For years, the old New York Wheel site on Staten Island’s North Shore has been a symbol of ambitious plans that never quite materialized. The giant observation wheel was scrapped before it was ever built, leaving a valuable waterfront parcel sitting vacant while the rest of St. George has slowly come to life around it. That’s now changing: the city has put forward a sweeping development plan for both the Wheel site and the adjacent Empire Outlets complex, and 2026 is when the formal approval process begins.
What’s Proposed for the North Shore
The NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has released plans to transform two waterfront sites in St. George into a mixed-use neighborhood with up to 2,500 new homes, open space, retail, and community amenities. The sites — the former New York Wheel parcel and the Empire Outlets complex — together represent roughly 20 acres of North Shore waterfront with direct ferry access to Manhattan.
The broader North Shore Action Plan, which the Adams administration unveiled in 2023, envisioned a $400 million investment and 20 acres of continuous open space along the waterfront, along with 2,400+ units of housing and new commercial space. The St. George sites are the most prominent pieces of that puzzle, and NYCEDC has now moved them into active planning.
ULURP Is Coming in 2026
NYCEDC has confirmed it will enter the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) in the first half of 2026 for the St. George development plan. That means the official public review clock will start ticking: Staten Island Community Board 1 will be among the first bodies to hold hearings and provide formal recommendations, followed by the Staten Island Borough President, the City Planning Commission, and ultimately the City Council.
For Staten Island residents, this is the window to get engaged. ULURP hearings are open to the public, and community board testimony on projects of this scale genuinely shapes what gets approved. If you live on or near the North Shore and have opinions about what should — or shouldn’t — be built on that waterfront, attending community board meetings over the coming months is essential.
The Zoning Challenge
One of the more complicated aspects of this development push is the zoning backdrop across Staten Island more broadly. Much of the island is zoned R1 or R2, meaning only single-family homes are permitted. That restricts multifamily development almost entirely to the North Shore, where existing higher-density zoning supports larger projects.
The City of Yes zoning reforms — which took effect citywide after the December 2024 City Council vote — included new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) provisions that technically apply to Staten Island as well. But as reporting from The City newspaper noted in 2025, implementation on Staten Island has lagged behind other boroughs, with permit approvals for basement and backyard apartments moving slowly through the DOB pipeline. City officials have acknowledged the gap and indicated ADU processing is being streamlined in 2026.
Development Activity Picking Up
Beyond the big waterfront plan, Staten Island is seeing its most active multifamily development pipeline in years. As of late 2025, roughly 1,238 housing units were under construction on the island, with an additional 2,300 units in pre-development. That activity is concentrated on the North Shore, where the existing zoning supports density — and where ferry access to Manhattan makes the borough most attractive to commuters.
Several projects near the busy intersection at Richmond Terrace and Bay Street are in various stages of permitting, representing a cluster of development that is already reshaping the streetscape in St. George and Stapleton.
The Bay Street Corridor rezoning, approved by the City Council several years ago, enabled up to 1,800 new residential units in that stretch — a policy decision whose effects are now visibly materializing in the built environment. The North Shore is no longer a sleepy outlier in the NYC development conversation; it’s one of the city’s active growth zones.
What You Need to Know
- NYCEDC will enter ULURP in the first half of 2026 for the St. George waterfront development — up to 2,500 new homes, retail, and open space at the former New York Wheel and Empire Outlets sites.
- Community Board 1 will hold public hearings as part of the ULURP process — the key moment for North Shore residents to weigh in.
- Most of Staten Island remains zoned for single-family homes; multifamily development is concentrated on the North Shore where higher-density zoning applies.
- City of Yes ADU provisions apply to Staten Island but permit processing has been slow; city officials say improvements are coming in 2026.
- Around 1,238 units were under construction on Staten Island as of late 2025, with 2,300+ more in pre-development.
- The Bay Street Corridor rezoning is already producing visible construction in Stapleton and St. George.
