Citi Field Will Have A New Neighbor

The renovation of Willets Point will look to rejuvenate the area surrounding Citi Field.  Gone are the car lots and chop shops which proved to be eye sores for baseball patrons.  while the renovations are supposed to be all encompassing, the announced plans for the area were limited to a mall.  That has now changed.

Both ESPN and Newsday are reporting that construction will begin this June on a new 25-story hotel and convention center to go in directly across the street from the ball park.  Newsday get a bit more specific in stating that the site will house 292 five-star hotel rooms and 236 apartments above the roughly 106,000-square-foot convention center. The project will also include about 97,000 square feet of retail space, a restaurant and parking.

Its great that other investors are getting in on the action, as it would be horrible to see the project stall at any point.  With that said, this is a loooong project in general.  It was previously reported that retail spaces were originally targeted for completion in 2018, while other residential portions of the project could take as long as a decade.  Either way, its great for the area and the team that patrons will be able to enjoy the area when the come to a ballgame and just the park itself.