Downtown Flushing Development

[billyblancoNYC]

Builders are waiting

2 firms say city plans needed for Flushing

By DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Two Flushing developers told a round-table discussion of community leaders, developers and government officials that they were ready to move ahead on developing large portions of downtown Flushing.
All that appeared to be needed was for the city to release and then work on a comprehensive land-use development plan for the area west of Main St., including the Willets Point area adjoining Shea Stadium.

The Muss Organization has held a 14-acre site at the southwest corner of College Point Blvd. and Roosevelt Ave. for more than 20 years, said Jim Jarosik of Muss.

"With all the exciting things happening in the market, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel," said the Muss representative this week.

Muss, he said, was making "advanced plans" for a mixed-use development that will have retail and residential components.

The developer already has been in discussions with retailers.

"We expect to be hopefully making some very specific announcements in the near future about what our plans for the site," he said.

Eddie Wang, president of TDC Development Corp., owns the Flushing Mall on 39th Ave. between Prince St. and College Point Blvd.

The corporation also controls the area west of College Point Blvd. at the Flushing Mall site and some land on surrounding blocks.

Hotel and retail center

The TDC group has talked of plans to build an exposition center, an entertainment center, a six-story retail and office building and a hotel complex.

But first, Wang said, the government has to come forward with a plan for the whole area.

A consultant plan should be ready "in the near future," said Jeffrey Oakman, of the city's Economic Development Corp., which is leading the city effort for a master plan.

"My fear in observing what is going on in Flushing today is that by the time the studies come out, by the time that government agencies act, there will be no more land to develop," said Michael Nussbaum, president of the Queens Jewish Congress.

"The private sector is buying everything that is available, plus some. There are no negotiations. Just show up, and you write the check and you buy it."

[billyblancoNYC]

Comprehensive plan for downtown Flushing:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/pub/flusing.html


http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/137989p-122664c.html

City plans big-time
makeover for Flushing



By DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

An ambitious plan for the development of downtown Flushing was rolled out yesterday at Flushing Town Hall.
"This is a great milestone that we are reaching," said Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff in introducing the plan. "We are going to work just as hard, if not harder, with you as we move forward to realize the dreams that we all have."

The plan focuses on three areas, Doctoroff told the 100 or so community and business leaders gathered at Town Hall: Downtown Flushing, the Flushing River waterfront, and "that age-old question: What do we do with Willets Point?"

The three-pronged approach grew out of months of fine-tuning of proposals first brought up at a two-day workshop nearly a year ago at the Town Hall.

Proposals range from making Main St. one-way, to adding a station entrance at Prince St. at the Main St. subway terminal, to improving the appearance of the Main St. Long Island Rail Road station.

The city will issue a request for proposals early next year for a mixed-use development for the 5.5-acre municipal parking lot on Union St. between 37th and 39th Aves., said Ben Wauford, a consultant with Cooper Carry, who has led a team developing proposals.

The revitalization of the Flushing River would encourage growth of downtown to the waterfront and provide the community open space and recreational opportunities, said Asima Shah, a senior planner with the city's Economic Development Corp.

The riverside revitalization, said Shah, would provide "an infusion of open space and waterfront development that attracts visitors to Flushing and serves as a connection to activity on Willets Point."

Any plans for Willets Point would require the relocation of approximately 83 businesses on the 55-acre site.

The city identified 85% of the businesses there as auto-repair related.

Relocating those businesses would cost at least $130 million, according to the study.

In place of the auto junkyards now there, the plan envisions large-scale development to provide significant economic benefits and transform Flushing into a true regional destination.

To move the Willets Point component forward, a call for ideas from developers and other interested parties will be issued by the city early next year.

Originally published on November 19, 2003

[billyblancoNYC]

City Plans $265M Revitalization for Flushing
http://www.globest.com/news/53_53/newyork/123551-1.html
By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: June 16, 2004 04:03pm

FLUSHING, NY-A preliminary framework for revitalizing the Downtown community here calls for improved transportation facilities and a connection to the waterfront. In total, to realize the public/private plan, which encompasses the Downtown area, the Flushing River waterfront and Willets Point peninsula, could cost upwards of $265 million, excluding land amounts.


According to the New York City Economic Development Corp., the ultimate goal of the plan is to create an expanded Flushing core, with the river linking Downtown to Willets Point and creating a cohesive whole. “Building on the recommendations of the preliminary framework, we now have a viable plan to make Flushing a dynamic and diverse mixed-use community with inviting public spaces and strong connections to the waterfront,” says EDC president Andrew Alper. He adds that the planning process for this framework took more than a year and that already several efforts to implement the plan’s recommendations have begun. Others are expected to begin soon. Alper also says that community outreach efforts at Willets Point are progressing. The EDC will soon draft a Request for Expressions of Interest to solicit a range of ideas that represent “sound investments and economic benefits to the surrounding communities.”


Another aspect of the plan encompasses ways to make the area more pedestrian friendly as well as various streetscape enhancements for both the public benefit and to attract retail to the area. Some improvements will begin this summer to create a distinctive image for the Downtown streetscape and lay the foundation for future enhancements to the pedestrian environment.


Other changes to the traffic network will be required as well, the survey found. They will be necessary to "improve mobility, decrease congestion, and minimize conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians." Recommendations include converting portions of Main, Prince and Union streets to one-way, widening sidewalks on Main Street, and creating a right-hand turn from Northern Boulevard onto Prince Street. A follow-up traffic analysis is in the works.

The plan calls for redevelopment of Municipal Lot 1, an approximately five-acre site that is the largest city-owned property in Downtown. The plan feels it has potential as a mixed-use development,town square as well as a short-term parking locale. A developer could be selected in the fall.


The $265-million expected total cost of the project excludes land, but includes parking, infrastructure and open space costs. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said improving and investing in the five boroughs is a critical component of his strategy. Those collaborating on the framework included various city and state agency representative, community leaders, while the planning firm of Cooper Carry Inc. and Economics Research Associates led the consultant team. Other members of the team included Jeanne Giordano Inc., Thomas Balsley Associates, Eng Wong Taub, and Geto & de Milly.

[billyblancoNYC]

NYC Economic Development Corporation Announces Final Development Plan for Downtown Flushing ( 6/14/2004 )
http://newyorkbiz.com/About_Us/getPressReleasePreview_detailxx.cfm?id=255

Development Framework Will Reconnect and Renew Downtown, Revitalize the Waterfront and Redevelop Willets Point

New York City, June14, 2004 -- Andrew M. Alper, New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) President, today announced the final development plan for Downtown Flushing. The Downtown Flushing Development Framework, which was previewed last fall, outlines a land use planning strategy for growth and sustainability for Downtown Flushing, the Flushing River waterfront and the Willets Point peninsula. Redeveloping Downtown Flushing is a critical component of Mayor Bloomberg’s strategy for creating and investing in regional economic centers in all five boroughs.

“This final plan is the result of more than a year of remarkable collaboration with City and State agencies, a highly qualified team of consultants and task force members, including Flushing business and community leaders and local elected officials,” said EDC President Alper. “Building on the recommendations of the preliminary Framework, we now have a viable plan to make Flushing a dynamic and diverse mixed-use community with inviting public spaces and strong connections to the waterfront.”

The Downtown Flushing Development Framework builds on Flushing’s and cultural diversity in articulating a vision for a vibrant urban center with a high quality of life. It also focuses on helping connect the downtown area with important neighboring amenities such as Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Shea Stadium and the Queens Botanical Garden. Several efforts to implement the Plan’s recommendations have begun or are soon to begin.

The Plan recognizes that a comfortable and engaging pedestrian experience is fundamental to the success of development of Downtown Flushing. It recommends comprehensive improvements to the public realm and a coordinated marketing program to enhance the area as a retail destination. The Downtown Flushing Pedestrian Project has received final approvals from City and State Departments of Transportation, and significant streetscape enhancements will begin this summer and take about a year to complete. The project will create a distinctive image for the Downtown Flushing streetscape and lay the foundation for future enhancements to the pedestrian environment. The newly formed Downtown Flushing BID has agreed to maintain the project once it is completed.

The Development Framework also found that significant changes to the traffic network of Downtown and the Flushing River waterfront will be necessary to improve mobility, decrease congestion, and minimize conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians. Major recommendations of the Framework include converting portions of Main, Prince and Union Streets to one-way, widening sidewalks on Main Street, and creating a right-hand turn from Northern Boulevard onto Prince Street. A more detailed traffic analysis will be necessary to better understand the opportunities and impacts of these transportation proposals and move them toward implementation. EDC, with important financial support from Councilman John Liu, has commissioned a follow-up study by Eng-Wong Taub & Associates, the transportation and engineering consultant for the Framework team.

Councilman John Liu said, “Downtown Flushing is a bustling transportation hub. However, the traffic congestion has a chocking effect on our ability to grow. A comprehensive traffic study will allow us to implement the changes needed to relieve the debilitating congestion we are currently experiencing. I am pleased to partner with EDC and DOT on this critically needed initiative.”

The goal of the additional study is to strengthen the Framework’s recommendations for improving mobility and reducing vehicular conflicts in Downtown Flushing. It will be conducted in close coordination with EDC and the transportation agencies to ensure that the results will be useful and practicable.

As highlighted in November, the Framework calls for redevelopment of Municipal Lot 1, an approximately five-acre site in the heart of Downtown Flushing. As the largest City-owned property in Downtown, the Lot presents an excellent opportunity to achieve important public objectives, such as quality mixed-use development, a town square and the retention of competitively priced short-term parking. A Request for Proposals was issued in February and 14 responses were received from local, regional and national developers. EDC, with input from community representatives, hopes to select a developer this fall.

The Flushing Riverfront is the strongest unifying element between Downtown and the Willets Point peninsula. The Framework envisions a vibrant, clean, active waterfront that would become a new destination and tie the three areas together. It calls for a sustained redevelopment effort between the public and private sectors to improve the environmental quality of the river and wetlands and the creation of an esplanade along the river’s eastern shore, as well as a new community open space system around the river.

Achieving the goals set forth for Downtown Flushing and the Riverfront requires addressing the opportunities and challenges of redevelopment on Willets Point. The ultimate goal of the Plan is to create an expanded Flushing core, with the River linking the downtown area to Willets Point and creating a cohesive whole. Outreach to elected officials and local businesses on Willets Point is progressing, and EDC will soon draft a Request for Expressions of Interest that will solicit a range of ideas that represent sound investments and economic benefits to the surrounding communities.

The Downtown Flushing Development Framework was prepared by the City’s consultant team in close cooperation with EDC, DCP, other City and State agencies and a working group consisting of local community leaders. The planning firm of Cooper Carry Inc. and Economics Research Associates led the consultant team. Other members of the team included Jeanne Giordano, Inc., Thomas Balsley Associates, Eng Wong Taub, and Geto & de Milly.

