From the Daily News:A proposal to tackle both transportation and housing issues in downtown Flushing with a single project is stuck in neutral.
The Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corp. pitched a multifaceted plan in the fall of 2009 to upgrade the Long Island Rail Road station off Main St. and add housing units at the same time.
The city Department of Transportation and local community board gave a thumbs up for the proposal, dubbed the Flushing Transit Oriented Development Plan.
But the project is now on the back burner, city officials said, because of higher-priority developments in the area, such as Flushing Commons, the Macedonia Plaza and Willets Point.
For the plan to move forward, the city Economic Development Corp. and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development must sign off, said ex-Beep Claire Shulman, president of the Flushing Willets Point Corona LDC.
The LDC's plan calls for significant upgrades to the LIRR Flushing station, including elevators for wheelchair access, creating a canopy to shield riders from weather and a platform extension to allow up to 12 cars.
The plan also calls for building housing and commercial space on what is currently Municipal Parking Lot 3 - adjacent to the station and owned by the DOT. It also would include a multilevel parking garage.
The project's price tag in 2009 was just under $200 million.
"Transportation improvements are essential in downtown Flushing and so is affordable housing for all those folks who work in the restaurants and shops along the Main St. corridor," Shulman said, calling the project "essential for the future of Flushing."
13 comments:
We've all watched CB#7 in action for years.
They rarely give a thumbs down to any developer's project.
That's why Flushing is choked with over development.
This phony transportation "improvement" that Shulman supports...which amounts to little more than a new entrance and fancy canopy for the Main St. LIRR station...is like putting a band aid on a mortal wound.
Flushing is frozen in grid lock conditions and this won't cure it.
So let the Asiatics, who are used to living cheek to jowl, deal with the mess.
I just whiz past the overcrowded unsanitary downtown area high above Main Street from Auburndale thanks to the LIRR.
From there I can watch China men spitting on the sidewalk.
How vivid. How colorful...
bustling stench ridden Floo-shing!
The Willets Point and Flushing Commons project will wind up on the rocks too.
TDC's Wellington Chen and Michael Meyers know this and are already (most likely) calculating their loses and scaling back their expectations for both projects.
Tsk, tsk, tsk...too bad Mr. Chen.
Now go and throw one of your famous hissy-fits.
Flushing is choked, College Point is gagging, Bayside is in full Developer gear and Whitestone is getting started! It won't be long all of these once beautiful communitees will look just like the rat holes that everyone ran away from. Thanks to Halloran, Koo and the Community Boards.
Flushing Transit Oriental Development Plan?
Claire Shillman is lost in the fog of her own putrid flatulence!!! Flushing River is a bed of roses compared to that old sea cow!
How does it make sense to continue overdeveloping the rest of downtown before the lirr station is upgraded?
How does she think the people working in the shops on Main St will afford the new apartments?
Anyone remember the Hall & Oates song You're Out of Touch?
As of today, 6/32/11, what was formerly Caldors has now opened into J-MART.
"Transportation improvements are essential in downtown Flushing and so is affordable housing for all those folks who work in the restaurants and shops along the Main St. corridor," Shulman said, calling the project "essential for the future of Flushing."
Screw you Claire Bear. The rest of us don't need "affordable" housing?
Claire's baby?
Hell...she's way past menopause!
Unless she borrowed one of Melinda Katz's kids.
"J Mart" is a Sam Chang run operation.
Chang is the guy who's always in trouble with the DOB, DEP, etc.
He builds those cheap hotels all over Chinatown.
What a "KLASSY" addition to Floo-shing.
Live octopus served in the mall food court to celebrate!
Wait till the Vallones and their developer friends join the party!
Live octopus served in the mall food court to celebrate!
Live octopus? I'm in!
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