Architects Look At The Future Of Hunters Point

At the AIA Queens Chapter’s forum on Hunters Point South, among the city officials in attendance were (seated from left to right) Joshua Wallack, the senior policy advisor to Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber; Gabriella Amabile, director of large-scale development for the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development; Penny Lee, the Department of City Planning’s senior planner for Long Island City; and Anne Gatling Haynes, design director at the city Office of Capital Budget Development. (photo: Sam Goldman) After a long battle last year to determine the exact scope and size of the forthcoming Hunters Point South development, architects and others assembled in Long Island City on Oct. 20 to begin answering a seemingly simpler question: What will it look like?

The Queens chapter of the American Institute of Architects sponsored a forum in the offices of NY Designs, a design incubator, where city officials unveiled the project and offered brand-new details on the size of the 11-acre waterfront park.

Fernando Villa, of the AIA’s Housing Committee, pounded home the importance of the project by noting that Queens is home to 25 percent of city households earning under $50,000 a year, but only four percent of the housing stock in the borough is affordable to those households.

“The need for affordable and middle income housing in Queens is beyond doubt,” he said. “Good design can make a world of difference for people who will live in [Hunters Point South] and for the neighborhoods surrounding it.”

The project

Hunters Point South has been “long recognized as a great opportunity,” Joshua Wallack, the senior policy advisor to Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, told the crowd.

The city had been looking to utilize the site, located on the southwest side of Hunters Point, overlooking the East River and Newtown Creek, since the 1980s. Previous ideas for the area have included an office space development in the late 1980s and an Olympic Village for the city’s 2012 bid.

Currently, the area is “largely vacant,” Wallack claimed, save for the shuttered Tennisport facility and Water Taxi Beach. “It does not have much infrastructure at all.”

The Bloomberg adminstration’s current plan, featuring 5,000 housing units—3,000 set aside for middle-income residents of various income levels—was proposed in 2003.

In addition to the apartments, the plan includes 100,000 square feet of retail, a 1,100-seat elementary/inter- mediate school (scheduled to open in September 2013, according to the Bureau of Housing Preservation and Development’s Gabriella Amabile) and the aforementioned park.

Wallack also asserted that the project will create 4,600 jobs and will spur over $2 billion in private investment.

The Department of City Planning’s Penny Lee, who has been the agency’s liaison to Community Board 2, went over the “design principles” that are guiding Hunters Point South.

Lee noted that as part of the project, the street grid will be extended west to the waterfront. The streets will be set up to protect the area’s view of the Manhattan skyline; Lee noted that 51st Avenue is “almost dead-on with the Empire State Building.”

The buildings at the site will be of “varied massing,” to blend in with existing structures in Hunters Point and Long Island City. Structure will vary in height—from 150 to 400 feet—and have frequent entrances.

The development will also be pedestrian- and bike-friendly, with street trees, ample sidewalks, and “on- and off-street bike lanes.” In addition, the city has begun talks with the MTA about expanding the Q103 bus line to the project.

A second, related site to the east (commonly called Site B), which was formerly owned by Anheuser-Busch, will be privately developed, but incentives are being offered to develop middle-income housing units similar to those at the main site.

The park Anne Gatling Haynes of the city’s Office of Capital Project Develop- ment unveiled the plans for the proposed waterfront green space.

The park, which will be adjacent to Gantry Plaza State Park, will fall under the city’s jurisdiction.

Its north end will contain a dog run, basketball courts and a “cultural and interpretive garden” for children.

At the intersection of Borden Avenue and Center Boulevard, a multipurpose artificial turf field “slighty smaller” than a regulation soccer pitch will be surrounded by trees, comfort stations and equipment sheds that will also serve as shaded areas. Haynes noted that the field will be almost directly across from the site of the proposed school.

In the southern end of the park, residents will have a chance to get closer to the water’s edge, with a gravel beach under consideration. A “linear park” will seamlessly integrate into a planned GreenStreet and include a tot lot and tree plantings.

The park ends at “the point of Hunters Point,” where the city will facilitate kayak launches from Newtown Creek.

A two-lane bikeway will span the length of the park, with easy access to Water Taxi Beach.

Haynes would later emphasize that many aspects of the park—such as the use of artifical turf, lighting schemes and the exact locations of the dog run and comfort stations— are not yet finalized.

Where we are

Construction is set to begin this month on the infrastructural needs of Hunters Point South, including the demolition of structures as well as electrical and sewer system improvements, stated Wallack. The work will begin on the site’s northern end and continue southward.

The city will come to Board 2 (whose next general meeting is Nov. 5) to elicit input from its membership and the general public.

“We’ll be increasingly focused on engaging with the community on the design process,” Wallack said.

The city is still debating various financing ideas, he would add, including the creation of a not-forprofit corporation (similar to Queens West Development Corporation). A decision will be made next year.

In a Q&A session held after the presentation, several attendees focused on parking. Lee stated that several of the larger buildings will have underground parking facilities, although some garages will not be feasible due to the area’s water table.

In addition, the site will be a “flexible curb cut zone,” allowing developers to build parking spots and comply with the provision to provide spaces for 40 percent of the residents of Hunters Point South.

Parking will not be increased at Water Taxi Beach, as the city expects residents to walk to the ferry.