The Greek Restaurant Shanty Ruin Of Austin Street

Crappy told me about this shanty, apparently the roof couldn't persevere under the primal forces of Mother Nature or maybe Zeus. But like every other decrepit shanty, it still remains taking up valuable parking space, which is what the regulatory captured Department of Transportation Alternatives wants.

 

Developer demands upzoning for apartment building where Shalimar Diner once was

 

 

  Queens Post

A developer has filed plans with the Department of City Planning to have a Rego Park site where the Shalimar Diner was located rezoned.

The application was filed earlier this year by David Koptiev, the owner of the Forest Hills-based company Platinum Realty, who is looking to construct a nine-story, 74-unit project on the 63-68 Austin St. site.

The plans were certified by City Planning on Oct. 5 and the public review process has begun.

The site had been occupied by the Shalimar Diner from 1974 through to the end of 2018. The corner property was purchased by two LLCs owned by Koptiev for $6,550,000 on Nov. 15, 2018 from Alderton Associates.

Alderton was owned by Hildy Limondjian, whose family had the property for decades.

The Austin Street site is currently located in a R4 zoning district—with a C2-2 commercial overlay—which typically allows for a three-story mixed use building, according to City Planning documents.

 

Forest Hills is a ghost town

From the Queens Chronicle:

The recent disappearance of several Forest Hills fixtures continues an apparent trend in the neighborhood: the closing of businesses that its residents depend on.

Yellowstone Hardware & Supply Corp., founded in 1954, sold its last nuts and bolts back in November. As of Aug. 28, the venerable branch of Sterling National Bank, a cornerstone of the intersection of Continental Avenue and 108th Street, would offer no more interest or loans. This past spring, Key Food, which for decades stood at the corner of Queens and Yellowstone boulevards, closed its automatic doors forever.

A one-block stretch on Austin Street between 71st Road and 72nd Avenue reveals five deserted retail spaces, including those formerly occupied by New York & Company, a women’s clothing retailer, and a grocery store. A bridal shop is gone, too, along with the building that housed it. According to a hairdresser who declined to give his name but who indicated he has worked in the salon across the street for the past 14 years, the building was demolished about six years ago. The space remains an abandoned construction site.

Even a casual walk through the neighborhood offers plenty of other examples of properties that remain vacant. Continuing down Austin Street, one finds the window-covered remains of Sky Cafe, which served up tasty treats at the corner of 70th Road. A nearby AT&T Authorized Retailer is out of business, too, as is Barnes and Noble, one of the last remaining bookstores in the borough.

Toward the end of the street, where it meets Yellowstone Boulevard, Austin Wellness Pharmacy is but an empty shell behind a gated door.

The S&B Clothing Showroom for Men, which adjoined Key Food on Yellowstone, has been gone for years, perhaps a decade, some speculate. It was recently joined by the shuttered Aron’s Bakery, on the far side of the Long Island Rail Road trestle.

On the service road of Queens Boulevard, opposite MacDonald Park, an entire row of mom-and-pop businesses is gone: Party World, Urban Cuts & Color Salon & Spa, Yuriy’s Shoe Repair, Liz Cleaners, Worldwide Postal & Parcel Services and the corner Piu Bella restaurant.

Will you believe them or your own lying eyes?

If you want to see everything that is wrong with community boards in this city, read this piece in the Queens Chronicle. We all know that Joe Moretti has very publicly sent photos and complaints regarding this underpass to CB6 yet they claim that they have received no complaints.

From The Filth of Forest Hills:

In the above article:

“When contacted, Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio said the board has not received any complaints about the underpass. The same was true for CB 9, according to a representative.”

BUT THAT is completely false, “The Filth of Forest Hills” blog has been reporting on this situation with photos since March of 2018 and sending the posts to the not only the local community boards, but Councilmember Karen Koslowitz, Queens BP Melinda Katz and her staff, Senator Andrews Hevesi and DOS. In fact here is a response from community board 6 back in March. SO HOW can they say there have never been any complaints, when they have received SEVERAL from THE FILTH OF FOREST HILLS, plus post have been place in the Forest Hills Post as well.

QN06 (CB)
To thefilthofforesthillsqueens@yahoo.com
Mar 19 at 10:29 AM
Thank you for contacting Community Board 6.

We will forward your concerns to the New York City Department of Sanitation and New York City Council Member Karen Koslowitz.

