City Looking for Help in Relocating Willets Point Businesses

The Bloomberg administration is searching for a firm to help relocate some 260 businesses currently in Willets Point, the 61-acre industrial site by Shea Stadium slated for a complete redevelopment. The city’s Economic Development Corporation today posted on its Web site a request for proposals, seeking a consultant to provide assistance in relocating the businesses, most of which are in the auto-repair/junkyard industry.

The consultant “is being engaged to help develop a relocation assistance strategy, and, working closely with and on behalf of NYCEDC, to manage all day-to-day aspects of the assistance program,” according to a description on EDC’s Web site.

The businesses, joined by many local legislators, unions and housing groups, have pushed back against the city’s plan for the site, which imagines a thriving district of mostly residential and retail space.