The complete Downtown Flushing Development Framework can be downloaded from our website at www.downtownflushing.com.

About EDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is the City’s primary vehicle for promoting economic growth in each of the five boroughs. EDC’s mission is to stimulate job growth through expansion and redevelopment programs that encourage investment, generate prosperity and strengthen the City’s competitive position. EDC serves as an advocate to the business community by building relationships with companies that allow them to take advantage of New York City’s many opportunities.

[billyblancoNYC]

Clean-up plan funded for Flushing Creek
By Cynthia Koons
12/02/2004
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is steadily moving forward with the cleanup of Flushing Creek and expects to have plans ready for public review this coming summer.


U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) announced last week that he earmarked $538,000 in federal money this year for the ongoing study and dredging of Flushing's waterways, which his district covers.


More than $150,000 of that will go toward a study of the stretch of creek between downtown Flushing and Willets Point, where the city plans to add a recreational promenade on the waterfront in the coming years.

Earlier this month, the city Economic Development Corp. issued a request for ideas to developers interested in building on the industrial wasteland between Shea Stadium and downtown Flushing, known as Willets Point.

The Willets Point region, now largely dominated by auto repair shops, ideally will be reconstructed to fit into a larger plan to gentrify downtown Flushing's western edge by utilizing the polluted waterway for recreation purposes.

Army Corps of Engineers manager Anthony Ciorra said the money Crowley allocated will fund both the Flushing River study and the bay cleanup. "We're still in the study phase, we're developing alternative plans for environmental restoration," Ciorra said. "The study started back in late 1999. There was an agreement signed with the Corps of Engineers, Port Authority with the New York City DEP."

The agreement forged five years ago required the agencies to conduct a study of how to remediate environmental damage that Flushing's industry had inflicted on the creek and bay.

From that study, which the corps is currently conducting, the eventual plan is to develop a method of cleaning the creek and making it sustainable for marine life.

"Our primary mission is habitat improvement and sustainable improvement," Ciorra said. "A lot of times in association with that improved habitat you'll have improved water quality."

The city currently is in the process of significantly decreasing the discharge from a combined sewage overflow, or CSO, tank that drains excess rainwater and sewage into Flushing Creek.

The Army Corps of Engineers is focusing its remediation plan on that same part of the creek where the CSO is being shut down, between the Long Island Rail Road and subway bridges.

"Most of the focus over the last 3 1/2 years has been on the bay," he said of efforts to dredge Flushing Bay off the coast of College Point. "But it was determined that we don't have a sustainable project in the bay due to the fact that there's still some CSOs that discharge into the bay. We've refocused our efforts on the creek at this point."

Crowley said in a statement that all federal monies will go toward a cleaner, more sustainable waterway in northeast Queens. The waterway was designated as a federal channel by the U.S. Congress, Ciorra said.

"This investment will not only improve the water quality but also allow for greater commerce through the federal channel as well as build upon the economic investment made by the city to surrounding communities," Crowley said. "A cleaner Flushing Bay and Creek will lead to the future economic development and jobs, and a better quality of life in our waterfront communities."

Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
http://www.timesledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13478603&BRD=2676&PAG=461&dept_id= 542515&rfi=6

[billyblancoNYC]

http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=2551&highlight=downtown+flushing

[TonyO]

The Next American City
Issue 6 - Technology & Cities - October 2004

PLANNING: Another Downtown for New York? The Flushing Dream

by Alexander Dworkowitz

Not many people choose to stroll down College Point Boulevard in downtown Flushing, Queens. The industrial streetscape ranges from graffiti-covered buildings where immigrant workers stitch clothing to an asphalt plant. The Western Beef food market is a favorite of the homeless, and some even sleep atop its recycling machines. There are scattered homes, including public housing, but most residents choose to walk immediately east to Main Street, a much livelier and friendlier strip. In short, College Point Boulevard looks like a street that has been ignored for a long, long time.

But all of the sudden, College Point Boulevard is hot property. In recent years, large developers have bought up land on the western side of the street. They plan to transform their plots, now home to warehouses, parking lots, and factories, into condominiums, large retail stores, and parks.

The developers are not alone in their thinking. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to build up College Point Boulevard and other parts of downtown Flushing; development in Queens and New York City’s other outer boroughs is one of his administration’s priorities. John Liu, the local City Councilman who has sought out the mayor’s interest, says he wants to make Flushing “a destination of choice.” Other local leaders have called for a renaissance of the area.

Why is the government of New York City so interested in an area eight miles east of midtown Manhattan? Although remote from the city center, downtown Flushing is well connected to public transportation and has strong commercial prospects of its own. The area is already the busiest section of northeast Queens, a region of more than half a million people. The subway, the Long Island Rail Road, bus lines, and two highways run through it. Just blocks away is the third largest park in the city, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which is home to the New York Mets and the U.S. Open. And the neighborhood also has a waterfront, the narrow Flushing River that runs behind College Point Boulevard.

“Downtown Flushing is a transit hub, and it’s an intermodal hub,” says Ben Wauford, principal in charge of the New York office of Cooper Carry, a consulting firm hired by the city to study Flushing. “It has an untapped resource in the waterfront. It has adjacent recreational amenities that are unparalleled. It’s close to LaGuardia Airport. And quite frankly, it’s highly successful right now.”

Despite the excited talk, the city will have to overcome difficult hurdles in order to continue to develop downtown Flushing. The Flushing River is polluted. A high water table prevents construction deep underground. The Van Wyck Expressway runs between downtown Flushing and the park. And some developers and politicians claim that luring more businesses to Flushing depends on the even thornier redevelopment of Willets Point, an industrial neighborhood to the west. Changing Flushing will be expensive. It remains to be seen whether the city and state, for all of their lofty aspirations, will cough up the millions needed to redevelop an area of New York City that most tourists have never even heard of.

From 1950s Main Street to Booming Multiethnic Village

In the 1950s, Flushing’s Main Street was dominated by department stores, shoe repair shops, and small businesses serving a working-class, white-ethnic population. Nowadays, typical American franchises, such as McDonald’s and Old Navy, greet Flushing pedestrians, but so do signs in Chinese, Korean, and Urdu. As America’s latest wave of mass immigration continues, America’s large cities will likely have more and more neighborhoods like downtown Flushing. Redevelopment of Flushing may serve as a blueprint for changing similar neighborhoods far from conventional downtowns into a new type of urban center.

Flushing was organized as a Dutch township in 1645, but it only began to take on an urban character in the early 20th century when trains connected it and other early suburbs to midtown Manhattan. As those trains were supplanted by commuter rail reaching further out and later highways, many of the neighborhood’s old residents left the neighborhood for less congested areas of Queens and Long Island. The neighborhood’s close proximity to New York’s two major airports enticed waves of immigrants to settle in the area over recent decades.

Some saw the immigrants as a symbol of decline in Flushing. But in the 1980s and ‘90s, developers and neighborhood leaders began to take a serious look at entering the local market. In 1991, the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel was built in the heart of downtown Flushing. Its developer, Heo-Peh Lee, saw the Sheraton’s construction as a gamble: could a luxury hotel survive in an immigrant neighborhood? The hotel, however, turned out to be a huge success, catering to foreign visitors, airport travelers, and business conferences.

Since then, the neighborhood has boomed. In 1998, the city opened the $22 million Flushing Library, a three-story glass structure more than three times the size of its predecessor. The busy library has been praised as one of the most innovative in New York City. The city also redesigned the Main Street subway station. Other hotels have followed in the Sheraton’s wake. Perhaps most importantly, the city decided in 1998 to rezone downtown Flushing west of Main Street. The rezoning allows for large-scale projects, stirring further interest in development on the Flushing River. One company, TDC International Development & Construction Corp., has finished three large projects in western Flushing since the rezoning: Sanford Tower, an apartment building, the Prince Center, an office building, and the Flushing Mall.

Remembering the Outer Boroughs

In recent years, high land values and lack of space have complicated Manhattan development, leading developers to look for new opportunities in the outer boroughs. While most of the major shopping and retail is located in Manhattan and the suburbs, a substantial percentage of the people living in the metropolitan area actually reside in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx and often prefer to work and shop in their own neighborhoods.

In September 2003, the Center for an Urban Future, a nonpartisan think tank, released “Engine Failure,” a report calling for investment in outer borough neighborhoods as part of a plan to strengthen the city’s economy.

“We use so little of our geography for economic development,” Jonathan Bowles, research director at the Center, says. “I am not trying to make an equity or a fairness argument. I am saying the other boroughs represent an opportunity for economic growth for holding onto businesses, for spurring entrepreneurship.”

The city has already started to invest in developing urban centers outside of Manhattan. Over the last decade, the city has pumped millions into downtown Brooklyn and Jamaica, a Queens neighborhood located several miles southeast of downtown Flushing. Downtown Flushing may be next. At the end of 2002, the city Economic Development Corporation (EDC) hired Cooper Carry to study downtown Flushing and Willets Point, located on the opposite side of the Flushing River.

In October, Cooper Carry and other teams of consultants unveiled their recommendations for the area. The planners proposed turning the 1,143-space municipal parking lot at the center of downtown Flushing into several twelve- to sixteen-story buildings comprising housing, offices, and “cultural space” surrounding a public square.

“There’s a huge pent-up demand for residential development and even commercial development in downtown Flushing,” Wauford says.

Downtown Flushing already suffers from a lack of parking, so the consultants suggested the city build a 2,000-space parking lot underneath the complex to replace the lost spaces and serve new development. But with a high water table underneath, the spots would be expensive–$30,000 apiece.

Where East Meets West

Downtown Flushing has been studied before, with similar recommendations. But unlike in previous studies, the city included Willets Point. Known as the Iron Triangle, Willets Point is the closest thing New York City has to the Wild West. It was built atop the Corona ash heaps, made famous by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. Shea Stadium was constructed on part of the land, and the remainder of Willets Point was given over to scrap yards, auto repair shops, and factories. Most of the triangle has no storm sewer system, and some potholes seem large enough to swallow a small car. Authorities keep a constant eye on Willets Point. In 2001, Carmine Agnello, the estranged son-in-law of the late mafia boss John Gotti, pleaded guilty to extortion, racketeering, and arson in connection with his Willets Point business, New York Scrap Inc.

Many see Willets Point as key to Flushing’s development. The developers who invested in land between College Point Boulevard and the eastern side of the Flushing River want to offer potential residents a view of something other than scrap yards across the river. Furthermore, Willets Point sits directly between downtown Flushing and Shea Stadium and the USTA National Tennis Center, the home of the U.S. Open. If this area were more attractive, local leaders reason, sports fans might venture through into downtown Flushing, bringing business to the neighborhood.

