last week a reader sent us a pic (above) revealing that construction has finally begun on Parcel C of Hunters Point South. Today we received a press release announcing an official groundbreaking for the site scheduled for next week. Anyway after years in the making what’s a few days/weeks discrepancy? This project was first announced in 2013 when the development was awarded to TF Cornerstone (surprise!), only to be mysteriously delayed until word leaked in mid-2017 that there were logistical problems due to the trains and power lines running below. Several months later a redesign was announced splitting what had heretofore been a concrete and glass monolith along Center Boulevard into two towers of 55 and 44 stories and maybe a Shake Shack in between, all slated to begin construction in June 2018. While the timeline slipped a little and the Shack is still possible, there definitely won’t be a rec center for the Hunters Point community, despite it’s being the perfect location. Instead there will be another school and ~1,200 residential units two-thirds of which will be ‘affordable.’ Yawn
At 2nd Sunnyside Yards Public Meeting, Locals Express Skepticism – isn’t there enough building going on in LIC?
MoMA PS1 Settles With Curator Who Said Giving Birth Cost Her Job Offer – it’s not just in the making of babies where job roles get sticky
15-year Old Boy Arrested in Queens Gang Attacks – police still looking for two other suspects
Hunters Point Resident says
March 28, 2019 at 8:18 pmWould really love it if we talked more about how boneheaded it is that our local politicians totally betrayed the future of a city, how they walked away from a real opportunity to transform the area for committed investors who may have risked all they had to invest in LIC years ago. How deeply affected people have felt since they got their future torn from them. Nobody came knocking on my door to get my opinion or the 70% other people who wanted Amazon here. How in the world does this happen and we just forget about it? It’s a disgrace even a month and a half later. These people who represent us may suck up to us by spending every minute attending events that make them look good, but when the biggest opportunity came about they totally screwed us over. We should never stop talking about this. And we should never get over it.
Take the L, bro. We're done here. says
March 29, 2019 at 10:41 amThe hyperbole here is too much. Investment is a risk along the same lines as gambling, and savvy investors know that. If they lost their future, they invested too much without truly considering the risks. The argument of “nobody called ME!” is useless. If we want to use that, then nobody called me either, and I was against Amazon. So, great, we’ve voided one another. Let’s be clear though, the 70% was across NYS. Of course somebody in Buffalo or another area which would feel less of a direct impact would potentially support it. Nothing changes for the worse in their daily life. Let’s also remember that many of the people commenting on these articles in support of Amazon (certainly not all) seem to be developers or realtors and had a personal financial interest in Amazon coming. Their pocketbooks mean far less to me than maintaining some of the neighborhood feel that LIC has. If any of us wanted to live in an area that felt more like Manhattan, we’d move to Manhattan. LIC’s vibe is what drew me here 10 years ago, and keeps me here still. I hope that LIC will have plenty of future development opportunities that will be well balanced with the type of community so many of us in LIC love.
Hunters Point Resident says
March 29, 2019 at 11:31 amAn investment is both financial and non-financial. Your response assumes I’m talking in dollars only. My investment has already done well and, while it’d be nice for it to do better, my comments were geared toward non-personal financial reasons.
Tax dollars from any large corporation could have been spent on serious infrastructure upgrades and/or other important community needs for the local neighborhoods for the next 10+ years. The authors of this site constantly talk about many of the upgrades/improvements needed for the neighborhood.
My problem with how this came about was there was a clear line taken by local politicians. They cherry-picked one side of people opposed to the deal and brought them to rallies in support of their positions. Meanwhile, plenty of Amazon supporters feel their voice was lost.
There’s always a winner and a loser. But when you lose, it’d be nice to know why you lost. In this loss, the Amazon supporters both in NYS and in NYC are trying to understand why we lost and identify who the winners are. At least who know the winners are those who like the LIC vibe. Those who lost are likely spread across the entire state.
I get your opinion but it should have been a discussion led by politicians with their local constituents. Not a discussion to those anti-Amazon constituents who left those in favor in the dark.
HB says
March 29, 2019 at 1:10 pmI guess you don’t understand that it was actually Amazon, our governor, and our mayor who didn’t want to hear from the community at all. No local politician blocked the deal. Amazon left on their own.
Hunters Point Resident says
March 29, 2019 at 1:43 pmWhat makes you think Amazon didn’t want to hear from the community? The politicians representing the anti-Amazon community went on a negative press tour all over Fox 5, CNBC, CBS, etc. saying they didn’t want Amazon coming to the neighborhood because they’re anti-union (their choice as a company), they provide facial recognition software for ICE (a customer of theirs), they disagreed with the degree of tax incentives they received (a normal course of business in any city) and they disagreed with the process of not being included in the original deal. Gianaris said the deal in its current form needed to be completely scrapped and restarted. He had the power to cancel the entire deal. Amazon walked away because they were getting hammered by Van Bramer, Gianaris, and AOC.
The mayor and governor both thought it would be great for the local economy and for the state. They worked out a deal with a company. The company didn’t like being bullied. They left. With that level of bad communication, how can you blame them? Go back and watch the interviews and read the tweets. They negotiated too aggressively and scared away a potential partner.
HB says
April 1, 2019 at 11:35 amOh sure one of the biggest companies in the world was bullied and unable to negotiate anything.
Hunters Point Resident says
April 1, 2019 at 12:52 pmI respect your opinion only because your icon says “Boom Shaka Laka”. In fact, I may now change my opinion.