Organizers of New York’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics want to build an Olympic Village on the Queens waterfront — giving athletes a breathtaking view and easy access to high-speed ferries to Midtown.
The proposed site, known as Queens West, is at the heart of New York’s Olympic “X” — the plan for all venues to be along two intersecting lines, one running north-south from Staten Island to The Bronx, the other east-west from the Meadowlands to Queens.
Olympic athletes, who would be across the East River from the United Nations building, would travel to many events by ferry, and would be able to get to others using existing train tracks.
For years, Queens West has been a dream of private developers, with long-range plans calling for 19 residential and commercial buildings in the former Hunter’s Point industrial area.
So far, only one building, a rental apartment tower called City Lights, and a waterfront park have been completed, with construction scheduled to begin soon on three more.
The development, which is near existing subway, Long Island Rail Road and ferry connections, would get a big boost if New York wins the right to host the 2012 Olympics.
Daniel Doctoroff, head of NYC 2012, is proposing construction of housing for 15,000 athletes, coaches and officials in the southern section of Queens West. The land, owned by the Port Authority, is now the site of an abandoned Daily News printing plant and other industrial buildings.
“From the Olympic Village using fast ferries going north and south and dedicated trains going east and west, athletes, coaches and officials would never have to get on a New York City road to get to their events,” Doctoroff said.
After the games, he said, the 5,000 housing units would be transformed into private residences that would be sold or rented.
“There will be people ready to move in there when the Olympics are over,” said Ray Gastil, head of the Van Alen Institute, an architecture think tank.
The site is bordered on the south by Newtown Creek — a heavily polluted waterway that’s now being cleaned up. With the East River serving as the village’s western boundary, providing security for an Olympic Village would be simpler than in a land-locked location.
NYC 2012 is spending $5.4 million preparing a 500-plus page proposal for the United States Olympic Committee that’s due on Dec. 15, 2000. Seven other cities are vying for America’s recommendation to the International Olympic Committee, which will announce its final decision in 2005.
The still-evolving New York plan calls for baseball at Yankee Stadium, softball at Shea, tennis at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, swimming and diving in Astoria Park, boxing at an armory at 142nd Street and the FDR Drive, gymnastics at Madison Square Garden, judo and weightlifting at the Javits Center, equestrian events and mountain-biking on Staten Island, basketball and soccer at the Meadowlands, water polo in Brooklyn and sailing in New York Harbor.
A new stadium will be built for opening and closing ceremonies and track and field events.
Doctoroff said the chief advantages of Queens West are its central location, the fact that a general development plan for the area already has been approved by city and state agencies, and its ability to help the Olympics revive use of New York’s waterways.
“The waterfront is the city’s great wasted asset,” he said.