From Crain's:Eight years after floating plans for a huge residential/retail project, and just weeks before a deadline for breaking ground, the developers of the $850 million Flushing Commons project in Queens filed for their first permit to actually begin the work.
The city Department of Buildings is currently reviewing the application filed by TDC Development International and The Rockefeller Group. The duo is seeking approval to spend $3.5 million to modify a portion of Municipal Lot 1, the 5.5-acre parking lot in the bustling neighborhood. That initial job will begin to lay the groundwork for the project's first phase, which includes construction of about 160 residential units and 350,000 square feet of retail or commercial space. It will also include a YMCA and park. Another 450 residential units and 150,000 square feet of retail or commercial space are slated for the second phase of the project, for which no starting date has been set.
Under their agreement with the city, the developers' first priority has to be rearranging the parking spaces in the downtown area to maintain the same parking capacity currently provided by lot, which will be demolished over time to make way for the new buildings. According to sources familiar with the project, the initial work under the permit will allow the developers to move some of the lots entrances and exits to clear the way to excavate for a new garage.
Under the contract signed between the developers and Economic Development Corp., which shepherded the project through the approval process, TDC and Rockefeller were required to break ground by Oct. 31.
19 comments:
Gee...will the quality of life in downtown Flooshing improve or get worse with this ridiculous project...while in-progress or completed?
What a nightmare! Who would want to build in a dirty, Third World ghetto?
I can see Flooshing looking like the bombed-out Bronx of the 70s one day when all this shit new construction starts crumbling!
Oh - except the buildings in the Bronx were actually well-built back in the day.
The usual Crain's BS...breaking wind is more like it!
Notice the term "bustling" (alternate word for overcrowded stinky Asian slum) pulled from the vocabulary (yawn) once again...used to promote Flushing.
This is but one of those few adjectives generally used to describe flush town...in an effort to divert our eyes AND NOSES from the reality that actually exists there:
bustling; vibrant; yadda yadda...the spin doctors' attempt to promote the value of its real estate.
Hurrah...one Flushing! But for whom? Europeans need not apply!
LOL!
This is just a last push to get started before Bloomberg leaves, or else Mike Myers loses his job with TDC.
Rememer Zeckendorf wanted to build on this very same site decades ago, but the so-so economy put an end to their efforts.
So what has changed for the better since?
TDC won't be able to lure foreign (Chinese) investors to an overpriced Flushing real estate market.
They'd be better off investing in Germany.
There goes another printing business contract for CB7's Chuck Apelian down the crapper.
I wouldn't mind living here....as long as there is other races in the building beside a bunch of classless, rude Asians! It is close to the neighborhood I grew up in, which I can definitely use!! But yes, flushing is way overpriced....these Asians don't care though because most of them just rent their houses from their churches! They are the most desperate people I have ever seen...they will pay any price just to live in nyc! I want to move from this city and I grew up here! But nyc is nothing but an overpriced third world looking city! If I didn't need to be close to my parents, I would have taken a one way ticket back down to Maryland (where I lived for 5 years) an actual nice, reasonably price state!
With the Macedonia AME Church's building project, that parking lot (as well as egress from the lot) is a disaster. Can only imagine what it would be like if this project actually started.
I was up on Main Street last week. What a a dump! Even with a BID the area is just plain deplorable!
Illegal taxi vans. People walking into traffic. Dirty sidewalks and pan handlers. Don't bother with this project. It's a waste of money and would just add to the chaos that is already there.
It's gonna be great. Another congested nightmare for NYC. Where do they plan to put all the traffic and what state will it be in in 25 or 30 years and does anybody really give a shit! '
WHERE THE F**K DO YOU PARK!!!!!
I always here of this "BID" and I have to come to understand that it means "Business Improvement District"...... does this BID actually do ANYTHING?
I've lived in Flushing for 26 years and it doesn't seem like this "BID" has any effect on the Main Street area.
I really hope this park that they build at Flushing Commons has several apparatuses such as, but not limited to, pull up bars, dip, push up.
If not, fuck that park.
"Will Flushing Commons finally break ground?"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Why not? The local electeds and community board are known for breaking wind!!!
Notice how few cars the artist put on the rendering of this monstrosity. Must of been the traffic pattern about 75 years ago. Huh?
There's always something. If it's not one thing, it's another.
Wow I wish downtown Flushing looked liked that in the picture. Its clean and not crowded. But unless the area goes through some sort of tlc and gentrification it won't. Also making the zoning in Flushing a little stricter especially what's left of the residential blocks will also help to clean it up and make it more attractive to future homeowners, the surrounding area and the fact its close to transportation.
Go through gentrification? It was gentrified until the Asians effed it up!
Do we now we need young, educated, artsy, hipster-types to clean up Flushing?
Why don't the more educated Asians educate their own people on how to behave in this country?
My Asian friends say that it's hopeless - all they care about is money - to the exclusion of everything else!
They will chop down our trees and turn their houses into illegal, dormitory-style rentals (only renting to Chinese, of course) and pick through our garbage - there is only one measure - money!
These people are not as asset to our community! It's a pity - but the more you get to know them the less you respect them!
Everyone always talks about how Flushing use to be. Especially the ones that fled away a while ago and never looked back. No one ever tried to publicize with blogs or websites or even an organization to highlight the beautiful houses and buildings in Flushing, not to mention the significance of the area. N. Richmond Hill, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside Gardens, Ridgewood, and Douglaston are able to have historic districts. But for some reason the rich history. old houses and beautiful landscaped blocks of Flushing was never on anyones mind to preserve instead they ran away. I understand downtown Flushing is long gone. But there are still beautiful blocks and old homes left. Like Murray St. and blocks nearby, Parsons Blvd by Kissena and many other blocks by Kissena Park. There are many blogs and websites dedicated to individuals who are doing something to revitalize their neighborhood. We don't need complainers and quitters we need positive unity.
Here are some sites as examples of what individuals out there are doing...
http://circahouses.com/
http://newburghrestoration.com/
It's never too late to preserve what's left. People might appreciate it more since it's rare and a small preservation of our past!
Anal retentive Bloomberg will probably break wind before this catastrophe breaks ground! Bwahaha
It's gonna be great. Another congested nightmare for NYC. Where do they plan to put all the traffic and what state will it be in in 25 or 30 years and does anybody really give a shit!
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How dare you ask a sensible question regarding overdevelopment in Queens!! Now shut up and bend over like a good Queens drone!
As it is, I already use the LIRR to bypass the teaming, filthy, downtown hub.
With apologies to George M. Cohan:
"Only 23 minutes from Broadway (station)--think of the changes it brings. From the short time it takes--what a difference it makes".
Sigh!
Avoiding the dangerously overcrowded, rush hour Main Street subway platform, brings relief beyond belief.
Why did CB7 vote to approve Flushing Commons?
Maybe because it's the rookery of crookery!
Somebody's surely making some $$$$$$ off of this.
Other business improvement districts around NYC have shown dramatic results.
How can the Flushing BID dare to call itself a business improvement district?
Where's the "IMPROVEMENT"?
Does anybody see any "improvement"--besides the financial improvement of the BID's executive director ?
There have been at least 2 other "improvement" groups in the past, who tried to "improve" downtown Flushing.
They were also unsuccessful.
Conclusion:
Apparently, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!
Flushing has been flushed down the toilet!
And it stinks--but not as bad as some the political officials, who have been manipulating the situation for years--for their own personal gain, of course.
It ALL BEGAN with Donald Manes and his crew--a few of which are still around--intent on milking the tired old cow.
P.S.
Good luck "One Flushing". Hercules' labors were minimal compared to yours.
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