Queens Community Board 6
104-01 Metropolitan Avenue
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Telephone: 718-263-9250
Fax: 718-263-2211

Name: The Filth of Forest Hills

Address:

Phone:

Email Address: thefilthofforesthillsqueens@yahoo.com

Questions or Comments: The Austin Street pedestrian underpass is filled with litter and dumped garbage, not to mention all the graffiti. Some fo the garbage like the photo of the bagged Christmas tree has been there for months. SO WHAT IS this board and the local hack elected officials are doing about this. AND why isn’t there more outrage from Forest Hills/Kew Garden residents about this. Keep being complacent, a homeless shelter hotel at the Comfort Inn housing single men has already causing issues and trash/litter, loitering and panhandling is already noticeable. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, to turn Forest Hills/Kew Gardens in the next ghetto like Jamaica Queens. https://thefilthofforesthillsqueens.wordpress.com/2018/03/11/the-filth-of-forest-hills-kew-garden-journey-continues-garbage-graffiti-mars-austin-street-underpass-kew-gardens-rodney-dangerfield-still-gets-no-respect-in-death/

HERE IS ANOTHER ONE SENT:

QN06 (CB)
To
Forest Hills
May 1 at 1:02 PM
Good Afternoon,

Please be advised that DSNY cleaned the debris from these locations. We will be contacting DOT regarding the graffiti.

Thank You!

Queens Community Board 6
104-01 Metropolitan Avenue
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Telephone: 718-263-9250
Fax: 718-263-2211
From: Forest Hills [thefilthofforesthillsqueens@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2018 7:23 PM
To: AnnMarie Boranian; GulluscioFrank; Andrew Hevesi; Helen Marshall; Karen Koslowitz; Melva Miller; Sally Wang; DSNY, Commissioner (DSNY); Queens Crap; Iciano, Bruno (DSNY); peter Mastrosimone; Greg Mocker; Channel 4 newstips; NY 1 NY1; Terranova, Ignazio (DSNY); Turso, Vito (DSNY)
Subject: [SUSPECTED SPAM] More garbage, more homeless, more not a damn thing being done about any of these situations in Forest Hills
Read below for more of the decline of Forest Hills.
AND in the meantime, the Austin Street Pedestrian Underpass Walkway is still a disgrace of grafitti, garbage and flooding that make it difficult to go up and down the stairs since the drain is clogged. The condition has been like this since December 2017. AND none of that garbage on those cement barriers on Queens Blvd have yet to be cleaned up and more garbage has been added.
Good job folks, wish I had a job where I did not have to do anything or be held accountable and bring home a nice hefty paycheck.
SHAME on you community boards. Why lie about this when you have recieved numerous complaints about this situation since March from this blog and even responded a couple of times to the complaints. AND where is Karen Koslowitz and Melinda Katz, each who have also received numerous complaints from this blog on this situation.

What exactly do these people do all day?

DOT is at it again

From the Queens Tribune:

Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) and Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) are calling on the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) not to follow through on plans to expand loading zones on Austin Street’s busy commercial strip.

Hevesi and Koslowitz said that they are attempting to facilitate a dialogue among the DOT and the Forest Hills Chamber of Commerce and local business merchants, who say that the expansion of the zones would limit parking for their customers.

The DOT has proposed a variety of changes to Austin Street, including new 60-foot loading zones that would provide 36 spaces with 30-minute limits for trucks. The zones could be utilized from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Monday through Friday.

Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., there would be eight loading zones providing 24 spaces, while three loading zones with nine spaces would be available between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

“If the businesses that these loading zones are intended to help are against them, then what is the point of this proposal?” Hevesi said. “Unless the DOT provides some reasonable explanation, then this remains an unnecessary solution in search of a problem.”

In a statement, a DOT spokeswoman said that the aim of the initiative is to establish curbside regulations that help to ease congestion and promote safety.

DOT tries to fix Austin Street

From Forest Hills Post:

The Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to combat congestion along Austin Street by adding truck loading zones, tweaking parking regulations and adding new crosswalks.

Representatives from the DOT presented the proposed changes before Community Board 6 Wednesday evening and said the plan would combat congestion caused by trucks double parking, pedestrians crossing mid-block and limited parking availability.

The plan targets Austin Street between 69th Road and 72nd Road. (click for DOT plan)

The DOT said that it plans to tackle the double-parking problem by creating nine 60-foot long loading zones that would take up to 27 parking spaces over the course of the day along Austin and adjacent streets.

5-story building to replace Forest Hills small businesses

From Forest Hills Post:

A block of shops on 71st Road are going to be torn down and replaced with a 5-story mixed use building, according to filings with the Department of Buildings.

The stores, located between 107-21 to 107-25th Road, will be replaced with a building comprised of ground floor retail and four stories of office space.

Joel Mandel, whose firm the Forest Hills Property Group owns the building, said that the tenants—Austin Fancy Cuts, City Printers and Anthony Kids—will be moving out this year. The convenience store Kwick Stop has already closed.

The building is part of a lot that includes 71-23 and 71-25 Austin Street, located on the corner of Austin and 71st Road. Those structures will not be touched.

Pedestrians lucky to escape debris from rooftop accident

DNA Info/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

From DNA Info:

A car crashed into a the wall of a rooftop parking lot on Austin Street Sunday evening, ripping a hole in it and sending dozens of bricks falling onto a busy sidewalk Sunday evening, officials and witnesses said.

