Crowley pushes for light rail, housing in manufacturing areas

From the Queens Courier:

Commuters in Glendale and Middle Village deal with limited public transportation options. Most residents in both communities live a mile or farther away from the nearest subway station, and local bus lines through the area have a reputation for being slow and overcrowded.

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley hopes to change this situation with a plan to introduce light rail service between Glendale and Long Island City on the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk branch, which currently offers only freight service west of Jamaica. She hopes to pitch the idea to the Department of City Planning in the coming weeks.

In an exclusive interview with the Ridgewood Times on Monday at her district office, Crowley said a new diesel-powered light rail line would address the transportation needs in Glendale and surrounding communities. ***The light rail line could also encourage redevelopment of underutilized industrially zoned areas adjacent to the line for business or residential purposes.***

Crowley doesn’t suggest rebuilding the former Glendale station, but rather creating a new stop at The Shops at Atlas Park, noting that the shopping center—where her district office is also located—could serve as an active park-and-ride option for local residents.

“If we were able to get a rail here, people could potentially use this spot as park-and-ride, or the community around us could take a bus to the train or walk to the train,” Crowley said. “It provides options for public transportation that would effectively get more cars off our streets.”

She also pointed to an area near Flushing Avenue in Maspeth as another potential station site, noting that it’s close to the connecting LIRR Bushwick branch, another freight rail line that Crowley suggested could potentially also accommodate light rail service.

We all know Atlas Park isn't doing well and that Liz's friends, the Argentos, recently opened a soundstage next to Atlas Park. So it's interesting that she admits that she wants to boost their real estate value by building a light rail station there. But I guess she forgot that there are 2 at grade crossings west of Flushing Avenue, which a light rail to LIC would be forced to pass through, including one which just experienced a serious collision this past week due to a malfunctioning signal. And where are all the freight trains on the line going to go? Freight traffic is increasing, not decreasing.

TV explosion damages Glendale homes

From CBS New York:

Residents of Glendale, Queens were complaining Wednesday night that a planned explosion for a TV drama show damaged their homes.

As CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, the neighborhood around Doran Avenue is usually quiet. But residents said on Tuesday afternoon, it was anything but.

Dozens of Doran Avenue residents said they had their homes rocked by a controlled, planned car explosion during the filming of the NBC drama “The Black List.” A massive orange fireball shot into the sky, following a cloud of thick, black smoke.

And now, some say the explosion damaged their homes.

Burst pipes send Atlas stores packing

From the Queens Courier:

Two separate pipe bursts in The Shops at Atlas Park last month damaged five stores in the shopping center — and the future of some of those affected businesses is still unclear.

“There were two separate pipe bursts, one in Gymboree and one in Shiro of Japan, about 12 hours apart from each other,” said Peter DeLucia, a representative from The Shops at Atlas Park. “Some stores have since opened and some are still fixing up.”

The pipe that burst on Feb. 16 at Shiro of Japan damaged that store, along with Maidenform, J. Jill and Chico’s. Since the burst, Shiro and Maidenform have reopened, but the same could not be said for J. Jill and Chico’s.

According to DeLucia, both J. Jill and Chico’s are closed until further notice, and he said that he could not comment on whether they will re-open at this point.

But a source familiar with the situation claimed that those stores would not re-open. The stores have been cleared out and both store’s signs have been taken down.

Proposed Atlas Park development site sold to Gina Argento-Ciafone

From the Queens Courier:

Glendale is ready for its close-up.

Brooklyn-based television and film production company Broadway Stages plans to build a massive film studio and retail complex in the neighborhood with existing warehouses.

The firm purchased Atlas Terminals, a huge industrial park with buildings adjacent to The Shops at Atlas Park mall, for $19.5 million, as first reported by The Courier on Monday.

“We’re excited to turn the existing warehouses at Atlas Terminals into some TV and film studios and create rental space for local mom and pop retail businesses,” said Jackie Kessel, Broadway Stages spokeswoman. “We look forward to working with local officials as we develop our plans to draw on all of the energy around Atlas Park, bringing new jobs, business growth and economic development to Queens.”

you may recall that this site was promoted as a future shopping center, and in recent months, Fairway was rumored to be the anchor tenant. I guess that's not happening.

Hey, maybe Gina will donate to the anti-homeless shelter fund!