Patrick Phillips of Economics Research Associates, one of the consultants hired by Cooper Carry, noted that it would cost $214.5 million to buy up the land, clean it of pollutants, and install sewers and roads. In order to make good on such an investment, the land would have to generate roughly $11 million a year for the city, Phillips says. A theme park or a convention center could generate sufficient profit.

Local politicians–perhaps spurred by campaign contributions from these developers–generally echo their support for developing Willets Point, as do many community leaders. Julia Harrison, who represented Flushing in the City Council before John Liu replaced her in 2002, is one of the few who have spoken out against developing Willets Point. There are legitimate businesses in the Iron Triangle, Harrison points out.

“The people working there may not be computer experts, but they should have a chance to work,” Harrison says. “Every place you go, manual workers are being displaced across Queens. That’s not exactly a good economic process. Not everyone is a computer whiz.”

While the EDC is looking into developing Willets Point, another city agency, the Department of Sanitation, has a vested interest in the status quo. For lack of a cohesive sanitation plan to compensate for the closing of the massive Staten Island Fresh Kills landfill in 2001, the city allowed a waste transfer station to open in Willets Point. Over the last three years, the plant has increased the amount of waste it processes. The city will be unable to develop Willets Point fully until it resolves its sanitation woes, and no one is betting on that happening anytime soon.

An Engagement Ring from the City

In the meantime, some developments have stalled. The Muss Development Company, which owns the largest piece of property on the east side of the Flushing River, had planned to open Flushing Town Center, a 750,000-square-foot retail center with 1,200 residential units, in 2003. But problems cleaning up pollution on the site have slowed the plan.

TDC, which also owns property on the Flushing River, has not yet begun to develop the waterfront. Wellington Chen, senior vice president at TDC, says his company wants an “engagement ring” from the city–an assurance that the government has a long-term interest in Flushing.

“Every once in a while we get a study in this area, and then we get sidetracked. We need ongoing attention,” he says. “Cooper Carry’s Flushing Task Force under [New York City Deputy Mayor] Dan Doctoroff is a great start. It’s at least focusing the magnifying glass on this area. But the dialogue needs to be maintained.”

Despite ambitious plans, Flushing still faces challenges. It is a quick train ride to midtown Manhattan from Flushing, but traveling from Flushing to downtown Jamaica, the center of Queens, is a lot more difficult. While property values are high, major retailers still avoid Flushing’s Main Street. One of the neighborhood’s largest retail properties has sat empty for five years. The Flushing Library may be packed, but downtown Flushing does not have one English-language bookstore. And the parking dilemma looms large over the entire area.

“If you drive through downtown Flushing, it’s hard to figure out right now,” Wauford says. “For a retailer to look at downtown Flushing, it’s a difficult sell.”

In the end, the toughest sell may not be to retailers or developers, but to the city, state, and federal governments. Successful development in outlying urban areas such as Flushing may connect them more closely with the city centers and so increase business throughout the metropolitan region. But because such investment could potentially have the opposite effect, strengthening one borough at the expense of another, it’s a gamble that city officials might not be willing to take. As always, public monies are tight, especially when funds are being invested to reinvigorate lower Manhattan. And while nobody likes to admit it, neighborhoods do compete against each other for funds. Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City are just a stone’s throw from Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods. Jamaica is not close to Manhattan, but trains link the area to the wealthier neighborhoods of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, making it a great place to work for Long Island commuters. In contrast, most of those who work in Flushing live in Queens, not Manhattan or Long Island.

Some worry that investing in places like Flushing will hurt lower Manhattan at a time when the business center needs a boost, while others argue that the development will benefit the city as a whole. Regardless of who is right, when matters come to a vote, most politicians will likely see the question as whether the interests of the people of Queens, a borough dominated by the working class and immigrants, suffice to merit investment from the city as a whole.

Bloomberg has said he wants to invest in Flushing. But until the government actually puts the shovel to the ground, some developers remain skeptical.

“It’s very, very difficult to go forward,” Chen says. “If the sky is filled with dust from the cement mixing plant, and the sidewalks are still full of cracks, we are not going to be able to go forward with good conscience.”

[billyblancoNYC]

I think it will happen. There is too much need and demand here. Once the city steps up and does what it has to do, the rest will follow, like a landslide. I don't agree with the last few paragraphs about not wanting to invest in one place at the expense of the other. It benefits the city and this administration seems to acknowledge that, be it the Far West Side, Loew Manhattan, DT Brooklyn, the Hub/Yankee Stadium area, Staten Island waterfront, or Jamaica/Flushing/LIC Queens. They seem to have a sound plan of attack and most plans seem to be moving along in some way.

I guess time will tell, but I really think this will happen.

[Kolbster]

I hope your right, did you see pictures of the "Iron Triangle". That is a really blighted area improvement is long overdue. Ha, my friend actually lives right near there

[Stern]

$600 million plan for Flushing, here's the skinny:

Developer Plans $600M Queens Project
BY Staff Reporter of the Sun
Muss Development is unveiling its plan to build a $600 million mixed-use development on a 14-acre brownfield site in Flushing, it announced yesterday. The project will create 725,000 square feet of retail space, six condominium and rental buildings...

If anyone subscribes to the Sun please post the article and enlighten us all.

http://www.nysun.com/section/22

[billyblancoNYC]

Um, just put in some fake info and it let's you in.

Developer Plans $600M Queens Project

BY Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 10, 2005

Muss Development is unveiling its plan to build a $600 million mixed-use development on a 14-acre brownfield site in Flushing, it announced yesterday. The project will create 725,000 square feet of retail space, six condominium and rental buildings with 1,000 residential units, and a 55-footwide waterfront esplanade along the Flushing River.

"There will be some affordable housing in the units, but we are still discussing with the Housing Development Corporation which program we are going to participate in and what the breakdown will be," a senior vice president of the company, Jim Jarosik, told The New York Sun.

The complex, located at the corner of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue along an abandoned industrial strip, will create more than 2,000 permanent jobs and 5,000 construction jobs, according to a report commissioned by Muss. The firm also estimates the city and state will generate about $28.5 million in annual tax revenue from the project.

The development is planned for a site near the No. 7 subway line, and is within walking distance of Shea Stadium and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Two anchor tenants with multiple locations in New York City have already signed leases at the retail complex, Mr. Jarosik said, adding he was unable to release the names of the ten ants until construction begins later this year. The retail portion of the development is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007, with the first residential apartments to open in 2008.

As an incentive for developers to build on vacant or underutilized land, often former industrial sites that have environmental problems, the city enacted a brownfield program in 2003 to give builders tax credits. The credits are intended to offset the expenses associated with property taxes, site preparations, and property improvements that come with building on a brownfield.

Under the brownfield program, Muss is receiving a number of tax credits. Mr. Jarosik declined to reveal the details of the breaks.

The developers focused on residential and retail development instead of a hotel or office space because "downtown Flushing is a very under-retailed market, and there is an extremely low vacancy rate, so we decided to fill these needs," Mr. Jarosik said.

"The Muss Development project represents one of the largest investment in recent years in Queens County," a Council Member who represents the area, John Liu, said in a statement.

"The substantial project will help anchor smaller local businesses by generating new economic activity and encouraging visitors," said the Queens borough president, Helen Marshall.

© 2005 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC. All rights reserved.

http://www.nysun.com/article/9037

[billyblancoNYC]

Muss Announces $600M Project
http://www.queenstribune.com/news/1108098026.html

This ConEd facility will soon be remvoed and replaced by a $600M development.Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen
By Aaron Rutkoff

By 2008, the Western entry point to Downtown Flushing will be transformed into an enormous residential and commercial complex, bringing 1,000 apartments and 725,000 square feet of retail space to a 14-acre brownfield site on the banks of the Flushing River.

The $600 million project will be located on the site of a dormant Con Edison facility at the intersection of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue. The heavily polluted site was used for fueling operations and transformer maintenance, development officials said, and will undergo a clean-up plan supervised by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation before construction begins.

The Muss Development Corporation, a family-owned firm based in Forest Hills, controls the former ConEd site, which affords sweeping views of Shea Stadium, parts of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the run down industrial area known as the Iron Triangle. The company has executed other major development projects in Queens, including the renovation and expansion that produced the Flushing Plaza office building.

Word of the major development plan emerged after a breakfast meeting between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Queens Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, where the mayor was given a ceremonial key to the business community. In statement released by Muss, Bloomberg praised the project as the realization of his economic strategy to create jobs in all five boroughs. “This project helps fulfill that mission by transforming an under-utilized brownfield into a magnificent retail and housing development,” he said.

For Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), the thousands of jobs created by the project stand out as a major benefit to the local community. “We need more jobs in Downtown Flushing,” Liu said. “The bottom line to me is that right now it’s a dirty site and with the implementation of this plan it will become a clean site - clean enough for people to live and work and shop there.”

According to a statement, development officials expect to generate 5,000 temporary construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs. Liu said he was assured that Flushing residents would be given priority for the new jobs.

For the retail dimension of the mixed-use projects, two anchor tenants have already committed to 300,000 square feet of the available space. A spokesperson for Muss declined to name the retailers, citing a company policy to reveal specific information only after construction has started.

Shopping areas on the site are slated to open by fall 2007, Muss officials said, with the first phase of residential apartments opening in spring 2008. The apartments will be located above a three-level retail base, with a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units divided among six residential towers.

The developer will also create 55-foot waterfront esplanade along the Flushing River and parking spaces for 2,650 cars.

There is no firm information on the inclusion of affordable housing units in the development project. David Stearns, a spokesperson for Muss, said, “They are going to be participating in a program to make some affordable.”

But Borough President Helen Marshall, who praised the project, expressed concern that no substantial affordable housing would be included. “My only regret [is that] I know that housing is going to be market rate,” she said. You cannot build affordable housing without subsidies.”

[billyblancoNYC]

delete

[Kolbster]

This is great news

[TonyO]

Globest.com

Plans Call for Flushing Revitalization

By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: February 10, 2005 06:36am

For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.


FLUSHING, NY-It’s full steam ahead for plans to revitalize this Queens neighborhood. Working with the city’s master plan, Muss Development Co.’s affiliate CE Flushing LLC is designing a mixed-use project on a 14-acre brownfields site that is expected to cost approximately $600 million to realize.


Submissions are due in mid-March for plans to revitalize the 48-acre Willets Point area. According to a spokesperson for Muss, the plan will complement and not compete with plans for the Willets Point area. Last summer, the city revealed a preliminary framework for revitalizing the Downtown community that calls for improved transportation facilities and a connection to the waterfront. According to the New York City Economic Development Corp., the ultimate goal of the plan is to create an expanded Flushing core, with the river linking Downtown to Willets Point and creating a cohesive whole. Possible uses for the site, according to the EDC, include an entertainment district, a regional retail center, a hotel and conference facility, amusement and recreation as well as office, industrial, park and residential developments.


