Sunday, January 16, 2011

More hotels coming to Flushing


From the Times Ledger:

Downtown Flushing’s skyline will gain two new towers if a pair of developers move forward with the plans they presented before Community Board 7 Monday night.

Their plans are to start building two 12-story buildings in the downtown corridor within the next year if they get final approval from the city Board of Standards and Appeals, which will now make a final ruling on the projects.

Leavitt Street LLC plans to put up the first building on a vacant lot at 39-16 College Point Blvd. that used to be a gas station. Jia Ye Realty LLC plans to replace a two-story building at 36-27 Prince St. with its tower.

The buildings did not undergo a full vetting by CB 7 or the BSA since the hotels are to be built as-of-right, with only one sticking point that needed to be reviewed. As eight-story buildings, they would have been able to go up without any community review, but in order to build 12 stories, their developers were required to get a Federal Aviation Administration waiver because of their close proximity to LaGuardia Airport.

The city Department of Buildings approved the projects, with the stipulation that the waivers must be approved, and on Monday CB 7 voted on whether or not to approve the height restriction, a formality of sorts given the FAA’s approval of it.

Board members were not allowed to base their votes on any other considerations, such as the impact on traffic, schools, the economic viability or appearance of the hotels. The members voted to support the FAA’s decision to grant the waiver by unanimous vote, clearing one of the final hurdles for the buildings to move forward. A couple of board members grumbled about voting to approve the waiver before casting their votes, saying the projects would have a negative impact on the downtown area.

14 comments:

Gary the Agnostic said...

That's certainly filling a void in Flushing.

Tribune Mike said...

Speaking of filling voids, my girls are looking forward to Flushing hotels. The more, the merrier. My classified ad pages will outnumber the news pages!!!

Anonymous said...

Fuck it, there's no "preserving" Flushing and that thought has been long gone.

Developers need to crank development into 5th gear and invest big bucks into Flushing WHILE simultaneously building schools, parks and possibly a 7 train extension to Parsons Boulevard or even as far as Murray Street.

Anonymous said...

More "hot sheets" hotels where Oriental men...will retreat to stir some whores' "honey" pots with their teenie-weenie rice noodles...out of site of their wives.

Hey...isn't that the Asian custom...concubines on the side?

No doubt you'll also be finding some 109th PCT cops availing themselves of these same spots.

Sexual favors anyone?

Anonymous said...

Gee the fighting 109th will have some more whorehouses to get more under the table $$$$$$$$$ from.

Anonymous said...

As an advisory group free to use their best judgments, CB 7 Board members COULD have based their votes on any considerations they deemed important, including traffic impact, etc. But they were TOLD that they could not base their considerations on above criteria.
So who told them that they couldn't?

Anonymous said...

The article on Times ledger is miss leading. The zoning for both properties do not need a variance for the 12 story high since c4-3 & c4-2 have no height limit. I bet good money on that both applications are seeking to increase their allowed floor areas. Greedy developers! Shame on CB7 members!

Anonymous said...

More Chinese garbage coming to Flushing.

Anonymous said...

As someone who frequently passes through that area, I have three issues:
(1)Nobody who lives in College Point claims to live in downtown flushing. Is this a reference to Flushing workers living in College Point?
(2)I thought the hotels were barely making any money. But apparently they're making enough profit that developers sense a business opportunity to build more.
(3)Why hotels? Why not build something so that people can work in Flushing rather than commute 1.5+ hours to work in the City? There's certainly enough workers and would-be entrepreneurs.

A. Whore said...

Hey! Mind your own business! Those ads in the Trib pages aren't free, ya know!

Anonymous said...

Looks like garbage, no one but Chinese will buy there.

Moby said...

Sexual favors anyone?

Can I have a lolly? I'm told I'm a real sucker!

Anonymous said...

Seems like a lot of people here are jealous of asians :)

Anonymous said...

Seems like a lot of people here are jealous of asians :)

Well that's a new slant!