The Redevelopment of Willets Point

The End of Willets Point. (The New York Times, 11/23/2013)

Excerpt:   By next Saturday, there will be little need for his services. That is when the city begins the first phase of a $3 billion plan to overhaul what it calls a blighted area. The city could invoke eminent domain to take control of land where several hundred businesses have eked out a livelihood for years, some for decades.  

The plan will unroll in three phases.

The Architectural League's Urban Omnibus:  Willets Point.  An essay with photographs.

The History and Future of Willets Point, Queens. (Untapped Cities, 7/17/2013)

Willets Point's Sad Past.  Known as the Iron Triangle and given literary fame by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby, who watched the Valley of Ashes burn from his Long Island mansion, Willets Point was originally part of a great swamp that came to be used as a municipal dump in the early 20th century. As neighboring land was transformed first for the 1939 World’s Fair and later into Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Willets Point was gradually converted into the gritty home to auto body and chop shops, junk and salvage yards, construction businesses, warehouses, and towing concerns that it is now.