The 3.2 million-sf Muss initiative includes a 725,000-sf retail center and approximately 1,000 residences. New York City-based Perkins Eastman is designing the project. Acco Retail tenants already have committed to more than half of the total net space available. According to a Muss spokesperson, two anchor tenants who both already have multiple locations in New York City have committed to 300,000 sf. The retail shopping areas are slated to open in the fall of 2007 and the apartments will follow in the spring of 2008.


According to Amanda Burden, chair of the City Planning Commission, in 1998, the commission first acted to rezone this site and others in the surrounding area for commercial and residential use in collaboration with the Flushing Task Force. Joshua L. Muss, president and CEO of CE Flushing LLC says, “The development of this long-underutilized land will provide a major economic stimulus to the region.” The project is expected to generate 5,000 construction jobs and more than 2,000 permanent jobs, as well as approximately $28.5 million in annual tax revenues to the city and state.


The $265-million expected total cost of the Willets Point project excludes land, but includes parking, infrastructure and open space costs. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said improving and investing in the five boroughs is a critical component of his strategy. Those collaborating on the framework for Flushing included various city and state agency representatives, community leaders, while the planning firm of Cooper Carry Inc. and Economics Research Associates led the consultant team. Other members of the team included Jeanne Giordano Inc., Thomas Balsley Associates, Eng Wong Taub, and Geto & de Milly.

[billyblancoNYC]

http://www.perkinseastman.com/

[NewYorkYankee]

Nice, I like it!

[billyblancoNYC]

This is just the beginning. The Willets Point RFPs are due very soon. That's a 50 plus acre. development on the other side of the river.

Also, the municipal lot is due somewhat soon as well. This will be a 5 acre mixed use development.

Of course, other developers are said to be putting together major parcels, especially on the waterfront, for more major development.

I can't wait.

[alex ballard]

I'm not sure if this has been touched on before, but one marketing idea that really could get things going is taking adavtage of the current economic boom in Asia to lure asian companies to Flushing to establish an American presence. I could easliy see Chinese, Japanese, and Korean banks, financial firms, high-tech and industrial firms coming to Flushing. That would herald a lot of local support (considering Flushing is heavily Asian) and would open NYC's economy to a vast new world.

[NewYorkYankee]

Flushing is considered NY's "Real" Chinatown....correct????

[ASchwarz]

Flushing is considered NY's "Real" Chinatown....correct????

Kind of. Flushing's Chinese community is now bigger than the Manhattan Chinatown. The Brooklyn Chinatown might also be bigger than the original.

[NewYorkYankee]

I didnt know Brooklyn had a Chinatown, where is it?

[ASchwarz]

I didnt know Brooklyn had a Chinatown, where is it?

Sunset Park is the main Brooklyn Chinatown. The main street is Eighth Avenue from about 40th to 60th streets. There are also smaller Chinese communities in Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay.

[billyblancoNYC]

Though I can't seem to find it on the web, the latest Queens Courier had an article about the RKO Keith development. Seems to be getting the green light by the CB.

Glass facade, 18 stories with the 3 story theater base preserved. About 200 condos, commerical, 12K sq. ft. senior center, 260 parking spots. The rendering looked pretty cool. Hope to post something more soon.

Next up: Municipal Lot 1 (5 acre mixed-use), Willets Point (55 acre river front redevelopment), a new Shea Stadium, and the rest of the DT Flushing master plan...

[billyblancoNYC]

RKO now A-OK with board

Smaller fixup is planned for landmark Flushing theater

By DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A year after unanimously turning down a developer's plans for the RKO Keith's Theater site in Flushing, the local community board gave overwhelming approval to a more svelte version.

This time, Community Board 7 voted 32 to 2 approve the 19-story complex of retail, commercial and apartments that will include the restoration of the landmarked grand lobby of the historic former movie theater.

The site's owner, Boymelgreen Developers, is seeking a variance to build a far greater bulk than what is allowed under current zoning.

"The building is going to be slimmer; originally it had a glass curtain wall of 53 feet, now it will be 41 feet," said Board 7 district manager Marilyn Bitterman.

Originally, plans called for the complex to be set back 15 feet from the street; now it will be set back 23 feet, Bitterman said.

"We are going to have a world-class building. This is a very important site. It is at the end of Main St. and, as you come across the Northern Blvd. bridge, it is the first thing you see," the district manager said.

City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), praised the community board for being "very diligent on working toward a proposal that better fits the wishes of the community."

He predicted that the scaled-down development "will be a centerpiece for downtown Flushing and will include a state-of-the-art senior center that will do right by the seniors in our community."

The 3,000-seat theater on Northern Blvd. opened as a vaudeville venue in 1927, and later became a movie house.

In 1984, the lobby and grand foyer area, with twin staircases, were designated a city landmark and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The building was allowed to fall into disrepair by a previous owner, Thomas Huang, who was fined for bulldozing parts of the landmarked grand staircase.

The Keith's Theater project is the latest of several new developments planned for the downtown Flushing area.

Last week, Muss Development Corp. announced a $600 million retail and residential center on a 14-acre site along Roosevelt Ave. and College Point Blvd.

Developer Michael Lee recently announced plans for a 12-story glass and granite retail and office building on the site of the Queens County Savings Bank on Main St., a few blocks south of the theater.

The Sears site on Northern Blvd., a few blocks east, has been sold, and plans call for the building to be demolished to make way for a mixed-use development.

Finally, the city's Economic Development Agency is expected to announce plans for the development on the Flushing Municipal Parking Lot #1 off Union St. between 37th and 39th Aves.

"Flushing will have a very different look pretty soon," Bitterman said.

[Kolbster]

That's good news!!

[NewYorkYankee]

The Flushing area seems to be booming lately. Would anyone care to post any pics of what it looks like now?

[Derek2k3]

How uninspired...

Flushing Town Center Redevelopment

http://63.240.68.115/FirmFiles/28/images/Flushing%2Ejpg

Muss Development Corporation
Nakash Development Corporation

http://www.urbitran.com/services.cfm?categoryName=%28%3C%2DF%28J%28YP%25D4 %20%0A&category2Name=%2C8LZ9MHYG%25E6GADM8%0A&category3Name=%2C8LZ9MHYG%25E6GADM8%0A&category4Name=%29%3BM6%22NX%2CS%29D6V%0A

Showcase: Flushing Town Center Redevelopment (NY)
Urbitran/Rosenbloom is providing design services for this mixed-use development in Flushing, Queens. The large complex includes 1,200 residential units, 750,000 square feet of retail, and a 2,600-car paid parking facility.

In addition to architectural services, Urbitran is also providing traffic engineering, site planning and design, roadway and drainage design, waterfront planning, geotechnical engineering, and permitting services for the project.

[Derek2k3]

There small renderings in both these articles:
http://www.timesledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13981149&BRD=2676&PAG=461&dept_id=542415&rfi=6
http://www.queenstribune.com/news/1108707920.html


RKO Keith's to get a touch of glass
By Cynthia Koons
02/17/2005

http://www.timesledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13981149&BRD=2676&PAG=461&dept_id=542415&rfi=6

Architect Jay Valgora presents the latest designs, approved Monday, for the dilapidated RKO KeithÕs Theater in downtown Flushing. Photo by Cynthia Koons
An elegant 18-story high rise adorned by a glass curtain will be built atop the rundown RKO Keith's Theater at the end of Main Street in Flushing if Community Board 7's nod Monday night paves the way for the city's approval of the project.

It was one week shy of a year since architect Jay Valgora first stood before CB 7 and asked the board to approve a residential and retail development that was nearly twice the allowable bulk by law. His proposal was unanimously defeated. This time he asked the board to consider a building that was slimmer in design but maintained the architectural character of the movie house by restoring the historic lobby and constructing a translucent curtain at the entrance.

"The exciting part is the exact same building that we saw a year ago is still going to be there," said Chuck Apelian, CB 7 vice chairman. He worked with Brooklyn-based Boymelgreen Developers to present their designs last February, which were essentially the same in look, just bulkier in size.

Advertisement
When they unanimously rejected the plan a year ago, board members contended the parking was insufficient because developers were only creating 266 spaces for 250 condos. On Monday night, Valgora showed board members a plan that included 233 valet spaces for 200 apartments. The board approved it in a 33-to-2 vote.

The proposal now must be approved by the borough board, Borough President Helen Marshall, the Department of City Planning and City Council before being constructed. Planners said once approved, the project could take two years to complete.

"It will be the beacon of Flushing Main Street, just as the RKO Keith's was for so many years," Marshall said Tuesday. "We're all looking forward to that."

At Marshall's urging, revisions to the design did not eliminate plans for a two-story, 12,500-square-foot senior center that includes classrooms and a dining area.

"It's really a world-class design," said Howard Goldman, the developer's attorney. "It has pulled its belt in and gotten a little slimmer. We hope to bring back some of the glory that the RKO Keith's had in Queens."

The RKO Keith's Theater was built in the 1920s and was a destination cinema for 60 years where major silent movie stars performed vaudeville acts and Groucho Marx made his moustache famous, said Joe Sena, a documentarian who is working on a film about the movie house.

The theater closed in the mid-1980s and fell into disrepair in the hands of developer Tommy Huang, who was convicted of a felony charge for ignoring asbestos contamination and spilling hundreds of gallons of fuel oil in the basement of the building. When civic leaders toured the landmark cinema two years ago, they saw the once-grandiose lobby covered in graffiti and blanketed in dust.

But Valgora promised to resurrect the RKO Keith's lobby by restoring the two grand staircases and replacing the centerpiece fountain that vanished from the building.

The entrance will be encased by a frosted, undulating glass curtain that matches the dimensions of the original theater's proscenium.

"It's like a wall of fabric," Valgora said. "Right behind that is the original historic lobby."

The foyer will be open to the public and serve as the entrance for the residents of the 200 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments upstairs. Valgora said the building is set 10 feet further back from the street than originally planned and is slimmer in dimension all around.

The developers said it would cost roughly $65 million to construct the building, markedly less than the $100 million they were planning to spend on last year's designs.

Apelian said it was important that CB 7 voted to maintain the architectural integrity of the building while still requiring the developer to add parking and to slash the number of apartments.

"We fought for that building," Apelian said. "So much so that it would be a sacrilege to give you something else."

A few board members spoke against the project, contending that it did not fit in with the surrounding neighborhood and would not conform with the neighborhood's cost of living. A brief debate even broke out over whether the board should require Boymelgreen to use unionized construction workers because a Sunday New York Times article shed light on the fact that the developer normally did not.

In the end, the board formed a separate committee to make a recommendation about the use of union-organized labor before voting to pass the project.

"In my mind it's been an arduous process," Valgora said. "But it has made it a better building."

[Derek2k3]

Builders are waiting


Eddie Wang, president of TDC Development Corp., owns the Flushing Mall on 39th Ave. between Prince St. and College Point Blvd.

