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QUEENS WEEKLY, MAY 31, 2020
Your LIC stakeholders look to develop up to 15 buildings in Anable Basin
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
The Your LIC stakeholders
— TF Cornerstone,
Plaxall, Simon Baron Development,
and MAG Partners
— revealed they are
looking to develop 10 to 12
million square feet of the
28-acre land around Anable
Basin with up to 15 buildings
that range from 400 to
700 feet in height, or 37 to 64
stories.
The Your LIC team,
which City Council called
to form in order to create
a comprehensive plan with
input from the community,
updated Community Board
2’s Land Use Committee on
their plans for the site on
Wednesday, May 20.
The team said 50 percent
of the 10 to 12 million
square feet of development
will mainly be commercial,
built over a 10 to 15
year period. The other 50
percent of the plan is still
being studied, as they look
for ways to balance nonresidential
and residential
uses, a Your LIC spokesperson
told QNS.
In terms of building
height, the Your LIC developers
compare the proposed
building heights to that of
Hunters Point South (TF
Cornerstone owns one of
the tallest buildings there
which will reach 56 stories
when finished) and One
Court Square (50 stories).
“In many ways this does
feel contextual,” TF Cornerstone
Senior Associate
Eleanora Bershadskaya
said.
They plan to dedicate
seven acres to public
open space, as originally
planned, and are working
with the landscape architects
at SCAPE to connect
Hunters Point South and
plan a future connection to
Queensbridge to the north.
Some elements of the
open space may include:
“The Square,” a new halfacre
public place that would
serve as a gateway to the
waterfront on the upland
public site that is currently
occupied by Department of
Transportation industrial
uses; “The Green,” a sports
lawn in the northern portion
of the waterfront; “Vernon
Plaza,” a community
park along Vernon Boulevard
that would act as an
overflow space for excess
stormwater and prevent
upland flooding; and “The
Terrace,” an elevated public
terrace on the second
public site designated for
development with views of
the waterfront and skyline.
Community Board 2
members asked whether
they had a ratio of population
to open space, and Bershadskaya
said they don’t
because they haven’t commenced
their environmental
impact analysis.
Your LIC is planning
half a million square feet
of arts and cultural space
as well as workforce centers
to enhance the district.
They will also provide sites
for up to three new public
schools.
The developers believe
workforce centers in particular
are crucial, and
that because 50 percent of
the plans call for commercial
usage, it can be a place
for job and commercial
growth.
They say over 40 acres of
the district and upland community
could be protected
from storm surge with new
separate storm sewers and
green infrastructure that
could remove up to 17 million
gallons of combined
sewer overflow in the
neighborhood annually.
While presenting the
plan as it stands, the Your
LIC team members said
they’ve taken into account
the feedback they’ve received
from community
members at their workshops.
They’ve conducted three
in-person public workshops
since November. A fourth
workshop was made virtual
and a fifth was postponed
due to COVID-19.
On May 7, the developers
hosted a virtual Workforce
Advisory Committee meeting
that included about 30
expert participants, such
as educators, non-profits,
workforce provides and
employers in the area, that
gave them feedback on how
the project could provide
a pathway for job and career
opportunities for local
residents.
But the Your LIC development
has sparked a
debate over private use in
public land. A group of local
leaders and advocates
created Our LIC to develop
a community land trust
and turn the Department
of Education building into
a community hub.
One of the members of
Community Board 2 asked
about this debate, to which
Bershadskaya responded
that they have heard them
and that’s why the program
now calls for 50 percent
commercial use and no
market-rate housing.
“We want to be able to
deliver benefits that respond
to public sector objectives
and respond to
community objectives on
those public sites. We also
want to be able to deliver
a district wide plan that
Photo courtesy of Your LIC
addresses a lot of the concerns
that the public has
had. And frankly, the way
to do that is development,”
Bershadskaya said.
Ashley Cotton, a representative
of MAG Partners,
also pointed out that the
DOE building doesn’t fall
under the developers.
When asked by Community
Board 2 members
whether they’ve made
adjustments to the plans
due to the pandemic, the
spokespeople didn’t offer a
specific answer.
Your LIC told QNS that,
from a design perspective,
they are laser-focused on
optimizing for post COVID-
19 planning concepts
that are beginning to be
discussed.
For their next steps,
they plan to host a final
workshop over the summer,
socialize further details
about the proposal publicly
with the community, begin
the environmental scoping
process by the end of the
year and submit a formal
ULURP in 2021.