NYC announces deal for area near Mets stadium

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration has announced an agreement with a group of developers that includes the owners of the New York Mets to clean up and develop a blighted neighborhood next to the team's stadium.

The agreement was announced Thursday. It covers a 20-acre portion of Willets Point in Queens, where Citi Field is located.

It calls for developers Related Companies and Sterling Equities to construct a mix of retail, hotel and commercial space in a gritty area made up of auto repair shops and junkyards. Affordable housing units would be constructed.

Bloomberg says the $3 billion project will create 12,000 union construction jobs and 7,100 permanent jobs and will generate $4.2 billion in economic activity over the next three decades.

Sterling Equities founders Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz own the Mets and Citi Field.