Homeport plan needs overhaul

 It was envisioned as the key to unlocking the dormant potential of Staten Island’s urban waterfront, where residents, politicians, merchants and developers have long imagined a renaissance that would attract jobs, homes along New York Harbor, chic commerce and the morale that such gentrification brings to a depressed area. But the dream is not materializing for the planned overhaul of the former Stapleton home port.

<!– if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) { document.write(”); } –>Proponents and critics of the planned mixed-use development have both acknowledged a disappointing return after more than four months of seeking builders.

Four local politicians and two sources close to City Hall say the Requests for Proposal (RFPs) for the sports arena and hotel proposals have attracted little attention and the entire plan may have to be redrafted.

The two City Hall sources are quick to point out that the returns on the project’s pitch to build 350 housing units have been hopeful.

“There are strong responses on the mixed-use, residential front,” said one source, who requested anonymity since the city typically does not disclose results of RFPs amid receiving them.

The “bad news,” the source added, is developers “didn’t love the hotel and arena,” and he went on to say “there will likely be changes” to the plan. He declined to offer specifics.

The redevelopment of the former Navy home port is dictated by a blueprint that includes 350 housing units, restaurant and event space, a sports complex, stores and other commercial uses, all “devised to activate a currently underutilized waterfront site and help contribute to the reinvestment of the Stapleton community,” according to the Web site for the city’s Economic Development. Corp. (EDC).

ISLAND JEWEL

The city has pledged $66 million for the project, which includes a 1.25-mile esplanade, open space and road construction. Simply put, the homeport revitalization is the Island jewel in the city’s redevelopment crown.

Critics of the plan blame the unsatisfactory return rate on what they deem an insufficient number of housing units, while proponents attribute it to a trickle-down effect from the national housing market slump.

“I’ve spoken to EDC several times about when we can anticipate some response on it, and they said privately that the response to the plan, in its current form, to describe it as underwhelming would be an understatement,” said state Sen. Diane Savino, a North Shore Democrat who has steadily criticized the mechanics of the proposal.

<!– if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) { document.write(”); } –>The problem, she argued, is an insufficient number of housing units, which is pegged in the design at 350.

“If you’re a developer and you’re looking at this, there’s not a lot to draw people down there,” she said. “And if you’re a first-time home buyer.. you ain’t coming to Stapleton… The only way you’re going to turn around a community like Stapleton is density.”

Th EDC, as is its policy, declined to discuss the project

The combination of waterfront property and a free public commute into Manhattan should make developers salivate over the area, she argued, and compared this project to successful renovations in Jersey City and the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

Ms. Savino has demanded a seat on the Home Port Task Force, which meets on Thursday.

After rejecting a plan to build a movie studio at the home port in 2002, a move that sparked anger among community leaders who supported the studio, the Bloomberg administration created the Home Port Task Force, which came up with a plan for housing, a sports center, stores and a public esplanade at the location.

DIFFERENT TAKE

City Councilman Michael McMahon, also a North Shore Democrat and a member of the Home Port Task Force, disputed her premise.

The hang-up, he argued, lies in the limping real estate market.

“We cannot have blinders to the fact that the timing of the release of RFPs was terrible given the slide in the real estate market and in particular the shrinking of the availability of credit for projects like this,” he said.

<!– if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) { document.write(”); } –>Adding housing units in a borough that fought rampant development for decades is not in McMahon’s vocabulary.

“I don’t think that we should have a knee-jerk reaction and rush to overdevelop the site,” he said. “There’s no question that we can make changes, but… I’m not willing to have this open to some massive housing development that cannot be supported by the rest of Staten Island.”

Allen Cappelli, an attorney for the Island-based Building Industry Association of New York, and Kamillah Hanks, executive director of the Downtown Staten Island Council, a group of business owners on the North Shore, both echoed Ms. Savino’s disapproval of the number of housing units in the plan.

“It’s a major missed opportunity,” Ms. Hanks said of the Island’s largely vacant waterfront property. “Three-hundred-fifty units? That’s really not enough. We’re trying to reach critical mass. We’re trying to get people in this downtown area. There needs to be much more to offer.”

Cappelli said the size of the project’s housing stock is an economic deterrent for potential builders.

“If you don’t build the residential component that’s going to support the commercial pieces of it and give people a sense of solidness of the community as a destination,” he said, “it’s going to give people pause before they invest money in it.”

By Sally Goldenberg

Staten Island Advance