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CBS News
02-08-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Housing development plans for former Flushing Airport site in Queens face community opposition
A large-scale housing development is slated for 80 acres in College Point, Queens. The Adams administration announced the plans Monday. The project aims to combat the housing shortage with 3,000 new units at the former site of Flushing Airport, which was reclaimed by wetlands after its closure in 1984. "For 40 years, this land has just been sitting around," Mayor Eric Adams said. Led by developers Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR Incorporated, the development promises 1,300 union construction jobs. The EDC projects $3.2 billion in economic activity generated over the next 30 years. The city calls it a housing victory, but neighbors say they think it's a disaster waiting to happen. "College Point does not have the infrastructure for this. We're not prepared for this. Our roads aren't prepared for this. Our schools aren't prepared for this," civic association president Jennifer Shannon said. "I'm all for seeing some new development," real estate broker Wayne Rose said. "I think it has to be done in a more responsible way. The amount of traffic you're going to be putting onto 20th Avenue is going to make it impossible for us to get in and out." Dr. James Cervino with the Coastal Preservation Network says an overburdened sewer system is already spilling waste into nearby Flushing Bay. But worse, he says, is the prospect of losing the wetlands and a freshwater aquifer to a development. "This also acts as a vacuum cleaner for the residents of Whitestone, College Point, and Flushing. It's a carbon, pollution, dust, and water vacuum cleaner," he said. "What you're going to have is a coast with more rotten-egg smell." And with new development, he says, flooding will get worse. "It's like removing Central Park from New York City," he said. A spokesperson for Cirrus and LCOR told CBS News New York in part: "The proposed development has been carefully planned to prioritize the preservation and enhancement of the site's wetlands through responsible and environmentally sensitive site design. With this in mind, the development will run parallel to 20th Avenue, ensuring that the vast majority of the land will remain undisturbed and preserved as wetland habitat." Cervino is concerned about toxins and pathogens at the site. "You're putting people at risk by moving them into a place where mosquitos breed," he said. The developers vow to remediate the property under the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (NYS DEC) residential safety guidelines. The EDC told CBS News New York the development will undergo a robust review with environmental, parking, and traffic analysis made publicly available. If approved, the EDC says construction could begin as soon as 2028. For James Cervino, compromising the wetlands comes at too high a cost. "We don't pay for that. We're getting a health prescription for free," he said. You can email Elle with Queens story ideas by CLICKING HERE.
Time Out
29-07-2025
- Business
- Time Out
A long-abandoned Queens airport is being transformed with 3,000 new homes
After four decades of weeds, wetlands and what-ifs, the long-dormant Flushing Airport site in College Point is finally getting its next chapter—and it's looking residential. Mayor Eric Adams announced this week that the city will transform the former municipal airfield into a mixed-use community with 3,000 new homes, roughly 60 acres of public green space and a dash of economic revitalization. The $3.2 billion development will be led by Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR Incorporated and is slated to begin construction in 2028, pending environmental and land use review. Flushing Airport, New York City's first airfield, closed in 1984 and has been slowly reclaimed by nature ever since. But under Adams' 'City of Yes' housing initiative, the city is reclaiming the land right back, with a plan that includes affordable, market-rate and 'deeply affordable' housing, all built with union labor and funded in part by union pension dollars. 'For too many decades, this valuable land has sat vacant,' Adams said. 'Now we are excited to create around 3,000 new homes at the site of the former Flushing Airport.' The city's Economic Development Corporation says the redevelopment will generate over 1,300 construction jobs and 530 permanent positions, while preserving the site's natural wetlands. Think workforce housing meets eco-conscious design: mass timber construction, native landscaping and walking paths woven into the existing marshland. While the project still faces a lengthy planning runway, Adams is betting big on its long-term impact—especially for middle-income New Yorkers, first responders and union families increasingly priced out of the boroughs they serve. To prepare for the added traffic, a new .7-mile stretch of 132nd Street has already been completed, laying the infrastructure groundwork for what officials hope will be a neighborhood renaissance. 'This is a win for New York's working families,' said Paul Capurso of the NYC Carpenters Union. 'It will deliver the kind of affordable, quality housing our city desperately needs.' After 40 years stuck in neutral, the Flushing Airport site is finally cleared for takeoff. And with a blueprint that blends housing, nature and equity, it just might help Queens land a brighter future.