The Atlas Park fireworks show will go on

From the Daily News:

Civic leaders want to douse the annual Independence Day fireworks display on July 5 at the Atlas Park shopping center because they fear a spark could fly into a nearby chemical warehouse, triggering a disastrous explosion.

Robert Holden, from the Juniper Park Civic Association, and Kathy Masi of the Glendale Civic Association are asking the city to pull the permit for the popular pyrotechnics show, even though the owner of the Independent Chemical Corp. insisted there is no danger from a professional display.

James Cervino, a marine biologist who lives College Point, said the plastic drums are “vulnerable to superstorms, flooding and fire, especially if there is a fireworks show occurring in the area.”

“All it takes is one shell going awry,” he said.

Company president Jonathan Spielman said he is concerned about vandals breaking into his facility and kids playing with fireworks in the surrounding streets — but not the Atlas Park show.

Apparently the compromise is to allow the show but have HazMat on standby at the site.

Crowley moving office to Atlas Park

From the Daily News:

The struggling Atlas Park Mall has lured in several new tenants, including City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, the Daily News has learned.

Next Friday, Crowley will move her district office from Dry Harbor Road in Middle Village to the Glendale shopping center, less than a mile away.

“Our new community office provides a larger and more centrally located space that will help my staff and I better serve the people of the 30th District,” Crowley said in a statement.

Constituents visiting the office will get an hour of free parking. And aides said the 1,267 sq. ft. office is a larger and more cost-efficient space.

The move is also a show of faith in the mall which has grappled to find its footing in the neighborhood and the retail market.

If at first you don't succeed...

Glendale Shopping Center 8200 Cooper Av by queenscrapper

Apparently, the Hemmerdingers have plans for another outdoor mall right next to the one of theirs that failed. Except this time the parking's free and it will actually have something useful - a supermarket - as an anchor tenant.

Will third time be a charm for Atlas Park?

From the Daily News:

A struggling Glendale shopping mall is shooting for a comeback, and nothing would make nearby residents happier.

The Shops at Atlas Park is being re-energized. Its owner has added a grassy 10,000-square-foot courtyard, and has been reaching out to the community, offering free outdoor movies, concerts and even a fireworks show.

But skeptical Glendale residents — who watched the airy, upscale mall go bankrupt several years ago — say the only thing that counts is filling the vast empty storefronts.

On Tuesday morning, contractors were putting the finishing touches on the outdoor parking lot, reconfigured to get shoppers closer to stores including the soon-to-open Forever 21.

“That will help enormously,” said Peter DeLucia Jr., marketing manager for the center, which was snapped up by mall giant Macerich in 2011 for $54 million.

DeLucia refused to divulge the names of new shops poised to move in, but rumors have included a Modell’s sporting goods site and cosmetics giant Sephora.

“We’re trying to get the community back,” said DeLucia, who noted hundreds of people have already responded to an email campaign that asks them to compile a wish list of stores for the site.

Atlas Park still hanging on

From the Daily News:

A struggling shopping mall in Glendale is getting a facelift — but neighbors aren’t too happy about how they found out about it.

Macerich, which owns The Shops at Atlas Park, unveiled plans Tuesday for new stores and an outdoor performance space after inquires from the Daily News prompted by concerned calls from neighbors.

The company recently erected a fence around the parking lot and workers began chopping down trees there — the first sign of an overhaul since Macerich acquired the moribund mall in a foreclosure sale in January 2011.

After staying mum about its plans for months, Macerich officials said Tuesday the mall will get a Forever 21 and a Charlotte Russe retail store by this summer, in addition to a 10,000-square-foot area to host performances.

Macerich will also start construction in the coming weeks to create 100 additional parking spots, mall officials said.

Atlas Park lot used for towed cabs

From the NY Times:

In sleek black sedans and unmarked blue vans, stretch limousines and family-friendly S.U.V.’s, the city’s unlicensed taxi drivers have long thrived on a simple fact: Officials often could not seize their cars because there was no place to put them.

But about three months ago, David S. Yassky, the chairman of New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, received an e-mail from an old acquaintance. The man had heard about the space issue, he said. Would the city like to use his lot in Queens?

