Horses being walked in the paddock of Aqueduct Racetrack, which will hold its final race in June.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Development in New York City is about as competitive as it gets, so it’s appropriate that the next big development opportunity in the Big Apple should be a racetrack.
Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens is closing after over 130 years of continuous horse racing operation. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) is consolidating its downstate racing at a rebuilt Belmont Park in September and will be handing over the keys to the 100-acre Aqueduct site to New York state this fall.
What the state will do with Aqueduct is anyone’s guess at this point. On Tuesday, the state-run Empire State Development announced two meetings scheduled for next week, including an in-person workshop in Queens, to solicit public ideas.
But the favorite to win this development derby ought to be affordable housing — something New York City desperately needs, but is in rare supply.
At 100 acres, Aqueduct represents a golden opportunity for the state and city to put a serious dent in the affordable housing crisis. The site is bigger than Hudson Yards (28 acres), Willets Point (23 acres) and Hunters Point South (30 acres) combined — three new, largely residential communities that have been developed or are still being built over the last 20 years.
Aqueduct will be the next New York City community built from the ground up — but to truly succeed, it must be cultivated in a way very different from the development the city has seen in recent decades.
The land should include a fair mix of not just soaring apartment buildings but also townhouses and rowhouses. There is more than enough land to do both. The smaller houses should fit in with the character of the neighboring communities of Ozone Park and South Ozone Park, which are dominated by one- to three-family homes.
There should be opportunities for families from across the city not only to rent affordable apartments but also to buy affordable homes. The American dream of home ownership is slipping away for too many people because of the soaring costs of housing; the median home price today exceeds $800,000 for a one-family home.
The city and state, in cooperation with developers, could offer a lottery for eligible middle-income families and first-time homebuyers to “get in on the ground floor” and purchase their own homes at Aqueduct at a fraction of the cost.
And the new neighborhood should also include a shopping and business hub that is not dominated by chain stores but rather mom-and-pop businesses owned and operated by people in the community.
Investing in affordable housing and small business at a redeveloped Aqueduct Racetrack is the smartest bet the state and city could make in its future. It will help keep thousands of families in the city they love and prevent them from being priced out of it for good.