New York City Economic Development Corporation is scheduled to break ground this summer for the redevelopment of the Willets Point Iron Triangle and Shea Stadium. The project, estimated at $909 millions, will be completed in 2009.
The redevelopment area, which encompasses 47 square acres, will have a stadium, a convention center and ample parking space. The project will also link the area to Flushing and Corona to shape a west Queens economic development plan.
But owners and workers of the auto shops now located at the Triangle are worried that they will lose their jobs. They ask the city to find a site to relocate them.
Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens), whose district encompasses Corona, toured the Willits Point yesterday and listened to presentations made by local merchants.
According to Monserrate, there are eight different redevelopment plans on the table. The project will have great impact on businesses in Flushing and Corona. But he also emphasized the need to take care of the existing business in Willits Points, especially the auto shops that comprise 85 percent of the business there. Monserrate said that many businesses have been operating for a very long time and generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue every year. The area also supports a large number of workers. Their relocation should be a top priority.
Monserrate stressed the responsibility on the part of the city to take care of the auto shop business. He said that many workers in the area are minority and new immigrants of Hispanic and African American heritage. They rely on the physically demanding jobs to support their families. Any disruption of the business without relocation plan will be detrimental to the economy and to new immigrants in the community.
According to the Economic Development Plan, all auto shops, established at Willets Point since the 1930s, will be cleared out. The redeveloped of Shea Stadium directly adjacent to Flushing Meadow/Corona Park and the U.S. Open Tennis Center and connects to College Point Boulevard across the Van Wyck Expressway. When the project is completed, west Queens will have a broad commercial, sports and entertainment and convention hub. Downtown Flushing will also benefit from the projected new revenue.
