Real Estate MARKETPLACE

RENTING • OWNING • DEVELOPING • INVESTMENT • FINANCE
Real Estate
MARKETPLACE
VOL. 3 NO. 7 JULY 7-13, 2016
PHOTO BY DOMENICK RAFTER
WAR ON
ZOMBIES
Cuomo signs legislation aimed
at mitigating the problem of
vacant, unkept homes.
Page 2
Page 2 July 7-13, 2016
Battle Line Z:
Tribune/Press Real estate MaRketplace
state once calling the crisis “an enduring legacy of the housing crisis.”
Here in Queens, neighborhoods
have been affected deeply by foreclosures. In fact, there is a foreclosed
property for every 1766 homes according to realtor site RealtyTrac. Of
all of the sections of the borough,
Southeast Queens was affected the
most severely after the foreclosure
crisis in 2008. In fact, the top five
neighborhoods where foreclosures
By TRONE DOWD Editor
are most common, Cambria Heights,
Springfield Gardens, St. Albans,
South Ozone Park and Queens Village, are all located within the promowards the end of
inently minority residential borders
June, Gov. Andrew
of Community Board’s 12 and 13.
Cuomo signed the
The rest of the borough, outside of
the Rockaways, fared better than the
most significant piece
state average with neighborhoods
of legislation meant to
like Rego Park, Forest Hills and
prevent the effects neglected
Whitestone far exceeding the rest of
the effects of foreclosure.
properties have on the
Southeast Queens city politicians
communities that house
were happy to see such progress bethem.
ing made to end the effects of zombie
properties. Councilman I. Daneek
Cuomo signed the bill into law as
Miller (D-St. Albans), who has been
part of the 2016 Legislative Session
at the forefront of housing issues in
in hopes that it will contribute to the
Southeast Queens, said that he was
economic success of communities all
“pleased to see the Community Resover New York State, and took a tour
toration Program finally being impleof the state visiting affected commu- without being auctioned off and a ing changes, the legislation will help mented to help working families refinities at events in Syracuse, Long Is- 180-day limit on making sure the establish an electronic registry of nance and get the support they need.”
land and in Manhattan. Commonly property is reoccupied after receiv- vacant and abandoned properties
“Southeast Queens has one of
in the state. The legislation will also the largest populations still recovreferred to as “Zombie Properties,” ing the title.
“For many New Yorkers, homes promote talks between local govern- ering from the housing bubble of
the practice consists of banks that
foreclosure and leave suddenly va- are our single most important in- ments and mortgagees responsible 2008,” Miller said. “With a limited
cant properties to deteriorate. These vestment, but that investment can for property maintenance hopefully number of options to help them get
homes quickly become eyesores in be undermined by the blight of ne- bringing an end to the “Zombifica- back on sound financial footing, this
the communities, affecting the prop- glected and abandoned properties,” tion” of local communities.
program will allow families to work
“This law is major victory for with an organization whose focus is
erty value of nearby neighbors who Cuomo said. “For each zombie home
may consider their homes their most that we cure and for each that we New Yorkers living in communities on helping them stay in their home,
prevent with this legislation, we are throughout the state, as it will give instead of making a profit, keeping
valuable asset.
As a part of the legislation, the saving entire neighborhoods from regulators and law enforcement the families in their communities.”
state would now impose new “pre- the corrosive effect of blight and ne- tools they need to revitalize neighThe councilman credited his colforeclosure duties” in the form of glect. I thank my colleagues in the borhoods that have been devas- leagues Donovan Richards (D-Lauimposing a requirement for banks Assembly and Senate for seeing a tated by the proliferation of zombie relton), Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica),
to maintain these abandoned crisis and helping to turn it into an homes,” state Attorney General Eric and Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan)
homes for as long as they remain opportunity for people to realize the Schneiderman said.
for their efforts in the fight against
Schneiderman has been a long abandon properties in their perspecvacant. Before, a bank or mort- great American Dream of homeowntime advocate for trying to stop the tive districts.
gagee had to maintain the property ership.”
“To help keep track of the sweep- slew of abandoned properties in the
once a judgment of foreclosure and
State Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St.
sale was obtained. This of
Albans) also commended the
course, contributed to the
governer’s efforts.
barrage of abandoned prop“As the statistics show,
erties in areas like SouthSoutheast Queens is ground
east Queens with next to no
zero for the foreclosure
upkeep on local properties.
problem in New York State;
Under this law, the bank or
unscrupulous realtors and
mortgagee has a lawful duty
lenders have been preying
to maintain and secure a
on the elderly and first time
residential property where
home-buyers for decades,”
there is a reasonable basis
said Senator Leroy Comto believe it is vacant and
rie. “[This] will provide adabandoned, and could face
ditional resources to help
up to $500 in civil penalties
people avoid foreclosure and
for each violation per propincrease penalties and close
erty everyday that it goes
loopholes forcing banks and
unaddressed.
property owners to be held
There is now an expedited
accountable for these ‘zomforeclosure process is being
bie homes’ that have long
introduced and can be rebeen abandoned and are
quested in court if a property
blights that are destabilizing
is no longer wanted by homour neighborhoods.”
eowners. In addition, there is
Reach Trone Dowd at (718)
90-day limit on how long a New state legislation aims to punish banks and mortgage holders who do not main- 357-7400 x123, tdowd@queenhouse can remain foreclosed tain Zombie properties.
spress.com or @theloniusly
Bringing an End to an Epidemic
Of Zombie Properties
T
PHOTO by bruce adler
Tribune/Press Real estate MaRketplace
July 7-13, 2016 Page 3
Page 4 July 7-13, 2016
Record Breaking
Acquisition Made
in Jamaica
By TRONE DOWD Editor
T
uesday Night, GFI
Realty Services, LLC
announced that it
had made the single biggest
acquisition of property in
the history of Jamaica.