The corporation also controls the area west of College Point Blvd. at the Flushing Mall site and some land on surrounding blocks.

Hotel and retail center

The TDC group has talked of plans to build an exposition center, an entertainment center, a six-story retail and office building and a hotel complex.

But first, Wang said, the government has to come forward with a plan for the whole area.

"



http://www.flushingcommons.com/images/flcommon-ll.jpg

Flushing Commons
TDC Group
http://www.tdccenter.com/htm/po_co.htm

[Derek2k3]

http://www.queenscrossing.com/images/qc-ll.jpg

Queens Crossing
TDC Group
http://www.tdccenter.com/htm/po_co.htm


Location
38-25 Main Street, Flushing, New York

Developer
TDC Development & Construction Corp.

General Contractor
Top 8 Construction Corporation

Interior Designer
Howard Hsu
Paul Teng

Completion Date
2006

Total Project Area
407,000 sq.ft.

No. Of Floors
12 Floors, penthouse and 2 levels below grade.


http://www.flushingcommons.com/images/flcommon-ll.jpg

Flushing Commons
TDC Group
http://www.tdccenter.com/htm/po_co.htm

[NewYorkYankee]

I hope to visit Flushing on my next visit this summer.

BTW BillyBlanco, I cant seem to contact you, I sent an e-mail to you citi habitats address, but it was returned. Perhaps you could PM me?

[Derek2k3]

Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/288713p-247127c.html

'World class' develop plan

Mixed-use bldg. proposal is applauded at hearing

BY DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A proposal for a "world-class building" that would be the "gateway to Flushing," got a warm reception at a land use hearing at Queens Borough Hall yesterday.

"At last," said Borough President Helen Marshall as representatives for Boymelgreen Developers began their presentation for the 18-story mixed-use project on the site of the former RKO Keith's Theater.

Plans call for the restoration of the landmarked grand lobby of the theater, on Northern Blvd. at Main St. The project would include a senior center with its own entrance, elevator and stairs.

Last year, Community Board 7 turned down a bulkier version of the project, but it recently approved the new proposal by a vote of 32-2.

"Everyone has always wanted to see a world-class building built as the gateway to Flushing. We feel Boymelgreen Developers has now made this effort for our community and we have arrived at a solution that we believe to be correct and fair," said a resolution from Board 7 read by Boymelgreen attorney Howard Goldman.

A "very special curtain of glass" would enable pedestrians to "see the historic lobby on the interior sitting on stage" at the end of Main St., said architect Jay Valgora of the centerpiece of the project.

The historic theater's "magnificent fantasy courtyard with a false sky above it," has been severely damaged by years of neglect, "but enough is there to do a full and proper restoration," Valgora said.

The restored theater would be accessible to the public and topped with 200 condominium apartments: 21 one-bedroom, 168 two-bedroom and 11 three-bedroom units. In addition, there would be 233 parking spaces.

The proposal will now go before the city Board of Standards and Appeals.

"We are going to need the continued support of the community board and all the elected officials really to get this through the BSA in good form and in a form that Flushing deserves, Goldman said.

The city board, he said, looks to the bare minimum for any variances.

However, said Goldman, "given the history and the importance of this site ... we think something more than bare minimum is necessary, and we would very much appreciate your support for that concept."

According to project manager Scott Milsom, the project, once approved, would take approximately two years to complete.

The selling price for a condominium would be in the "$500- per-foot range," Milsom said.

Originally published on March 11, 2005

[Kolbster]

Great news

[Kolbster]

The Queen's crossing isn't speaking to me...i'm not feeling that design, at all

[billyblancoNYC]

I can't wait to hear about:

1) Municipal Lot 1 (might have some Silvercup Studios action).

2) Willets Point development plan

3) New Shea Stadium plans

4) 26 acre lot in College Point Corporate Park that was to be the wholesale center, but was shot down b/c of traffic concerns.

5) More Flushing River development plans as the area is zoned to mixed-use, like the Muss project.

I'd love to see the Flushing Commons and Queens Crossing projects. DT Flushing would do well with a Barnes and Noble's and a Crate and Barrel, if they ever did come to the area. I can see B and N, but C and B I'm not sure about.

[NewYorkYankee]

Those two buidlings in the top post, are they same buidling? Also, the article posted today is talking about the same once also, correct?

[Kolbster]

Hey guys, read today's post, there is a pretty big article in there talking about the Lond Island city development, talks about Queens west, olympic village and an assortment of other projects...it's a pretty good read (it's a little add-let that is in the middle of the news paper)

[billyblancoNYC]

Those two buidlings in the top post, are they same buidling? Also, the article posted today is talking about the same once also, correct?

No, the article is another building, and the two pics are two different possible developments. There's a number of developments going on in DT Flushing right now, in addition to the many blah-looking apartment buildings (but there are MANY going up right now...single family homes are an endangered species these days).

[billyblancoNYC]

City Narrows Field for Flushing Development
By Barbara Jarvie
Last updated: March 27, 2005 08:47am
http://www.globest.com/news/250_250/newyork/132574-1.html

FLUSHING, NY-The New York City Economic Development Corp. has selected three proposals as finalists for development of Municipal Lot 1 in the Downtown area here. The EDC, which issued a Request for Proposals for the five-acre site a little more than a year ago, asked the undisclosed finalists to further refine their proposals. A framework for Flushing calls for improved transportation facilities and a connection to the waterfront. To realize the plan, which encompasses the Downtown area, the Flushing River waterfront and Willets Point peninsula, could cost upwards of $265 million, excluding land amounts.

Each has proposed hundreds of housing units, a business-class hotel that will create hundreds of new jobs and attract spending from outside the local community, and significant space for community uses, including active youth recreation and cultural tenants.

In total, the EDC received 13 proposals from a group of national and international developers and architects. "Redevelopment of this site is a key component of the Development Framework for Downtown Flushing,” says EDC president Andrew Alper. The city has earmarked funds for strategic capital projects identified in the framework, including pedestrian walkways, streetscape and traffic improvements.

To whittle down the candidates, the EDC met with local elected officials and members of Community Board 7 to solicit feedback on elements of all 13 proposals, including design and proposed uses. The three remaining proposals contain a number of common elements, including a one-acre landscaped public open space for community activities and social interaction. Surrounding the open space will be a street-level retail district including uses such as cafes, restaurants, a bookstore and a multi-screen cinema.

The three finalists proposed to replace the approximately 1,100 parking spaces currently on the site, as well as to provide additional spaces to accommodate the new development. Parking rates proposed by the finalists are below-market. The plans also incorporate "green" building techniques. Final revisions are due later this mon

[billyblancoNYC]

3 developers vying for Flushing project
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/294246p-251932c.html

BY DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The city has chosen three finalists from among potential developers of Municipal Lot 1 in downtown Flushing and the final choice is expected this spring.

The decision will be made after the finalists further refine their proposals for the 1,100-space lot, city Economic Development Corp. President Andrew Alper said.

The 5-acre site is bounded by Union St., 39th Ave., 138th St. and 37th Ave. The request for proposals was first announced in February 2004, and the city received a total of 13 proposals.

The three proposals contain a number of common elements, including a 1-acre landscaped public open space and a street-level retail district.

The retail would include uses such as cafés, restaurants, a bookstore, a multiscreen cinema and other local and national retailers to expand shopping opportunities for Flushing residents.

Although EDC did not release the names of the finalists, those in contention are said to be Vornado Trust Realty, Silvercup Studios and TDC-Rockefeller Group.

Each has proposed hundreds of housing units, a business-class hotel and significant space for community uses, including youth recreation and cultural tenants.

All three also proposed to replace the about 1,100 parking spaces currently on the site, as well as to provide additional spaces to service the new development.

Parking rates proposed by the finalists are below market, and EDC is currently working to determine a mechanism to ensure low-cost parking will continue on Municipal Lot 1.

The city also is working with the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the Union St. border of the site, to develop affordable housing on a half-acre parcel north of the church.

"From the quality of the proposals we received, it is clear that we will achieve our objective to raise the standard for private investment in downtown Flushing," said Alper.

"This truly exciting project will instantaneously raise standards of quality here in Flushing," said Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing).

"What we will have is a win-win-win-win scenario," said Liu.

The city, he said, wins with additional economic activity and revenues.

"Flushing merchants will win with new complementary business to increase the overall consumer base and more public parking at below-market rates."

The community wins "big-time, with more shopping and dining choices, and youth and families will win hands-down with the creation of a full-service, state-of-the-art youth center," the councilman said.

[Derek2k3]

RKO Plaza
135-29 Northern Boulevard and Main Street
19 stories
WalkerGroup's V Studio
Dev-Boymelgreen Developers
Mixed-Use
Residential Condominium: 250 units
200 Parking Spaces, Retail & Senior Center
Proposed ?-2006


DAILY NEWS
'Gateway' closer to reality
BY DONALD BERTRAND
May 27, 2005

A proposed 18-story mixed-use project that includes a senior center on the site of the former RKO Keith's Theater in Flushing has reached its final hurdle.

The "world-class building" to be built on the theater site at Northern Blvd. and Main St. - which would be the new "Gateway to Flushing" - is now undergoing review by the city's Board of Standards and Appeals.

A special meeting by the board took place last week, with a second scheduled for late July.

"We are now at Standards and Appeals. It is a big step forward - the final step," said Howard Goldman, the attorney for the developers, Boymelgreen.

Plans call for the restoration of the theater's landmarked grand lobby, which will be surrounded by a "curtain of glass" that will give passersby a view inside.

Meanwhile, Borough President Helen Marshall and City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) have renewed their support of the project.

"The proposed building would be appropriate considering the critical location of this site, the historic theater lobby that will be restored and the importance of the site as a gateway landmark in the city's effort to improve downtown Flushing," Marshall said.

"For too long, this end of downtown Flushing has been a blight and embarrassment, with the formerly majestic RKO Keith's run into the ground," said Liu, who attended last week's Standards and Appeals hearing to show his support.

"Finally," he said, "we have a plan that will place a world-class building on this site, establish a spacious, state-of the-art and sorely needed senior center and. most importantly, resurrect a piece of Flushing's psyche and history with the restoration of the RKO landmark."

Originally published on May 27, 2005

[Derek2k3]

Center for an Urban Future
Q&A with Wellington Chen: Is Flushing poised for future growth?
By Jonathan Bowles
January 31, 2005

http://www.nycfuture.org/content/reports/report_view.cfm?repkey=151&search=1

Few neighborhoods in New York have as much energy, and as much potential for growth, as downtown Flushing. With the neighborhood weighing a number of public and private sector development projects now on the drawing board, the Center for an Urban Future took the Number 7 train to Main Street to ask Wellington Chen, a land use planner and former commissioner of the Board of Standards and Appeals, for his thoughts on Flushing’s future.


CUF: How’d you get involved in the urban development of Flushing?

