The World’s Fair Marina has seen better days, parts of its fencing are falling into Flushing Bay.
It hasn’t seen a major overhaul since the 1964 World’s Fair. But with the Port Authority planning to spend $2 billion on a rail link connecting the Willets-Point subway and LIRR station with LaGuardia Airport, community advocates say now is the time to upgrade the waterfront area.
“To have this park at the same time reinvigorated and revisioned at the same time the construction is going on,” said Tom Grech, President of Queens Chamber of Commerce.
Tom Grech is the president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, and a co-chairman of the ‘A Better Way to LGA’ coalition championing the AirTrain project. The Federal Aviation Administration confirms it supports the Port Authority’s preferred route for the elevated rail line, which would run over land from Roosevelt Avenue and across the Grand Central Parkway, looping just inside the World’s Fair Marina.
“I think it makes sense, I think there was community input,” said Grech.
“New York needs to be leading the way not lagging behind other cities,” said Michael Papagianakis, Vice President, Public Affairs, NY Building Congress.
The project is still in the FAA’s environmental review stage. A Port Authority spokeswoman says the next phase will identify impacts, and ways to address them.
Critics of the project are concerned construction would hinder access to the waterfront and cause even more disruptions to residents dealing with the multibillion-dollar reconstruction of LaGuardia Airport.
The Port Authority tells NY1 the agency is committed to making improvements to enhance the promenade and looks forward to continued community input as the environmental review moves forward.
In addition, the Parks Department is planning a major 32 million dollar overhaul of the piers—to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy. That construction is expected to begin sometime in 2021.