Wilpon, City Of N.Y. Sign Deal To Redevelop "Blighted" Citi Field Neighborhood

A new deal between N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration and a group of developers including Mets Owner Fred Wilpon and team President Saul Katz “calls for the remediation and redevelopment of a 20-acre area of the blighted Willets Point neighborhood next to Citi Field,” according to Deepti Hajela of the Bergen RECORD. Developers Related Companies and Sterling Equities under the agreement would “clean up the area and construct retail stores, including a mall in the Queens neighborhood.” Then, "no later than 2025, they would start construction on a mixed-use component that would include housing, and measure anywhere from 1.3 million square feet up to 4.5 million square feet.” The area is currently "populated by auto-repair shops and junkyards and lacking infrastructure as basic as sewers” (Bergen RECORD, 5/18).