WC: I was in my last year of architecture school and here was a live patient dying. Flushing was sputtering in the mid-70s and there was an open letter requesting assistance from the local Community Board. We did a lot of great things back then. We formed a Local Development Corporation, we did a multi-lingual shopping guide/map, and the Flushing Fantastic Street Fairs, where we closed off Main Street to cars, and a quarter million people came together to celebrate as a community.

CUF: What’s your assessment of Flushing today?

WC: I’m a little dismayed that a quarter century later we are still inching along at the tarmac. I thought that we should have gotten a lot further than we are right now.

CUF: What’s the problem?

WC: In a sense, what a lot of downtowns take for granted, those basic amenities are still missing in this community. It’s something as basic as we don’t have a men’s health club, a movie theater. We don’t have a decent bookstore, despite having the highest circulating branch library in the country. The pizza store is buried someplace here. So what you take for granted – to get a slice of pizza – is a treasure hunt. In a nutshell, we have too narrow a spectrum of choices.

CUF: That seems strange, because you go out on Main Street and it’s so busy.

WC: The problem is that Flushing has a very limited core. There are only a few blocks of streets in the downtown area that are zoned commercial. And, so, within those few blocks, we have to try to achieve what they envisioned half a century ago, which is that this is supposed to be the fourth largest retail district in the city. And, at one time, we were almost there. We had five department stores. But, because of the demise of the department store in general across the globe, we lost those opportunities.

CUF: So you think that Flushing could be more of a destination for people around the city, around the region, than it is now?

WC: Absolutely, I co-founded Destination Flushing, Inc. (a group working to improve the area) But I also have come to respect the market forces and recognize how tall an order that is. It’s not necessarily that you build it and they will come. If you do shopper surveys, you will find that in affluent communities, the less affluent – the poor, the middle class – will go to that neighborhood to browse and shop. But the reverse is not true. An affluent shopper will not come into a neighborhood where they feel is less than up to their standards. That is a reality that we have to contend with, unless we can create a critical mass with a large variety of amenities to invite people to return. It’s going to require tremendous work on behalf of everyone, and I mean everyone.

CUF: Assuming the community is able to improve the neighborhood’s appearance and image, are there opportunities to develop more retail in Flushing?

WC: Northeast Queens is composed mostly of residential neighborhoods. The issue is how can we better service this quarter of million people [in the Flushing area], or 2 million people in the county of Queens. What is lacking in Flushing is what is lacking in Queens. We have very limited choices. Historically, across North America, there are 23 square feet of retail space per capita. In Queens, we only have 4 square feet [per person]. The shopping revenue goes out of the county, out of the city. And Nassau County, in the last 25 years, was built up on our blood. Our shopping revenue goes there, the sales tax revenue goes there. And that money should have been in this community to pay for the teacher salary increases, to build schools, to maintain parks, to fund cultural activities, to build waterfront promenades and senior centers.

CUF: It sounds like you’d like to see significant new commercial development.

WC: It really is not about development for development’s sake, but in light of our current situation, where almost everyone is dissatisfied with the environment. We need to improve and maintain the viability of our core. Do we really want our CBD to be a central business district or a central bedroom district? The job creation formula is that every 300 square feet of office space or every 500 square feet of retail space creates a new job. And retail is ideally suited for this county, in that you don’t need a Ph.D. to operate a retail service job. And our underemployment rates are high. That’s why I’m a little concerned about putting all the eggs in one basket, in a sense that everyone is building housing. And I’m a housing advocate. But you could build a 15-story apartment building, and how many jobs do you create? A one shot deal and we have sacrificed our core; we have sacrificed our commercial base. If I tried to invite you back to downtown and say, “wait you’ve got to look at this apartment building,” you’ll tell me “no thanks.” You’ve got to give me more of a reason for wanting to return to downtown, to shop, to eat, to stroll, etc. A raison d'être!

CUF: Why is Flushing the natural place for all of this commercial activity?

WC: From Flushing going east to Great Neck, there’s not another zoning for C4-2 [a zoning designation that allows for moderate commercial and residential development]. There’s a little strip by the LIE [Long Island Expressway] where the Kmart used to be, and that’s about it. Whereas here, at Shea Stadium, there are about 9,000 parking spots, 98 percent of the time unused. You have 23 bus lines, two major rail lines. Flushing is accessible by land, by sea, by air. It is the geographical heart of Queens!

CUF: But with such a limited core, how does Flushing grow?

WC: In my 25 years of banging my head against this wall, I’ve come to realize that a solution for Flushing lies west of the Flushing River - as the Department of City Planning correctly pointed out decades ago. This river has two banks, but until the other bank is decided, we are in a sort of limbo—we can’t clap with one hand. The western Flushing area is in a harsh industrial zone, it is rather isolated. The majority of people do not live there. The western side has no amenities and no reason for anyone to visit.

Another reason why the western region of Flushing suffered a 30 percent loss in population during the 1990s is because we also have a bleeding gum: the waterfront. One unfortunate geographical limitation of Flushing is that the waterfront drops 30 feet from College Point Boulevard. What you see across the way is not the Manhattan skyline. You see what is directly across the river in Willets Point, which are full of junkyards and piles of construction debris. Will it eventually become a legacy of piles or a pile of legacies is the ultimate question for this city.

CUF: The Bloomberg administration is now looking to redevelop this waterfront. What do you think?

WC: The Bloomberg administration deserves tremendous credit for tackling a hot potato that no one in the past half of a century wants to handle. Robert Moses had a grand plan for this area before he passed away, and right after the World’s Fair of 1964, that area was designated as parks. But it was rescinded. And so, from then onwards, every attempt in the last 40 years to clean up that area has been met with no success, whether it’s Mario Cuomo, after he became governor, or [Mets owner] Fred Wilpon wanting to rebuild the area. It requires a tremendous effort, because the area has no sewer. The area also lacks infrastructure. Ultimately, it is a matter of wills. If there is a will, there is a way.

CUF: Is it just a matter of cleaning up the waterfront?

WC: No, the critical issues have always been about walkability and connectivity. A number of studies and workshops have concluded that there is a need for a pedestrian bridge, or multiple bridges over the Flushing River. And that requires leadership. That requires coordination of both banks of the river. It requires an overall plan with timetable for implementation. It is not just any bridge, the consensus was for an iconic bridge, a modern sculptural Ponte Vecchio, to connect and to complete the waterfront loops from Flushing River to the World’s Fair Marina.

CUF: It sounds like you see the connection to Willets Point as a vital component in Flushing’s growth?

WC: People think that Flushing is the heart of this area. In reality, many have recognized that the Shea Stadium area is the heart. Willets Point is the heart. And Flushing is the eastern lung and Corona and Eastern Elmhurst and Jackson Heights are the western lung.

CUF: What else needs to happen for Flushing?

WC: We need to go beyond studies. Every time this community wants to do something, we say: let’s do another study. There’s been studies galore dating back to 1946, and not a single master plan has ever been implemented, dating back to 1946. The implementation is the difficult part. A downtown is a life organism, and you’ve got to respond to changes and you’ve got to adapt. And so you constantly need someone at the helm, to steer with the wind or against the wind, or whatever the town decides to do. And, so, that is a quintessential requirement [for Flushing] to go forward. In general, the successful downtowns tend to have an organization, an entity, what I call a mother figure.

CUF: Downtown Flushing has a new Business Improvement District (BID). Is that the answer?

WC: For the first time in two decades we have a BID. That’s great, and that is a basic first step that most people take for granted. But a BID is not the ideal mechanism in my mind. A BID for an area like Flushing will always be playing catch up. The Flushing BID has two major principles that it’s going by: Keep it simple and keep a bare bone budget. First keep the streets clean, and do some promotion of the area. By its nature, it cannot handle the vision and the planning and the proper execution of all the other things that are beyond its mandate.

CUF: In other words, you need an entity that can undertake projects that also incorporate nearby places like College Point, Shea Stadium and Flushing Meadows Park.

WC: The top priority is to define a boundary that says: these are the areas that we want to take a look at, these are the areas that will have tremendous long-range implications for this region and for this county and for the city. And that requires you to have a much broader view. A BID is rather limited.

CUF: How helpful has the Bloomberg administration been in addressing some of these issues in Flushing?

WC: I think they went a step beyond [previous administrations], and that should be complimented. For the first time, a giant task force was put together and [the city] put in the resources and we had multiple workshops and consensus building to arrive at a document, [which has been] published for all to see and to follow.

CUF: Beyond Flushing, what are some of the fundamental challenges in Queens for the economy going forward?

WC: We’ve got to get up on our feet. If the county of Queens were to become a city, it would be the fifth largest city in the United States. It’s larger than Houston. This county used to think on a very different level. The two World’s Fairs generated each time over 50 million visitors. We used to think on a global level. We used to compete on a global level. We need to get back on that mold.

CUF: Should the city’s government and business leaders be thinking of Queens, and all the boroughs outside of Manhattan, as engines for growth?

WC: Financial advisors always tell us to diversify, to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket. This is why Mayor Bloomberg made a smart move. He came from a financial background and he understands this. Our heavy reliance on the Wall Street area is not the solution. So that’s why I thought it was an intelligent approach to diversify, and the way you diversify is to engage the other boroughs. And, the boroughs, with the right public policy and the right guidance, could be tremendous economic generators. This administration recognizes that there needs to be a five-borough strategy. Each one is unique. The Bronx and Staten Island are different than Queens. Brooklyn and Queens share some similar characteristics. But each on its own is a different city. By using an integrated strategy, this could go a long way.

[billyblancoNYC]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 270-05
July 12, 2005
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/index.jsp?epi_menuItemID=c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c70 1c789a0&epi_menuID=13ecbf46556241d3daf2f1c701c789a0&epi_baseMenuID=27579af732d48f86a62fa24601c789a0&pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fht ml%2F2005b%2Fpr270-05.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1

MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES SELECTION OF DEVELOPER FOR DOWNTOWN FLUSHING SITE

$500 Million Project Will Become the Heart of Revitalized Flushing and Create More than 4,000 Jobs

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was joined today by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Councilmember John Liu to announce the selection of Flushing Commons LLC to redevelop Municipal Parking Lot 1, a five-acre, City-owned site in Downtown Flushing in Queens. The privately-funded, $500 million project calls for the creation of a new town square, approximately 500 residential units, 350,000 square feet of retail space, a business-class hotel, a community center, recreational facilities and new parking. The project is expected to create more than 2,000 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs. Flushing Commons is a joint venture of The Rockefeller Development Corporation of Manhattan and TDC Development and Construction Corporation, a local Flushing developer. State Senator Toby Stavisky, Assemblymember Jimmy Meng, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development & Rebuilding Daniel L. Doctoroff, NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) President Andrew M. Alper and New York City Central Labor Council President Brian McLaughlin also attended the announcement held at the Flushing Town Hall.

"Improving and investing in neighborhoods in all five boroughs is at the core of our Administration's economic development strategy, and the high quality of the responses we received for Municipal Lot 1 is evidence of the excellent development potential of Downtown Flushing," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The Flushing Commons proposal features dynamic retail choices, reasonable parking solutions, and much-needed community amenities that will benefit the entire neighborhood and attract visitors. It also provides an attractive town square area that will become the center of community activity, a critical element in the development framework for Downtown Flushing that was created last year. "

"Today's announcement is the culmination of a decision process that involved the community, elected officials and the City administration in a combined effort to provide reasonable and responsible development in Downtown Flushing," said Borough President Helen Marshall. "This comprehensive plan will provide for everything from parking to apartments to retail space and, at the same time, generate thousands of jobs. Exciting plans are afoot for Downtown Flushing, Willets Point and Shea Stadium. We look forward to cutting the ribbon to open this development and look forward to working together again to plan for the future needs of our communities."

"This effort is not just about Municipal Lot 1," said Councilmember Liu. "It's about transforming Downtown Flushing into a destination of choice in our region. This project will set the tone and direction for Flushing for years to come. The community will benefit from the many new public amenities created and from the positive effects from this project rippling throughout the entire area."

The proposed project, called Flushing Commons, includes:

*
A one-acre town square of open space with a fountain plaza to be maintained by the developer.
*
Parking for 2,000 cars at below market rates in response to community requests.
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A 50,000-square-foot recreational center featuring amenities such as a swimming pool, basketball courts and an exercise room with memberships available to community residents.
*
A business-class hotel with meeting rooms and banquet facilities.
*
About 500 residential units, with 20% marketed to seniors.
*
350,000 square feet of retail space including local and national retailers, restaurants and a multi-screen cinema.
*
20,000 square feet of space for community or cultural tenants.
*
15,000 square feet of space for small professional businesses.

The project will incorporate low impact development techniques and green building technologies. The developer is also committed to hiring from the local community and will create a comprehensive strategy to identify local businesses and residents to work on the project during and after construction.

"This site has been part of my daily life for the past two decades," said TDC Development and Construction Corporation Chairman & CEO Michael Lee. "For years we have prepared blueprints for Flushing's improvement. Today, the team at TDC is honored to have the opportunity to devote our local and global experience to make the best of a site that is so familiar and dear to me. TDC will ensure that our on-going and future projects in the area have a strong synergy with our Flushing Commons development, addressing expanded retail and entertainment as well as housing needs. With our partner, The Rockefeller Group, and major investor, Apollo Real Estate Advisors, we are committed to creating a civic heart that responds to community needs today, while contemplating those of future generations."

"We are honored and excited by our selection, and we intend to make Flushing Commons a landmark to be proud of," said Rockefeller Group President and CEO Jonathan D. Green. "We believe that our proposal represents a way to realize many of the City's goals for the development of Downtown Flushing: to renew downtown and to enhance the community feeling and the quality of life by creating a new residential community surrounded by lively retail. With our partners at TDC, we hope to create a destination that captures the vibrant mix of cultures and ethnicities that make up the borough."

"This exciting project will be a catalyst for other projects that will help us revitalize Downtown Flushing, invigorate the Flushing River waterfront and connect to a redeveloped Willets Point, making the entire area a regional destination," said Deputy Mayor Doctoroff. "I commend the local elected officials, members of Community Board 7, President Alper and the staff at EDC for their commitment and contribution to selecting the proposal that contained the best components to bring new life and excitement to Downtown Flushing. I also want to thank the developer, Flushing Commons, for its sensitivity to the needs and desires of the residents and local businesses."

The Development Framework for Downtown Flushing is a result of an extensive collaboration among City and State agencies, local elected officials, advocacy groups, community members and local business leaders. It regards Downtown Flushing, the Flushing River waterfront and Willets Point as a coherent whole and outlines a land use planning strategy for strengthening the entire area as a regional center. EDC also met with local elected officials and members of Community Board 7 to solicit feedback on elements of the 13 proposals received for Municipal Lot 1.

In addition to the development of Municipal Lot 1, the City and Borough President Marshall worked with the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the eastern edge of the site, to acquire a half-acre parcel north of the Church where it plans to build more than 100 units of affordable housing and street level retail. To ensure that these two projects complement each other, Flushing Commons agreed to collaborate with the Church on development plans.

A number of other projects are underway in the Flushing area. The City is undertaking an $11 million Downtown Flushing pedestrian project to provide enhanced streetscape and pedestrian improvements. In addition, EDC issued a Request for Expressions of Interest to develop Willets Point, which produced 13 exciting and innovative proposals that are currently under review. These initiatives have not gone unnoticed by the private sector. Muss Development Company recently announced the development of a $600 million, 3.2 million-square-foot retail and residential center, called Flushing Town Center, on 14 acres of former industrial property in western Flushing.

[Gulcrapek]

Hot.

[peterd]

About time. I'm looking forward to this. But forget about parking anywhere near Flushing while this is being built - the area is really going to suffer until this is done.

[krulltime]

Ok well like I said I really like this development:

http://www.pbase.com/image/46157812.jpg

[ddawg]

for someone who has been raised in flushing, and someone who never understood conservationalists, i hafta say, i'm against this plan esp. rite now - at least in municpal lot 1 - and apparently a lot of residents and owners in the area are against it. in the past few years, flushing has been experiencing a construction boom - well.. boom to some, overdevelopment for others (one of the top complaints in queens taking in a recent poll was overdevelopment). basically, a bunch of developers have been randomly sprouting high-end apartment/condo complexes, taking advantage of the real estate market. however, for us who live in flushing, we're losing a lot of old shops and the life that defined flushing in exchange for these cold towers of glass and steel. i mean, i'll admit, i used to complain about the smells, and the green water goo, and the congestion - but i much rather have that than a mini-manhattan in flushing, where the same cookie cutter stores and lifeless condo towers take the spot of shops i spent years going to. in addition, w/ congestion as bad as it is, a new complex like this is only going to make life that much worse in flushing, along main street, northern, and union streets - and taking out the entire municipal parking lot isn't going to help it one bit! at this point, many shop owners in flushing r mad b/c this is going to hurt their business in exchange for the big business that wud move in to the area.

instead of funding these large deals formed by overzealous developers, the city shud spend more money helping improve the overall quality of life in flushing - helping ease traffic congestion (ever try driving down main on a saturday at noon?), improving public transportation (a bunch of buses all converage on main near roosevelt), cleaning up flushing river/bay (that still emits foul odors), fixing up willets point (full of abandoned warehouses and junkyards), adding more greenery (and not the sidewalk water - we need more trees and parks in teh area!), focusing on abandoned buildings and areas (like the theatre on northern and main) - that's something that'll truly benefit the residents of flushing, as opposed to making downtown flushing another mini-manhattan outdoor shopping mall for those outside. nimby!

[krulltime]

^ I am so sorry you feel that way... Well I am all for new development anyway but you have some good points though.

[Stern]

for someone who has been raised in flushing, and someone who never understood conservationalists, i hafta say, i'm against this plan esp. rite now - at least in municpal lot 1 - and apparently a lot of residents and owners in the area are against it. in the past few years, flushing has been experiencing a construction boom - well.. boom to some, overdevelopment for others (one of the top complaints in queens taking in a recent poll was overdevelopment). basically, a bunch of developers have been randomly sprouting high-end apartment/condo complexes, taking advantage of the real estate market. however, for us who live in flushing, we're losing a lot of old shops and the life that defined flushing in exchange for these cold towers of glass and steel. i mean, i'll admit, i used to complain about the smells, and the green water goo, and the congestion - but i much rather have that than a mini-manhattan in flushing, where the same cookie cutter stores and lifeless condo towers take the spot of shops i spent years going to. in addition, w/ congestion as bad as it is, a new complex like this is only going to make life that much worse in flushing, along main street, northern, and union streets - and taking out the entire municipal parking lot isn't going to help it one bit! at this point, many shop owners in flushing r mad b/c this is going to hurt their business in exchange for the big business that wud move in to the area.

instead of funding these large deals formed by overzealous developers, the city shud spend more money helping improve the overall quality of life in flushing - helping ease traffic congestion (ever try driving down main on a saturday at noon?), improving public transportation (a bunch of buses all converage on main near roosevelt), cleaning up flushing river/bay (that still emits foul odors), fixing up willets point (full of abandoned warehouses and junkyards), adding more greenery (and not the sidewalk water - we need more trees and parks in teh area!), focusing on abandoned buildings and areas (like the theatre on northern and main) - that's something that'll truly benefit the residents of flushing, as opposed to making downtown flushing another mini-manhattan outdoor shopping mall for those outside. nimby!

You missed the boat a number of years ago. The eastern European heritage that used to be a stronghold in that part of queens, the meat markets, the restaurants, the dance halls, and the institutes, have all but packed up and left. Its unfortunate but they won’t be coming back. The area has been overridden by Korean Americans, the Eastern Europeans weren’t killed off, and rather they became homogenized with the American culture. Perhaps one day people will resent that the Koreans have become mainstream, I for one don’t think it’s a bad thing. That said we must pursue democratic ideals so that cultures can intertwine through such modern and progressive developments like this one encourage.

[ddawg]

i disagree with you. there's a diff. between a natural assimiliation of culture groups overtime and the overdevelopment and cookiecutter manhattanization of an area by a few developers trying to seize a booming market. to force a "overridden people" or culture to conform to one's ideas of what's modern and correct isn't the right way to proceed either - what is american culture to u?

for me, having that nice pot of numerous cultures and shops owned by mom's and dad's across the block of one another seems much more american in heart and authentic to me than having another glass shopping mall plaza w/ the same williams & sonoma, crate and barrel, and fast food food court that u can find in a 30 min. drive from any location. if u really want that, just drive to roosevelt field, 59th street, manhattan mall, or walt whitman wall. i rather enjoy the unique ethnic diversity of flushing that exists now.

[ddawg]

^ I am so sorry you feel that way... Well I am all for new development anyway but you have some good points though.

new development is fine - i'm for new development - but i rather it be something that would help improve the community - there r better ways to help develop the community than exacerbate the many problems and issues that exist in flushing today. if it was a large cultural center, or a concert hall, or a new waterfront, that would sound great, as opposed to another shopping mall, large residental condo complex that's being proposed now.

[ASchwarz]

The biggest current problem in Flushing is lack of housing. This project addresses that need.

This project was developed following consultations with the community. It includes senior housing, open space, community meeting space and additional parking.

As for the Flushing waterfront, it is being redeveloped with parkland, a promenade and residential space.

[ddawg]

The biggest current problem in Flushing is lack of housing. This project addresses that need.

This project was developed following consultations with the community. It includes senior housing, open space, community meeting space and additional parking.

