Illegal vendor sidewalk serenade

  

NY Post

 Live crabs. Bras with rhinestones. Old shoes. Frayed electrical cords. Knock-off Louis Vuitton clutches. Disposable face masks. Mets caps.

Illegal street peddlers hawking such items have taken over the outer boroughs, clogging sidewalks with their second-hand wares and pulling customers from pandemic-ravaged mom-and-pop shops.

And everybody is pointing the finger at Mayor de Blasio.

From Brooklyn to the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens, folding tables and mats rolled out on the ground force pedestrians to go single-file or step aside so they don’t get run over.

In the Bronx, 149^th Street and Fordham Road are hotspots. So is Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park and Flushing’s Main Street, especially the few blocks from the Post Office at Sanford Avenue to the 7 Train station at Roosevelt Avenue.

 On Main, between Sanford and 41^st Avenue, The Post counted 27 street vendors – on just one side of the street. Two pulled out yellow licenses, showing they’re military veterans. Six shook their heads like they didn’t understand English. The others turned away or looked down when asked to show their licenses.

DianSong Yu of the Flushing Business Improvement District estimates 90 percent of the vendors aren’t licensed. Citywide, the number of all kinds of vendors stands at roughly 20,000, according to the Street Vendor Project, an advocacy group. But legit general merchandise license-holders, not including mobile food vendors, total a few thousand.

“It’s a very tough time for everybody, we get it,” Yu told The Post. “But we need to be fair to the local merchant who are paying very high rent and taxes. And they’re hurting.”

Bobby has a yellow license for his spot on Main — and he’s mad about the infiltrators. “They’re robbing the city of taxes. They’re taking money from the veterans. They’re taking jobs,” said Bobby, who wouldn’t give his last name but told The Post he fought in Vietnam.

 

De Blasio may seek retail vacancy tax

From Curbed:

Mayor Bill de Blasio has been largely noncommittal on speaking about how the city can combat some of the blight that’s sweeping New York’s retail corridors, but that may soon change.

On his Friday spot on WNYC, the mayor alluded that retail vacancy has been on the brain (h/t NY Post). “I am very interested in fighting for a vacancy fee or a vacancy tax that would penalize landlords who leave their storefronts vacant for long periods of time in neighborhoods because they are looking for some top-dollar rent but they blight neighborhoods by doing it,” he said. “That is something we could get done through Albany.”

The mayor’s office said the initiative is in the planning phase.

Another attempt to revitalize Jamaica

From Crains:

The city selected a developer to turn a former NYPD parking garage in Jamaica, Queens, into a large, mixed-use complex with more than 350 affordable apartments, officials announced Thursday.

The building, which will be developed by Omni New York, is a key component of the de Blasio administration's 2015 economic development initiative called the Jamaica NOW Action Plan, which aims to spur job growth and retail development in the neighborhood.

"[This] proposal builds on southeast Queens' strengths as a commercial and transit hub," said Maria Torres-Springer, president of the city's Economic Development Corp.

A request for proposals for the site was issued in February 2015, with Manhattan-based Omni submitting the winning bid. All of the units in the new building, located on 168th Street between Jamaica and 93rd avenues, will be enrolled in the city's affordable-housing program, and a portion of the parking in the building will be dedicated for NYPD use.

The project, which will also include ground-floor retail, is the first milestone of a larger effort to foster job growth in Jamaica, which is served by four subway lines, a major Long Island Rail Road junction and the Airtrain to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Yet, despite those existing transit advantages and a 2007 rezoning that allowed for the construction of ample commercial office space and hotels, job growth and economic activity have declined during the past decade, according to the city.

"Made in Queens" is a big flop

From LIC Post:

A Long Island City popup shop dedicated to selling Queens-made merchandise is closing several months ahead of schedule due to weak business.

Made In Queens, located at 27-24 Queens Plaza South, was established by the Queens Economic Development Corporation in June to sell goods from local manufacturers.

The store, which was supposed to remain open until the end of March, is now closing at the end of the year since it has become “unsustainable,” said QEDC Director of Business Services Sante Antonelli.

The store was funded by a $40,000 grant from Capital One, allowing the QEDC to secure the space and cover operating costs. The makers also paid a fee to sell their products in the store, ranging from $150 per month for food products to $350 per month for non-food products.

Despite these sources of funding, the store operated at a loss, Antonelli said, largely due to lack of foot traffic in and out of the store.

Isn't foot traffic the number one thing you look at when you decide on a location to open a retail store?

More mega-towers planned for Queens Plaza

From DNA Info:

Developer Tishman Speyer released a rendering and update Monday on its massive, two-tower office and retail complex planned for Queens Plaza — a project city officials are calling a "major job generator" for the neighborhood.

The developer and investment company Qatari Diar are building the 1.1-million-square-foot project at 28-10 Queens Plaza South, next to Tishman Speyer's existing building at 2 Gotham Center, which houses offices for the city's Department of Health.

The complex will feature two, 27-story office towers connected by four stories of retail at their base, which will include a food hall, restaurant and parking garage, according to the developers.

