Roughly 20 million square feet of new office space is being planned near the proposed Brooklyn-Queens Connector’s 11-mile route, according to a report released Thursday by the troubled tram’s booster group. That increase, the organization argued, strengthens the case for fully funding the waterfront streetcar, which would run between Astoria and Gowanus.
The biggest concentration of planned commercial space is in Long Island City, where Amazon plans to build at least 4 million square feet for its new headquarters. In addition to other projects in the neighborhood, smaller clusters are planned in Williamsburg, Downtown Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is expected to be home to 20,000 jobs by 2020 and is poorly served by transit. All told, the group expects the supply of office space along the corridor to grow to 58 million square feet in just over a decade. That would represent 10% of the city’s current stock.
“Amazon’s decision to open a Long Island City campus underscores just how essential a role the BQX will play in delivering workers—many living in areas sorely underserved by quality mass transit—to jobs and workforce development opportunities along the corridor, which will be home to more commercial space than the downtowns of Los Angeles, Philadelphia or Boston by 2029,” a spokesman said.
The report broke out a list of 43 developments planned for the short-term or long-term or are speculative and might not come to fruition. The largest of the bunch is Amazon’s proposed headquarters, which the group assumed would grow to the maximum size of nearly 8 million square feet, followed by a large Tishman Speyer office project and a new development from Silvercup Studios, both in Long Island City.
Tom Wright, head of planning nonprofit Regional Plan Association and a board member of the friends group, said that many observers have criticized the BQX as unnecessary while also bemoaning the lack of transit infrastructure in Long Island City.
“Amazon makes it more important to have this service, especially if you are trying to give people from public housing projects access to those jobs centers,” he said.
In October, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a revised plan for the streetcar that would make its route shorter, its price tag costlier and its service operational four years after it was initially envisioned to open. And instead of paying for itself through increased tax revenue as was initially planned, it would require $1 billion in federal funding.
While New York’s congressional delegation—which includes Sen. Charles Schumer, whose daughter Jessica Schumer is executive director of the friends group—and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have met with President Donald Trump about funding infrastructure projects, a commitment from the White House has been elusive.
The friends group, which includes transit and civic groups and major real estate developers with projects along the route, hopes that Amazon and the additional commercial projects it may spur will push the streetcar project to be funded with federal or local cash.
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