Developer to demolish motel and wait for 421a to come back

From Sunnyside Post:

The Queens Motor Inn in Woodside, a hot sheets hotel where rooms are rented by the hour, will be torn down to make way for a new apartment complex next summer.

Owners of the one-star Yelp reviewed motel, located at 64-11 Queens Boulevard, recently accepted an offer to sell the building which will be finalized come spring.

The hotel is known for its low rates, where guests can book a room for $57 for a four hour stay – or get nightly deals for about $100.

The owner of the hotel, Queemo Corp., recently accepted an offer from developer Gadi Ben Hamo, of Woodside-based Mount Sinai Properties. The sale will not be finalized until next spring. The price details were not disclosed.

Ben Hamo filed the permit for demolition yesterday, and the Inn is scheduled to shut down in May 2017, with demolition and construction beginning soon after that, he said.

Ben Hamo said he plans to build an apartment building that will include about 120 rental units, some of which will be classified as affordable.

He said that he won’t break ground on the project until the state legislature resurrects the 421a tax abatement program, which essentially exempts developers/owners from paying property taxes for 10 to 15 years.