Could Willets Pt. Convention Center Help Solve Javits Woes?
BY JOHN TOSCANO

The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City in 2007. Copyright 2007 Jeffrey O. Gustafson at en.wikipedia

With the Javits Convention Center expansion in Manhattan and the Willets Point redevelopment plan in Queens both stalled, a prominent member of the private planning community has offered a solution that could get both plans unsnarled.

Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, has proposed building a convention center as part of the Willets Point development which would serve as a complement to or a satellite of the Javits Center.

Yaro, interviewed in Monday's edition of the New York Sun daily newspaper, stated. "If you look at cities around the world there is a trend toward having a satellite convention center."

The story's author Peter Kiefer, said that Yaro "favors building a convention center in Queens that could act as a complement to, rather than a replacement of, the Javits Center."

The Yaro idea was supported by another highly respected member of the city development community, Kathryn Wylde, who stated in the same story: "I think that investment in the boroughs in these key industry sectors is probably the highest rate of return on public investment you are going to get."

Yaro said a convention center in Willets Point "makes sense on a number of levels". He noted the area was close to two airports and has "excellent transit and highway access to midtown and its hotels".

In his discussion and proposal of a convention center as part of the Willets Point development, it appears that Yaro was not aware that ever since the Bloomberg mayoral administration began to consider tearing up the 61-acre site and redeveloping it, plans had included a convention center- also a hotel and upscale housing as well as affordable housing and an extensive retail component.

The development of the Willets Point site is the job of the Economic Development Corporation. It is near the starting stage, but it is still facing resistance from the present occupants of the site as well as various community advocates who want to see more jobs and more affordable housing built into the plan.

Included among the latter are City Councilmembers Hiram Monserrate (D- Corona) and John Liu (D- Flushing) who have both exerted strong pressure on the EDC. The City Council must approve the final plan, so responding to Monserrate and Liu is one of the keys to getting the plan off the ground.

As for the Javits Convention Center, Governor Eliot Spitzer recently pulled the plug on a major expansion of the facility on Manhattan's West Side, citing the high cost.

This didn't sit well with Bloomberg, who had been the strongest supporter of making Javits into a major attraction and tourist draw.

In the past several weeks, the conflict between the governor and mayor has been taken up a notch when Spitzer came up with the idea of selling a piece of the Javits site. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn jumped in on the mayor's side and the controversy has added to the deadlock over the expansion plans.

Possibly, Yaro's proposal might spark some solutions since it calls for a Willets satellite to relieve the Javits Center of some of its workload.

As for its possible impact on the Willets development, a major convention center could create more jobs and answer one community's demands.