The plan will unroll in three phases.
In the first, businesses in the 23-acre section of Willets Point just across 126th Street from the stadium, and roughly bounded by 127th Street, Roosevelt Avenue to the south and 35th Avenue to the north, face a deadline to vacate this month; they will be replaced by a hotel, a retail area and a park.
The Times reports that the first phase begins “Saturday.” I read this article yesterday but it was slugged “11/24” in the URL…so I believe it means after Thanksgiving and was put on-line before appearing in the Sunday paper. I think.
Meanwhile the Queens Chronicle reports that the city is selling the land for $1.
The Queens delegation of the City Council voted Monday in favor of the sale of 23 acres of land across the street from Citi Field in Willets Point, where a tremendous overhaul of the area has been planned. The only opposing vote in the Borough Board tally came from Community Board 7 Chairman Gene Kelty.
The land will be sold by the city, which has already purchased nearly all the property in the area, to the Queens Development Group for $1, and the demolition and remediation of the site will commence in 2014.