The man was Damon Hemmerdinger, a co-president at his family’s real estate company, ATCO Properties and Management, and the son of Dale Hemmerdinger, the former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

After reading an article in The New York Times about the dearth of available tow pound space for unlicensed taxis, Mr. Hemmerdinger agreed to allow the city to use his company’s roughly two-acre lot in Glendale. The city needed to pay only for electricity, lot security, and an occasional cleaning.

By the beginning of June, the lot could hold more than 100 unlicensed taxis at a time. Turnover is typically rapid, as drivers retrieve their vehicles after paying fines and fees that often rise to over $500. Over the last year, the commission added about 60 enforcement agents, bringing its total to over 150. In 2011, 1,737 cars were seized, according to the commission. This year, more than 2,400 cars have been rounded up already.

Robbery at Atlas Park

From the Daily News:

A brazen Memorial Day stickup at the tenant-challenged Atlas Park mall in Glendale is once again raising questions about how its owner plans to lure businesses there.

Macerich, the nationwide firm that owns the Cooper Ave. shopping complex, is still staying mum on its immediate plans to turn the struggling mall around.

But it promises big things are on the horizon.

On May 28, a man and woman stopped by a parking kiosk, claiming to need information, police said. The two attendants opened the booth door just as the man and woman and a third suspect forced them inside. The perps demanded money at gunpoint, tied up the staffers and made off with an undisclosed sum of cash, according to police.

No arrests have been made in connection with the crime, which occurred just before noon. Mall officials stressed that it was an isolated incident, though they declined to offer further comment on the crime or its plans to make the mall less empty.

Cleaning up the Atlas Park brownfield

From the Times Newsweekly:

Though there is no significant health threat to the public, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is in the process of reviewing a plan to remove contaminants from a 6.8-acre portion of Atlas Terminals adjacent to The Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale.

Residents have the opportunity to provide their comments regarding the Brownfield site cleanup proposal for the property located at 82-00 Cooper Ave., which is occupied by several warehouses and a parking lot. In the past, the area was used for industrial purposes such as oil distribution, fabric dying, steel fabrication, plastic production and manufacturing of citrate magnesia, a laxative.

The draft plan, developed by Atlas Terminals in conjunction with the DEC as part of the Brownfield Cleanup Program, calls for the excavation of 66,000 cubic yards of soil which, through testing, were found to contain “contaminants of concern,” according to a fact sheet provided by the DEC.

“Contaminants of concern” are “sufficiently present in frequency and concentration in the environment to require evaluation for remedial action,” the sheet noted. However, none of the contaminants found in the testing were determined to be in high concentration.

Among the chemicals in the con- taminated soil include trace levels of benzopyrene, benzofluoranthene, mercury, copper, zinc, lead, tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE).

Once the contaminated soil is removed, approximately 83,500 cubic yards of clean fill will be brought to and installed on the site, the DEC noted. Thereafter, Atlas Terminals and the DEC will put into place a remediation program with a goal of cleaning the site to the point where the site could be used for residential, commercial or industrial use.

Stores still closing at Atlas Park

From the Daily News:

More than a year after mall giant Macerich bought the Shops at Atlas Park, business owners there say the struggling mall has yet to turn a corner.

But they are are holding onto hope the high-profile firm can turn it into bustling center, even after the announcement of the most recent closure, women’s clothing store Coldwater Creek. A spokeswoman confirmed that store will leave the Glendale shopping center on March 15.

A few storefronts have opened in the past year, but none have filled the hole left by anchor store Borders, tenants said.

Boris Sorin, an attorney who has represented store owners throughout previous rent negotiations, said landlord-tenant relations are much better under Macerich.

Hemmerdingers selling the rest of Atlas property

From the Queens Tribune:

The former owners of the Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale have put the majority of their surrounding property on the market, approximately 375,000 square feet of space covering 11.3 acres.

The announcement came this week from the family-owned property developer, ATCO. The site, commonly known as Atlas Terminals, was developed as a railroad terminal for warehouse and industrial uses in the 1920s. From this one property, ATCO has been able to develop interests in a slew of Manhattan properties as well as in locations across the eastern United States and Europe.

The site is more than twice the size of the 5.5-acre Municipal Lot 1 in Flushing slated for the development of Flushing Commons, the $850 million project expected to have 275,000 square feet of retail, a hotel, residential towers and plenty of open space. Development of that kind at the site is not considered likely given the isolation of Atlas Terminals. The nearest highway entrance is the Jackie Robinson Parkway on Myrtle Avenue, and the nearest large thoroughfare is Woodhaven Boulevard, several blocks away.

