Will Sunnyside Yard Ever Get Built?
What has happened on the potential Sunnyside Yard project since Mayor Zohran Mamdani revived talk of it in February?
“Nothing,” says Carlo Scissura, president and CEO of the New York Building Congress. “There’s no vision, there’s no grant application. There’s nothing.”
Mamdani pitched President Donald Trump earlier this year on providing $21 billion in federal grant money to build a platform over the Queens railyard. The deal could pave the way for 12,000 housing units, including 6,000 Mitchell-Lama-style homes, Mamdani said.
But since then, silence.
To be sure, the project would be a massive undertaking, ten times the size of Hudson Yards, also built on an MTA railyard.
But it’s an idea that has been kicked around for years. Scissura was part of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s task force on the Queens project. They released a master plan in 2020. But then the pandemic happened and de Blasio left office.
“We put out this incredible report that laid out a vision plan of what it could be,” Scissura said. “It kind of got put aside and that was basically it.”
Other ambitious, splashy projects, like the renovations of JFK Airport and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, have actual plans in place for execution, he added.
What would it take to get Sunnyside Yard built now? First, a lot of talking and planning. The mayor, deputy mayors, head of city planning and president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation would need to sit down and outline their vision in one page, Scissura said.
“They have to start with getting people together, bring us back to the table and really create a visionary strategy as to what can happen,” he added.
Then, they would need to hire a team at EDC solely to focus on Sunnyside Yard. That process will take potentially two years, he said. And then someone needs to pay for the massive deck over the rail yard.
“I plan to live to be 100,” said Scissura, who is 55. “I certainly will not live to see a fully built out Sunnyside Yards.”
What we’re thinking about: Little covered last week was a package of bills the City Council passed aimed at ridding New York’s streets of dog poop. After this year’s snowstorms, 311 saw dog poop complaints up 35.8 percent from the same period last year.
The bills would require the Department of Sanitation to install poop bag dispensers next to public litter baskets, launch a public education campaign about the “dangers” of dog poop and start a dog poop composting pilot.
What is going on with dog poop? How does this affect retailers or other commercial properties? I’m at lilah.burke@therealdeal.com if you’d like to chat.
A thing we’ve learned: Vivmark Residential, the name of the new company formed out of the AvalonBay/Equity Residential merger, has Latin roots, and the name carries two aspirational ideas. The first is viv, from the Latin vivere, meaning to live fully. It is the root of vivid and vitality, words that evoke life at its most complete and most genuinely alive. The second is mark, a symbol that reflects quality, distinction, and lasting impact.
— Holden Walter-Warner
Elsewhere…
— President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has decreased foot traffic in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Documented reports. Seventy percent of local business owners who responded to a survey by the Flatbush-Nostrand Junction Business Improvement District reported a decrease in foot traffic within the last year, and 50 percent said customers had explicitly raised concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
— Mayor Mamdani’s Commission on Government Efficiency recommends that the City Council cut down on reporting requirements for city agencies, The City Reporter writes. The commission’s report, released late July, found these requirements slow down city government, with 125,000 staff hours spent annually on the reports.
— Fresh Kills has a new sanitiation complex. New York City unveiled a $230 million sanitation facility on Staten Island Tuesday, Gothamist reports. It replaces a 68-year-old garbage truck garage on the other side of the island that will soon be home to 232 new apartments and a grocery store.
— Spencer Davis
Closing time
Residential: The most expensive residential sale recorded Tuesday was $17.5 million for a 4,689-square-foot condominium at 65 West 13th Street in Greenwich Village. Joshua Wesoky and Jonathan Banks with Compass had the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial transaction was $14 million for a 7,692-square-foot development site at 317 Broadway in Tribeca. United American Land sold the property to 2 THOMAS LLC. A DOB permit for the site (job #M01400243) was filed by Hamish Whitefield on behalf of Shabse Fuchs.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $5.75 million for a 2,419-square-foot condominium at 515 West 29th Street in Chelsea. Chris Fry and Kevin Sloane with Howard Hanna have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 62,271-square-foot, 29-unit project at 111 East 12th Street in the East Village. Benita Welch with GKV Architects filed the permit on behalf of developer AG Paratus.
— Matthew Elo
