In 2012, then Mayor Bloomberg announced that New York City had reached a deal with Sterling Equities, a real estate company owned by Fred Wilpon and Saul B. Katz, to transform Willets Point into modern low to mid income housing mecca complete with a shopping mall.
However, about a year into the project and after NYC poured $400 million dollars into the project, community and church groups who had originally supported the project because of the need for housing in the area soured on the whole thing when they learned that the development had now become centered on a exclusive hotel, office space, luxury apartments and a state of the art shopping center.
Additionally, the plan for affordable housing was put off until at least the middle of the next decade. Maybe.
According to a new report in the New York Times, the entire Willets Point Development project was potentially dealt a fatal blow when Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to appeal the developer’s attempt to overturn a lower court ruling which ruled that New York City could not use a parking lot next to the stadium for the planned one-million-square-foot mall.
“The project suffered another setback on Wednesday, as negotiations broke down between the city and the developers that had been selected by the Bloomberg administration to build the project.”
“Ultimately, the disagreement could spell the end of the project as it is currently conceived, despite the city’s having already spent $400 million buying land and making improvements in the Willets Point district for the development.”
In other news, Mets owners Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz have refinanced $700 million worth of debt tied to the team and SNY according to a report by Josh Kosman of the New York Post.
“It is not known if Sterling was able to take any cash out of its investment, but the refinancing came as the Mets increased payroll by acquiring several players to help the team in its playoff run.”
“Sterling had most recently refinanced Mets debt in early 2014, months before the principal on its loans were due. It had refinanced the SNY debt a year earlier.”
Looks like Wednesday wasn’t all bad news for the team’s beloved owners.