The incident occurred just after 8 p.m. atop a two-story commercial building housing several businesses, including Exo Cafe, a Lucille Roberts gym and PM Pediatrics.

Sources at the scene said that the valet accidentally hit the gas instead of the break, causing the car to smash into the wall.

A representative for the parking lot declined to comment.

No one was injured in the crash and the driver refused medical attention, but the falling bricks damaged three cars, according to fire and police officials.

Target replacing Forest Hills B&N

From the Daily News:

A new Target store is slated to take over the space formerly occupied by Barnes & Noble at 7000 Austin St., in Forest Hills, the Daily News has learned. The store will be the first flexible-sized location in Queens for Target, which has recently been offering more compact shopping experiences for city-dwellers.

Target inked a deal for a 15-year, 20,795-square-foot lease and is slated to open at the property in mid-2016.

Shalimar Diner needs to clean up its act

"When you walk in Rego Park, make sure you're walking in the middle of the block as you pass the Shalimar Diner at 63-68 Austin Street.

Although the Shalimar has knowledge that they are responsible for keeping up the area around the curbside tree, they just ignore it. The grass is nearly waist high and the garbage strewn and hidden in the tall grass makes it a trip & fall waiting to happen.

If you walk too close to the building, you may get hit in the head by pieces of the cement facade that are falling off. Makes one think what is going on in their kitchen with all this obvious neglect!" - Anonymous

Another theater bites the dust

From DNA Info:

A movie theater that has anchored Austin Street since the 1970s closed Sunday to make way for a new pediatric health facility, the landlord said.

Brandon Cinemas, at 70-20 Austin St., had shown art-house and mainstream films for decades and was once a vital part of social life along the street, locals said.

“I feel very badly that the Brandon closed,” said Leslie Brown, president of the Forest Hills Chamber of Commerce.

But Brown also said that she wasn't surprised. The space needed an upgrade and it “was empty most of the week," she said.

The two-screen movie theater is set to be replaced by an urgent care facility for children, with construction starting on May 1, said Heskel Elias of the Heskel Group, Inc., which owns the space.

The case of the flying garbage can

From PIX11:

A freakish city snow plow accident Thursday night sent a terrifying avalanche of ice and debris into a Queens restaurant, shattering windows and sending patrons scrambling for their lives, injuring several people.

“It kind of sounded like a bomb went off. It was the loudest noise I ever heard in my life and I was typing in an order,” said employee Blane Boyd, who saw glass flying across the restaurant, Exo Cafe, on Austin Street in Forest Hills.

The Department of Sanitation told PIX11 News it has conducted an investigation of the accident, which happened shortly before 11 p.m., and is seeking disciplinary action against the operators of the equipment.

Police said the truck hit a garbage can full of ice, which was propelled into the restaurant’s vestibule. The plow operator left the scene of the accident, but was immediately located, police said.

Employees vs. customers for Austin Street parking

From the Times Ledger:

Indolent employees who feed parking meters in a Forest Hills shopping district are starving local shops of customers, according to business owners in the area.

Some people who commute to work on Austin Street park along the bustling strip in the morning and stay there until closing time, disregarding the two-hour time limit.

“They are too lazy to walk,” said John Xerakias, owner of the Austin House Diner, at 72-04 Austin St. “I’m here six days a week and I have no trouble finding a parking spot.”

Xerakias, who said he parks along side streets or across Queens Boulevard, accused employees of nearby hair salons and banks of squatting in spaces that could be used by paying customers.

The vehicles of workers often take up nearly 15 spots near his business for eight hours a day, Xerakias estimated, and if the two-hour limit were enforced, that would equate to about 60 shoppers who could have used the spots.

Trying to find solution for Austin Street parking problem

From the Daily News:

Civic leaders long have tried to address the scarcity of spaces near the Austin St. retail stretch - centered at 71st-Continental Ave., a block from the subway.

But the "Queens Parking Crunch" series is renewing calls for solutions so locals can awaken from their spot-search nightmare.

In interviews with Queens News, locals suggested everything from angled parking to making Austin St. one way to erecting a municipal lot close by.

But resolving the vehicular vexation first requires an understanding of why finding a spot in Forest Hills has become so difficult.

Customers frequent the Midway Theatre on Queens Blvd., Barnes & Noble and a diverse mix of eateries and clothing stores that line Austin St. from Ascan Ave. to Yellowstone Blvd.

If motorists venture south into Forest Hills Gardens, it compounds their stress because only residents of the private enclave and visitors with passes can park there.

On the other hand, crossing Queens Blvd. leads to stretches of apartment buildings, houses and offices where the demand for parking outweighs the supply.

"It's a major concern in the district - very frustrating riding around the block looking for a spot," said Frank Gulluscio, manager of Community Board 6.

Sounds like you need a bike lane!