Last week’s Gracie Mansion meeting between President Donald Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani featured discussion of the long-gestating Sunnyside Yards. Does that bring the megaproject any closer to actualization?
On this week’s episode of The Real Deal’s “Deconstruct” podcast, hosts Lilah Burke and Jake Indursky (filling in for Hannah Kramer) talk to New York Building Congress president and CEO Carlo Scissura about the Queens megadevelopment, a project that’s been kicked around for decades, he said.
Scissura said the first step for Sunnyside Yards is for the people who have a say in the site’s future to come together, including Mamdani and Trump, both of whom seem to be on board. Other relevant parties include Amtrak, the MTA and the state.
“I think construction is easy,” Scissura said, contrasting that with the difficulty of getting a consensus from those who will dictate the future of Sunnyside Yards.
“I would love the president, the mayor, the governor” and more to announce state legislation to create the Sunnyside Yards Development Corporation, Scissura said about next steps. Funding also remains an open question.
Taking a page from other sprawling development projects, Scissura suggested getting the community on board as quickly as possible is a necessity. Building a platform is also a must, but funding has proven elusive, similar to the multi-decade delay to build atop the Atlantic Terminal rail yards in Brooklyn that recently saw renewed plans from Empire State Development with developers Cirrus and LCOR
So will any of us live to see a completed Sunnyside Yards?
“I would imagine you will live in an apartment in Sunnyside Yards,” Scissura told Burke, though he admitted that it might end up being a senior living unit. In other words, there’s a long way to go on this one.
This episode of “Deconstruct” also sees Indursky talk about the so-called “Commie Corridor,” the debut of Marty Burger’s next venture and an update on disgraced attorney Mitch Kossoff.
Be sure to check out “Deconstruct” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts.
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