12 JANUARY 30, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Hallets Point megaproject takes a big hit
The Halletts Point megaproject on
Astoria’s waterfront will remain
in limbo aft er talks broke down
between the de Blasio administration
and the Durst Organization.
The $1.5 billion project was going to
build more than 2,000 units in a sevenbuilding
complex with a waterfront
esplanade, public spaces, retail, sewers
and streets, but the two parties
could not come to an agreement over
$21.6 million in city funding that was
promised to the developer in 2015.
“We will not cut special deals that
result in more profi t for developers
and less aff ordable housing for New
Yorkers,” City Hall spokeswoman Jane
Meyer said.
So, for the foreseeable future, the
only building that has been completed
on the site is 10 Halletts Point with its
405 units, 81 of them aff ordable.
“For a project as large and complex
as Halletts Point there needs to be a
partnership between the city and the
developer and for whatever reason we
haven’t been able to forge that partnership
and without that the project
is simply not viable,” Durst Organization
spokesman Jordan Barowitz
EDITORIAL
The developer of the Halletts Point megaproject with wait until a new mayor is elected before they resume
building after fi nancial negotiations broke down. Courtesy Studio V Architecture
said. “Therefore we are suspending
the project until the next administration
in the hope they will share the
enthusiasm that the local community
and we have for the development.”
That is bad news for the Astoria
Houses NYCHA complex right next
door on Halletts Peninsula where
47 percent of the residents are unemployed
or underemployed. The
project was expected to revitalize and
reconnect the community to the rest
of the neighborhood while providing
thousands of job opportunities in construction,
retail and security. Astoria
Houses residents were to have rental
preference over 50 percent of the 400
aff ordable units.
Claudia Coger, the president of
the Astoria Houses Tenants Association,
is demanding answers from the
Durst Organization and the de Blasio
administration.
“We are setting up a meeting with
the Durst people so they can tell us
what their intentions are,” Coger said.
“I want to know — we want to know
— where Durst stands and then we’ll
confront the city.”
Coger, who has lived in the Astoria
Houses since she moved to New York
City in the 1950s, has been bitterly
disappointed by the de Blasio administration
in recent years. When Coger
advocated for NYC Ferry to add a connection
from Astoria to Manhattan’s
Upper East Side, to help ease the long
commutes of many of her neighbors
who work as attendants and nurses
at medical facilities that are clustered
there, she was told there’s a moratorium
on new ferry routes until 2021.
Last June, the de Blasio administration
backed off an ill-conceived
plan to close the senior center at the
Astoria Houses and bus residents to
the Queensbridge Houses despite
the facts that a $500,000 renovation
had recently been completed at the
facility.
“They owe us an explanation and
that’s what we’re going for right now,”
Coger said.
The residents of Astoria Houses deserve
answers to why they have been
treated as an aft erthought during this
impasse.
THE HOT TOPIC
STORY:
Queens Public Library mourns the
loss of Whitestone children’s librarian
Susan Scatena
SUMMARY:
Beloved Whitestone children’s librarian
Susan Scatena, also known as “Miss
Susan,” died on Jan. 10, at age 61.
REACH:
4,469 (as of 1/27/20)
ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
Editor-in-Chief
ZACHARY GEWELB
Classifi ed Manager
DEBORAH CUSICK
Assistant Classifi ed Manager
MARLENE RUIZ
Reporters
ANGELICA ACEVEDO
EMILY DAVENPORT
CARLOTTA MOHAMED
MAX PARROTT
BILL PARRY
© 2019 SCHNEPS NY MEDIA, LLC.
General Publication Offi ce: 38-15 Bell Blvd.,
Bayside, NY 11361
TELEPHONE: 1-718-260-4535
FAX: 1-718-224-5441
E-MAIL: editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com
WEB SITE: www.qns.com
ON TWITTER @ridgewoodtimes
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
FOR 110 YEARS
COMPOSITION RESPONSIBILITY: Accuracy in receiving
ads over the telephone cannot be guaranteed. This
newspaper is responsible for only one incorrect insertion
and only for that portion of the ad in which the error
appears. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to make
sure copy does not contravene the Consumer Protection
Law or any other requirement. TIMES NEWSWEEKLY Is
Listed With The Standard Rate & Data And Is A Member
Of The New York Press Association
/WWW.QNS.COM
/www.qns.com
link
/www.qns.com
link
