Auto Shops Get Offer From City to Relocate

NEW YORK CITY-A group of approximately 90 businesses, many auto-body repair shops and junkyards in the “Iron Triangle” in Queens have received offers from the city to relocate in order to make way for a major redevelopment of Willets Point.

Thwarting efforts thus far to secure lands for the first phase of the more than 60-acre redevelopment project have been several hundred businesses in the Willets Point section near Citi Field. The city offered in an Aug. 9 letter to about 90 tenants a payout equal to a year's rent at their current location if they move their operations elsewhere by November, according to the Wall Street Journal. The first phase of the Willets Point redevelopment calls for retail, housing and a school.

Some tenants wish to relocate in a large group or groups and to recreate elsewhere in the city an industrial area catered to auto repair and other similar-type concerns. City officials noted the $3.5 million offered for rent subsidies in the Aug. 9 letters is in addition to up to $9 million that is still available to assist with relocation.

City Council Member Julissa Ferreras, who represents the Willets Point area, said she is committed to finding a site for tenants to move in large groups. "I have always advocated for the EDC to relocate the Willets Point businesses as a group," she said. "There are ongoing negotiations to make sure that these businesses are given a fair deal by the EDC and any potential developers." See story in the Wall Street Journal.