Metropolitan Park would be built on 50 acres of parking lot west of Citi Field where Shea Stadium was located.
QNS file photo
Before presenting the details of the $8 billion Metropolitan Park proposal at a town hall meeting at the New York Hall of Science Thursday night, a representative of New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International held a briefing at Terrace on the Park, where they outlined the $1 billion in specific community benefits that are part of the plan to transform 50 acres of parking lot just west of Citi Field into a year-round entertainment complex.
The project would build a casino and entertainment complex that would include 25 acres of new public park space, the creation of a Taste of Queens Food Hall, a concert venue, the modernization of the Mets-Willets Point 7 train station and the creation of a Community Impact Trust to serve community needs, contingent on the group receiving one of the three downstate gaming licenses from New York State in the next year or so. The plan is also subject to getting the approval of legislators in Albany, since it involves the development of public land.
“We have learned through three years of conversations with the people who live and work in Queens that serving the interests of the communities surrounding Citi Field must be at the center of this project,” Cohen said in a statement following the briefing. “Committing over $1 billion in benefits and transit improvement is critical to achieving a shared vision for the area we can all be proud of.”
Cohen did not take part in the briefing, which was held prior to state Sen. Jessica Ramos’ public meeting a few blocks away where the public discussed the proposed casino development and an alternative plan. Jim Allen, the chairman of Hard Rock International, was not at the briefing either, but he met with hundreds of Queens business leaders last month.
“Hard Rock at Metropolitan Park is a long-term investment into the people and…
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