New York’s next big redevelopment project?

Developers hungry for large plots of developable land in New York City could be soon be delivered a 400-acre gem. This week, New York mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to close down the city’s famous Rikers Island prison complex and open new jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The island, which is close to La Guardia airport, is known as New York’s Guantanamo and currently houses 7,000 people. It is scheduled to close by 2026. Although no plan of action for the 400-acre site has yet been released, the land could provide commercial or residential opportunities for developers. The island could hold as many as 25,000 new dwellings – a sizable chunk of the 80,000 new affordable units and 160,000 market-rate homes that New York councillors want built by 2024. Other proposals for the site have included an extension to La Guardia airport, a major new manufacturing hub, laboratory space or a new urban park.   To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette