Sunday, January 18, 2009

Austin Street to be rezoned for residential

From The Real Deal:

A proposed rezoning in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens would allow residential development for the first time on a portion of Austin Street, but residents say the area is already overcrowded.

The rezoning would apply to eight blocks bound by Austin Street and Queens Boulevard, Yellowstone Boulevard and 72nd Road, with varying height restrictions.

While community residents are worried the zoning will bring increased development to the area, the inability of developers to borrow money amid a frozen credit market may make new projects unlikely. And, a local developer believes the zoning will actually dissuade developers from building residential towers.

"On the surface it seems like it would be appealing to a developer," said Anthony Colletti, COO of Cord Meyer. "What they did was they allowed residential development, but with prohibitive parking requirements."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd wager that the landlords on Austin Street are purposely inflating their rents to force businesses out so they can build giant, ugly apartment buildings instead.

Anonymous said...

WE ARE OVERCROWDED RIGHT NOW! OUR INFRASTRUCTURE IS ALREADY BEING STRETCHED PAST ITS CAPACITY! WE DON'T NEED THIS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS!!!!

Bryan said...

"And, a local developer believes the zoning will actually dissuade developers from building residential towers"


I doubt that.

Anonymous said...

Look at what happened in Williamsburg. Many of the shopping
areas have been converted to residential. Retail is scattered.
All the mom and pop shops that were around years ago are now multiple dwellings.
The same is coming to Austin

Anonymous said...

OK,lets stuff another few thousand people into the city.Whatever happened to "Quality of life"??? Will nyc become the next Tokyo.............or Calcutta??

Anonymous said...

You can blame Melinda Katz, the good-for-nothing. She is pro-development, wants small businesses out, and wants mega bucks from developers. Goodbye Austin St!