Hemmerdinger could not say what sort of development could be expected from potential buyers, but the site's M1-1 zoning permits manufacturing, office, self-storage, and a variety of retail uses.

Firm looks to fix Atlas Park

From the Daily News:

A high-profile firm that recently bought the Atlas Park mall wants to turn around the struggling Glendale complex "as quickly as possible" with new stores, a top executive told the Daily News.

Macerich company bigwig Timothy Steffan said the firm, which also runs the Queens Center Mall, is in talks to lure new shops to the embattled center.

Macerich wants to secure "a collection of merchants that fit the merchandising needs of the community, that create a sense of place," he added.

Steffan would not reveal which stores Macerich is targeting. The mall's patrons have long pressed for a Gap or Banana Republic.

In what may be an early step towards reconfiguring Atlas Park, Macerich met with City Planning officials last week. Steffan said the powwow was mostly about "getting to know each other."

Crowley said Macerich wants to apply for a special permit that would allow it to lease above-ground space of 10,000 square feet or more to a single retailer.

A City Planning spokeswoman said Macerich has not yet filed any application relating to Atlas Park.

Bye, bye Borders!

From the Times Ledger:

One of the keystone businesses at The Shops at Atlas Park has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Borders, which occupies a prominent space at the shops, at 80-00 Cooper Ave., announced Monday it will begin the process of liquidation.

The collapse of the book-selling giant will eliminate roughly 11,000 jobs at roughly 400 stores and will be the final chapter for the store in Queens, even though the Atlas Park site avoided a similar fate earlier this year.

In February, Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 200 stores around the country, but The Shops at Atlas Park was spared.

Business still down at Atlas Park

From the Times Ledger:

It has been four months since Macerich took over The Shops at Atlas Park, and there have been few noticeable changes on the surface at the beleaguered mall.

Many of the storefronts still remain empty, and two additional stores have even closed since the Chicago-based realty group purchased the property in a February foreclosure auction.

An organic market on the first level of the mall and a wine and liquor store on the second level have closed, while a Square One Shoes has opened. But otherwise it is business as usual for the shops, the employee said.

[An] employee lamented the loss of higher-end stores like Amish Market, which sold artisan food products, but another business manager welcomed the change, and said Macerich was working behind the scenes to turn the fate of the mall around.

Bemberlinx dismembered

It's not easy being a fake holiday teddy bear topiary... every new year, you fall to pieces.

Queens Center Mall owners buy Atlas Park

From the Daily News:

The firm that runs Queens Center Mall, among the nation's busiest shopping centers, landed a struggling rival complex at a recent foreclosure auction.

Sources revealed yesterday that mall giant Macerich was the mystery bidder that snared the Shops at Atlas Park for about $54 million at a highly anticipated sale last week at Queens Supreme Court.

That places two of the borough's largest malls in the same hands.

Though Macerich President Edward Coppola attended the sale on Friday, the group's involvement was initially unknown because it had created a shell corporation named WMAP LLC to bid.

Atlas Park was unveiled in 2006 as an outdoor "lifestyle center," but its mix of restaurants and boutiques slumped through recent years. Some residents complained the stores were too upscale in the middle-class area.

Its owners, the family of ex-MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger, defaulted on a $128 million loan to two French banks in 2009, initiating foreclosure.

Storeowners hope Macerich can turn around Atlas Park by employing the same strategies it used to lure tenants to Queens Center after buying the mall in 1995. It now boasts the highest revenue per square foot of any mall in the U.S.

ASPCA opens at Atlas Park

From the Queens Chronicle:

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals last Friday officially relocated from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and set up operations inside the spacious Atlas Terminals in Glendale.

The national animal welfare organization has signed five-year leases with ATCO Advisory Services on two separate sites at the historical former manufacturing and warehousing property on Cooper Avenue at 80th Street. One space houses the ASPCA’s six mobile spay and neuter clinics and an office, while the other will be used as a veterinary facility, which it anticipates to open in April. Approximately 20 members and two full-time veterinarians will staff the two sites.

Neither the mobile facilities nor the clinic will take emergencies; both will provide free and low-cost spay and neuter surgeries. The ASPCA’s humane law enforcement operations will remain in Long Island City.