Plans for what is being billed as the city’s largest public charging station for electric vehicles are a big step closer to reality.
Wildflower, a frequent developer of EV-focused projects, has purchased a 2.5-acre squiggle of land near John F. Kennedy International Airport in Springfield Gardens for $8.9 million, according to a deed that appeared in the city register Monday.
The seller was the New York City Economic Development Corp. in one of the last major deals completed by the agency under its now ex-CEO, Andrew Kimball. Wildflower intends to build a for a 65-charger facility on the site.
The transaction went under contract Oct. 20 and closed Dec. 17, just a few days before Kimball announced he would step down from the EDC’s top post and thus not be part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration.
An L-shaped slice of vacant land off Rockaway Boulevard near 145th Avenue, Wildflower’s property is squeezed between a Federal Aviation Administration office building and an under-construction milk-distribution warehouse and does not seem to have any obvious access points for cars.
But as part of the acquisition, Wildflower, whose founder and managing partner is Adam Gordon, managed to lock down an agreement with the milk warehouse to allow vehicles to cross its 6.2-acre property to access Wildflower’s site as needed, according to property records.
To secure the agreement, known as an easement, Wildflower paid $1.5 million to the plant, which is owned by Bartlett Dairy, a 62-year-old family-operated company whose leader is Thomas Malave Jr., the register shows.
Malave in turn paid Gordon $10 for a possible option to buy 50,000 square feet in air rights from the EV facility down the road, according to the register.
It was not immediately clear why Malave might need the extra development rights for his site, which is approved for a 54,000-square-foot warehouse.
Gordon, who personally signed the deed, promises to offer 65 EV chargers by 2028, with 30 to come online as soon as he finishes running electricity lines to the site, according to documents on file with the register. At least 12 of the chargers will be of the 30-minute “rapid” variety, according to an EDC press release from December announcing the deal.
The facility, which is to break ground this year, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it will be able to accommodate electric trucks, the release said.
While there are several charging stations that are as large or much bigger — for instance, a Flushing parking garage offers 424 chargers — almost all of those major sites are privately operated.
On the public side, the largest facility after the planned JFK one is a 34-charger offering at Queens Borough Hall, an EDC spokesman said.
The EV industry has reportedly taken a hit since Congress voted last year to end a $7,500 tax credit for new electric cars, in lockstep with President Donald Trump’s attacks on the green energy business.
But Gordon pointed out that EV sales are up year over year. "The biggest barrier is accessible charging," he told Crain's. "We see our work as saving consumers money."
Wildflower, which targets industrial investments, also owns self-storage sites, Amazon warehouses and a movie production facility in Astoria, Wildflower Studios, which Gordon co-developed with the actor Robert De Niro.
The firm also owns seven other EV stations in New York, including a 24-charger offering under development on 90th Street in East Elmhurst near LaGuardia Airport. Wildflower paid $9.6 million for the property in June, the register shows. The EV ride-sharing business and charging provider Revel operates the site through a lease.
In his announcement of the JFK deal, Kimball spoke of how Wildflower’s project will help the city fulfill its goal of creating 400,000 “green collar” jobs by 2040, although the release did not spell out exactly how many positions the project would create.
Among Kimball’s environmental achievements as the head of the quasi-public, nonprofit EDC was to create the first “blue highway” shipping route between Brooklyn and Manhattan, one that uses boats to move freight instead of pollutive trucks. It welcomed its first boats in December.
But since taking office Jan. 1 Mamdani has appeared to water down the power of the EDC by lumping it in with other agencies under the leadership of Julie Su, the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice, a newly-created position.