A Citi Field Mega-Mall Isn't Happening After All

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Shopping, baseball games, and movies will have to remain separate activities for now. A state court ruled that the two developers pushing to bring a 1.4 million-square foot complex with a shopping mall and movie theater adjacent to Citi Field are technically looking to build on Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and therefore the project is a no-go, writes our sister site Curbed NY. The origin of the ruling, according to the New York Times, stems back to 1961, when an appellate court ruled that the land could be used to build a stadium—Shea Stadium, specifically—and only a stadium. So, not a mall.

"We strongly disagree with today's ruling and will be appealing the decision," a spokesman for the developers, who have dubbed their project Willets West, told NYDN. However, as State Senator Tony Avella, who brought this case to court alongside neighborhood advocates, told the Times: "Today's decision sends a message loud and clear-our parks are not for sale."