Jackson Heights residents concerned about gentrification

From Progress Queens:

The members of the Land Use Committee of Queens Community Board 3 have not responded to a letter submitted on behalf of the Jackson Heights community of residents, seeking comment about recent, major changes in commercial businesses.

The September 13 letter was sent by e-mail to the general e-mail account of Queens Community Board 3. The letter was signed by long-time Jackson Heights resident Susan Lippman and Louis Flores, the latter, who is the author of this article and the publisher of Progress Queens. In the past, Ms. Lippman has been a contributor to Progress Queens.

The letter sought to express concerns that have been growing in the community about changes in retail stores on 82nd Street, changes that community residents say may reflect upward pressure on commercial rents and a harbinger of gentrification.

A popular clothing store on 82nd Street closed and relocated to Junction Blvd., and plans were immediately made for the clothing store's former 82nd Street location to be replaced by a Banana Republic, raising concerns that the commercial landlord may be raising rents in order to attract expensive, chain store retailers.

Word is also spreading in the community that a 10-story hotel may be set to rise at 37-23 72nd Street near Broadway.

The e-mail transmitting the letter to Community Board 3 was copied to the office of Councilmember Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), who also did not provide any response to the e-mail.

Apartment building to replace Flushing Burger King

From The Real Deal:

A 120-unit apartment building is being planned at 144-74 Northern Boulevard in Flushing, according to building permits filed Tuesday. The 14-story structure will measure a total of 59,000 square feet with 3,200 square feet of commercial space, according to the filing. In addition to ground-floor retail, plans call for a community facility on the second and third floors. There will be six apartments each on floors four through 12, and three apartments each on floors 13 and 14. The site — in a borough that’s seeing a rush of residential development — currently houses a 2,900-square-foot Burger King.

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.

HUGE development coming to Flushing shore

From the Queens Courier:

The former Asian grocery Assi Plaza, located in Flushing, is about to change hands again to make way for redevelopment.

Eastern Consolidated’s Capital Advisory Division has negotiated a $42 million bridge loan from a private lender on behalf of Triple Star Realty LLC, which used the loan to purchase the nearly 100,000-square-foot property on which the former supermarket sat. The total acquisition cost was upwards of $90 million.

Triple Star Realty plans to raze the existing structures on the former supermarket site in order to develop a 631,752-square-foot, mixed-use waterfront complex that will consist of a 360-unit condominium and a 200-room hotel, as well as a supermarket, retail and office space, and parking. The development will be comparable to other large-scale projects, such as Sky View Parc, Flushing Commons and Willets Point.

Huge development in the works for downtown Jamaica

From the Real Deal:

BRP Companies paid $19.5 million to purchase a Downtown Jamaica development site where it plans to build a pair of mixed-use towers with 580 rental apartments. The Midtown-based developer, which specializes in affordable housing, bought the site at the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue from the nonprofit Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, which spent years assembling the site. BRP plans to break ground in December on the $300 million, 737,000-square-foot project dubbed the Crossing at Jamaica Station, which will include 580 mixed-income apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail across three floors. FXFOWLE is serving as the architect.

Queens loves its chain stores

From the Queens Courier:

The consumer market for national retailers is expanding faster in “The World’s Borough” over anywhere else in the city as a new report showed national brands have opened more new locations in Queens during the year.

Dunkin’ Donuts, 7-Eleven and T-Mobile were among retailers that added the most new branches in the borough, and the number of national chain retail locations in Queens increased 6.4 percent to 1,770 stores this year from 1,663 in 2013, according to the Center for an Urban Future’s State of the Chains.

While Manhattan still has more than 1,000 more national chain locations than Queens, Manhattan only added .4 percent or 10 new locations. Brooklyn, which has 1,593 chain stores, saw a 3.4 percent gain, and the Bronx added 4.2 percent. Staten Island is the only borough that didn’t see an increase.

T-Mobile, which had the most new locations in Queens, added 17 new outlets to bring their total in the borough to 55, followed by CVS, which opened 14 new locations to expand to a total of 48 stores. Dunkin’ Donuts, which added seven stores, still tops the list in total locations in Queens with 161 stores.

Jamaica Savings Bank building being renovated

From the Queens Courier:

A real estate firm investing in downtown Jamaica has plans to renovate and modify one of the area’s landmarked buildings.

The new owners of the 116-year-old Jamaica Savings Bank building at 161-02 Jamaica Ave. in the heart of the neighborhood’s downtown has filed with the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission to modify the building.

The structure, a Beaux-Arts style bank building designed by architecture firm Hough & Duell and built in 1898, was designated a landmark in 2008.

According to city records. the application seeks to “construct rear and side additions, replace doors, install awnings and infill window openings.”

The building was bought by the investment firm of the Laboz family, United American Land, LLC, under the name 161-02 Jamaica LLC for $3.7 million, according to records filed with the city in January. Jason Laboz of the firm declined to speak with The Courier about the project.

The modification of the building could be part of a plan to add new retail tenants into the property as the company has planned with the adjacent buildings on the strip.

United American Land purchased the next-door 10-story building at 160-16 Jamaica Ave. in January for $8.5 million. It filed permits to reduce the larger building down to four stories, matching the landmarked structure and the property at 160-08 Jamaica Ave., which the company owns as well.