As for the Flushing waterfront, it is being redeveloped with parkland, a promenade and residential space.

u say lack of housing - but who is the housing for? walk to the middle of main and roosevelt and look at what's being built. rite now a lot of the construction in flushing isn't for low-income residents - they're new high-end condos and apt. towers that may soon begin displacing businesses owned by mid-to-low income families. i can only wonder who in the "community" the project consulted with.

[ASchwarz]

The community needs housing for all income groups. This project helps address the need. If you read the official City press release, it mentions over 100 units of affordable housing are being built by a local church on an adjacent site.

From the press release:

"In addition to the development of Municipal Lot 1, the City and Borough President Marshall worked with the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the eastern edge of the site, to acquire a half-acre parcel north of the Church where it plans to build more than 100 units of affordable housing and street level retail."

[billyblancoNYC]

Please read up on things...

The city is putting millions into studies and implementation of those studies to 1) Improve the streetscape, 2) To improve traffic and mass transit, 3) To redevelop Willets Point, the Flushing River, and the rest of Downtown Flushing.

http://downtownflushing.com/

These projects onlt enhance the area. This, along with the little things like the Flushing BID is what is needed. The area has good mass transit and should be developed fully. The surrounding areas (Flushing North, College Point, Whitestone, Bayside) are all being downzoned to prevent overdevelopment. DT FLUSHING will act as the DT core of NE Queens, like it should be.

In addition to the apartments, I like the retail components of this and of the 725K sq. ft. of Muss Development right on the river. The taxes and jobs should stay in Queens, not LI.

[elfgam]

I think it's good that flushing is become a new center for NE queens. I only wish the small-town mentality that engulfs the boroughs would be reversed: for some reason quality architecture in NYC is confined to certain parts of Manhattan. Crappy brick panels, off the shelf Kawneer storefront, cheap GFRC column covers and a retro-1920s look to a context that's never existed in Flushing is a horrible waste for what is to be a NEW CENTERPIECE for the nighborhood. Look at places like London: it's in these new, non-contextual areas that you should be encouraging the kind of centerpeice developments that will make a neigborhood.

Is there any ever talk of extending the seven train? Adding two stops further into flushing/north flushing would really releive a lot of traffic.

[peterd]

The biggest current problem in downtown Flushing is not lack of housing; it's traffic. On weekends it's worse than Manhattan. Extending the 7 train eastwards would be great, but I doubt it's on anyone's radar at the MTA.

And only in my dreams do we see a Northern Boulevard subway, a Main Street subway, and a subway connection to LGA. Sigh.

Anyway, an ultra-distinctive architectural showpiece would have been nice, but at least it looks like it's going to be nicer than most anything Flushing (and Queens in general!) has already. Even with potential traffic issues, I'm looking forward to it.

[nym9]

Is there any ever talk of extending the seven train? Adding two stops further into flushing/north flushing would really releive a lot of traffic.

haha. I dont think subway lines are often "extended". Besides, the LIRR which connects at Main St. goes North, from Auburndale to Bayside etc

[peterd]

haha. I dont think subway lines are often "extended".


Well, they're trying to do just that on the *other* end of the 7...

[nym9]

Well, they're trying to do just that on the *other* end of the 7...

Inside a pre-built structure, far as I know the flushing line ends on roosevelt.

[peterd]

Inside a pre-built structure, far as I know the flushing line ends on roosevelt.


What do you mean by a pre-built structure? Are you saying the tunnel to extend the 7 to the Javits Center already exists?

On the eastern end, the 7 runs along Roosevelt Avenue and ends at Main Street.

[billyblancoNYC]

FLUSH WITH POTENTIAL: A new mixed-use development in downtown Flushing is set to revitalize the underused and underserved Queens neighborhood.

NORTHEAST REAL ESTATE BUSINESS
May, 2005

By Kevin Jeselnik

http://www.muss.com/news/050105.phtml


When complete, the Flushing Town Center will feature 750,000 square feet of retail space and a parking deck in the three-level base structure, with more than 1,000 apartments and condos in six residential towers constructed above it.
Years ago, in the late 1980s, Muss Development Company of Forest Hills, New York, had the foresight to acquire a blighted parcel of industrial property in Queens and stow it away for future use. That 14-acre brownfield site, which is located at the intersection of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, is now at the center of a major revival underway in Queens. Located in west Flushing — a Queens neighborhood and one of the boroughs largest business centers — the site is being readied for the development of one of the most expansive mixed-use projects to go up in Queens in years. The Flushing Town Center will be a $600 million, 3.2 million-square-foot retail and residential center that will build upon and enhance the vitality of downtown Flushing. CE Flushing LLC, an affiliate of Muss Development Company, is spearheading the project.

"Most of Flushing's commercial and residential development — though there has been very little of it in recent years — occurred to the east of downtown while the west was always very industrial," says Jim Jarosik, senior vice president with Muss Development Company "So for quite a period of time, the city has envisioned the redevelopment of the west side of Flushing" The redevelopment of underutilized property in the boroughs has been a priority of New York City's brass for some time as well, in 1998, the City Planning Commission acted to rezone the Flushing Town Center site and others in the surrounding area for commercial and residential use. Soon after, Jarosik says, a number of national retailers expressed interest in a potential retail development on the 14-acre tract. It was then that Muss Development Company began preliminary development plans.

After assuming ownership of the property, which was previously owned and operated by Con Edison, Muss Development Company operated the property as a light industrial center. "There were some buildings from the previous owner, so we just rented those buildings while holding the site, waiting for the right time to develop it," Jarosik says. "And beginning about 4 or 5 years ago, there was a lot of interest coming from major retailers. We used that [interest] as the cornerstone to create this development."

Now, with a master plan in place and with the aid of various state tax benefits offered to developers performing remediation on former brownfield sites, Muss is ready to begin. However, before construction starts, Muss is completing extensive testing on the site and performing remediation of contaminated areas. 'We have done a lot of testing already," explains Jarosik. "We are completing the delineation and characterization of the soil, and there will be an operation in early summer where we will be removing areas of soil and exporting it off the site." Once the land rehabilitation is complete, Jarosik expects to break ground on foundation work for the buildings by the end of the year.

In planning the project, the team assessed both the lack of a significant retail presence in the area and the ever-present need for housing in New York City. The developers designed Flushing Town Center to deliver a large amount of both. When it is completed in 2007, it will boast approximately 750,000 square feet of retail, some 1,000 residential units and a 2,650-car parking structure. 'We designed a project that has three levels of retail in two buildings with a parking deck in the middle," explains Jarosik. "That three-level structure acts as a podium, and there are six residential towers that are going to built on top of that platform."

For the retail component New York City-based architect Perkins Eastman has designed a vertical large-format complex comprising two buildings — the West building and East building — with a parking garage in between. Muss sought to attract the popular big box-format retailers and tailored the buildings for that use. "The spaces have been designed with 20-foot floor-to-floor heights and 30-foot to 40-foot column spacing to attract large-format retailers, be it a discount department store, a home improvement store, or a category-dominant big box such as Best Buy, Marshalls or Staples," Jarosik says.

The West building has a footprint of approximately 135,000 square feet, with each level roughly 260 feet deep and 500 feet wide. "The ground floor of the West building sets up nicely for one large retailer to occupy the entire 135,000 square feet — you could plug any of a number of big box retailers into that space," says Jarosik. 'We have terraced the building so it is a little smaller going up. The upper levels are going to split up well for a mix of tenants."

The East building proved a more challenging building to design, but the end result is similar. "We have carved it up into a variety of spaces ranging anywhere from 20,000 square feet to 80,000 square feet. And then there is one tenant that will effectively occupy the entire 190,000-square-foot top floor," Jarosik explains. Though leasing is in its early stages, the retail anchors for both buildings (which are not yet released to the public) have been signed. The retail space is scheduled to be open for occupation by spring of 2007 with shops ready for business in the fall of that year.

In order to incorporate a significant amount of residential space in the development, the team had to be creative. Separate entrances for shoppers and residents have been designed around the development's most important comer — that which is closest to downtown Flushing. "That is the tightest comer of the site, so we had to figure out how to put both the residential and retail entrances near that spot. So, to the left of the comer on College Point Boulevard, we put the retail entrance. To the right, on Roosevelt Avenue, we put the residential entrance," Jarosik says. Residents will enter their designated lobby and take an elevator up to the roof level of the three-story retail/parking complex. At that point they will exit onto the sky lobby — a streetscape environment on which the six towers are situated, There, they will walk through a landscaped esplanade to their particular tower and take an elevator to their unit The end result is a community of condominium and apartment homes that seem to have been constructed at street level.

The residential units are being marketed to a range of demographics; Jarosik describes the target market as "upscale, middle-income and multi-ethnic." The developers have given special consideration to the residents that will live above this fully planned retail center Explains Jarosik, I think it has been a particular challenge for our architect to create this large retail environment that needs to be exciting and bright, with large signage and lighting, yet also create a residential community that needs to be quiet and distinctive. So it has been very demanding to develop the actual fabric of the building around that point."

From the challenges the team faced, a striking example of mixed-use development has emerged. Muss evaluated the site, the community and city and created the best possible use for the property Not only will Queens residents now have a destination retail center in their borough, but a significant amount of housing has been provided to a metro area that is much in need. "The company's background is primarily residential in nature, so our instincts are always to develop residential. Josh Muss, principal of Muss Development Company, is a great believer in creating housing for New York City He felt it was very important and necessary to create housing as part of this development," Jarosik says.

And perhaps just as significant is the manner in which these much-needed components were delivered. The team brought the concept of residential over retail from Manhattan out into the boroughs. "A project with multi-tower residential on top of vertical, large-format retail in New York City has not been done in this scale or size before," says Jarosik. By getting the most out of the property, Muss has kick-started the redevelopment of a once-blighted part of town and is bringing a true mixed-use project to metro New York City.

[nym9]

What do you mean by a pre-built structure? Are you saying the tunnel to extend the 7 to the Javits Center already exists?

Im saying there is an underground structure from Times Square to the Port Authority, UNLIKE the last stop on the other end (Roosevelt ave)

On the eastern end, the 7 runs along Roosevelt Avenue and ends at Main Street.

It runs along Roosevelt, passes Main st. and ends (on Roosevelt).

[billyblancoNYC]

Flushing Moves Beyond 'Valley of the Ashes'
Commercial Real Estate
http://www.nysun.com/article/17382

BY MICHAEL STOLER
July 21, 2005
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The World's Fair arrived in Flushing Meadows Park in 1939 and brought about the elimination of the Corona dumps, dubbed the "valley of ashes" by F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great Gatsby." Twenty-five years later, the New York Mets celebrated the opening of Shea Stadium in the Willets Point neighborhood. Four decades later, massive development is finally taking shape in the area, which boasts a waterfront and the Flushing River and is