Ya gotta believe: In praise of a new development planned for Willets Point

For decades, 23 precious acres a baseball’s throw from Citi Field sat criminally underutilized, surrendered to flooded potholes and auto repair shops and vacant lots. Now, finally, a city where the cost of living is soaring out of the park will do something truly useful with the Queens waterfront tract: build housing, and lots of it — 2,500 units, all affordable, mostly at levels genuinely within reach for low- and middle-income families. Terrific.

Turning Willets Point into a place where thousands of people could live was a dream under Mike Bloomberg. During Bill de Blasio’s two terms, momentum was largely lost — with fits and starts of activity but insufficient follow-through. Mayor Adams has the chance to become the mayor who, in partnership with private developers, really makes it happen. All who purport to care about New York’s exploding rent burden should cheer him on.

Assuming plans proceed along the promised timetable, construction of the first phase, which also includes a public school and open space, will start soon: next spring. The second phase, with 1,400 more units, will take longer, as it has to go through the city’s exhaustive land-use review process.

Did we mention there will be a 25,000-seat soccer stadium, home to Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club, on-site? We can’t get quite as enthusiastic about that piece, though it is a very good thing that it’ll be privately financed, in stark contrast to the billion-dollar Buffalo Bills boondoggle orchestrated by Gov. Hochul.

NYCFC has drawn more than 17,000 fans a game to see them play 17 games in Yankee Stadium. We sure hope all those soccer heads and more turn out to the new home starting 2027 — and that the venue draws enough other events to fill out its calendar. Sizable crowds show up at built-for-soccer Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. If there’s anywhere a pro pitch can thrive, it’s in the World’s Borough, where 47% of the population was born outside the United States.

But housing? Housing is the need, and housing is the goal.