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New York's highest court struck down a bid to build a shopping mall in a parking lot for Citi Field, where Shea Stadium once stood.
A group of Sterling Equities, Related Cos. and the ownership group of the New York Mets had planned a 1M SF retail complex called Willets West, to be filled with 200 shops and restaurants, as well as a movie theater. But a coalition of plaintiffs, led by state Sen. Tony Avella, sued on the grounds that such land was protected as parkland, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the New York Court of Appeals, in order for the project to go ahead, it will need specific legislation changing the permitted use of the land. The mall was slated to be the first stage of a $3B mixed-use project that would deliver over 2,500 apartments.
In a statement, the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio said the ruling does not prevent other phases of the project, including the residential component, from being built. Such components would be built nearby, not on the embattled land in question.
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