PHOTO COURTESY GFI REALTY SERVICE, LLC
Located at 150-01 through 15011 88th Ave, the 79,200 square foot
property comprises six four-story
buildings. With a total of 96 walkup apartments and eight storage
units between them, GFI Realty
purchased the sprawling complex
for a whopping $21.5 million, breaking previous records of property
purchases in the transforming
neighborhood.
“Given that there are several signs
the Jamaica neighborhood is on the
rise, we were able to meet the seller’s expectations for this portfolio
by securing a price that was among
the highest for this area,” said GFI
Realty Associate Director of Investment Sales Josh Orlander.
According to a press release
shared with the public shortly after
the purchase, a big part of the cost
was the building’s prime location
for outsiders coming into Southeast
Tribune/Press Real estate MaRketplace
Queens. With its proximity to public transit and ease of access to the
rest of the borough and Manhattan,
it will be easier for prospective buyers and renters who want to live in
the developing and trendy Southeast Queens area.
At $21.5 million, the breakdown
of the investment equates to about
$224,000 per unit.
“Jamaica is seeing some exciting
developments at the moment, and
this sale is certainly a testament to
the increasing desirability of this
section of Queens,” said Yosef Katz,
GFI Realty’s Managing Director of
Investment Sales. “In addition to
the location, there are several features of these buildings that the
buyer was particularly interested
The site in Jamaica
last winter.
“Jamaica is
seeing some
exciting
developments.
”
–Yosef Katz,
GfI RealtY seRvIces, llc
in, particularly the size of the units,
which can easily be converted to
add additional bedrooms.”
Realty site StreetEasy predicted
last year that Jamaica will soon be
hottest neighborhood in New York
City for developers and renters alike.
This acquisition is likely to be just
the beginning of a surge in
interest in the area.
In 2005, StreetEasy gave
the same honor to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, a
prediction that would come
to fruition in the following
decade.
In recent years, Jamaica
has already seen commercial interest boom as several large-scale development
projects, including the 240key Hilton Garden Inn, a
584-unit rental project, and
the conversion of the former Mary Immaculate Hospital to 324 apartments, are
currently in progress.
Reach Trone Dowd at
(718) 357-7400 x123, tdowd@
queenspress.com or @theloniusly
Housing Advocates Want State Money Now
By LyNN EDMONDS Staff Writer
H
ousing advocates are
frustrated that $2
billion dollars Gov.
Andrew Cuomo promised to
combat homelessness and
support affordable housing
in his April 1 budget are not
available yet.
As long as the $2 billion is not released, 1,360 potential units remain
in limbo, a study by the New York
State Association for Affordable
Housing found.
But the Governor counters that
he is meeting benchmarks to
achieve his goal of creating 6,000
units of supportive housing, a lowcost housing that comes with social services and is considered to be
one of the most effective means of
combating homelessness, over a five
year period.
His office is moving forward on
1,200 units this year, putting them
exactly on target, a spokesperson for
the Governor added.
Nonetheless, developers and
housing advocates are eager to see
the full $2 billion earmarked in this
year’s budget dispersed.
The money cannot be unlocked
until Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx)
and State Senate Majority Leader
John Flanagan (D-Suffolk County)
reach an agreement, or memorandum of understanding, on how it
will be spent. But since they didn’t
reach that agreement by the end of
the legislative session on June 16, a
large question mark remains as to
when it will happen.
The uncertainty puts developers
across the state and throughout the
five boroughs in a precarious position, NYSAFAH says. Those that
were counting on state funding to
help make their projects economically feasible are now stalled.
NYFASAH CEO Jolie Milstein
says that as long as that $2 billion
is not released, future projects can’t
take shape. The 1,360 number “really underrepresents the universe of
projects that may never get built,”
she added.
NYSAFAH could not give a precise
number for the units in Queens that
might be at risk due to the unavailability of funding.
Cuomo’s office said that though
they were proud of their accomplishments regarding supportive
housing so far, they were still pushing to reach an agreement on the
remaining funds.
“It was Governor Cuomo who
made and secured the unprecedented $20 billion five-year commitment
to affordable and homeless housing.
The first $150 subject to the MOU
has been released and we’re eager to
reach an agreement on the balance.
We urge the legislature to join us in
keeping these projects moving and
helping to ensure every New Yorker
has a safe, decent and affordable
place to call home,” a spokesperson
for the Governor said.
An Assembly Democrat confirmed published reports that say
that negotiations stalled on the
MOU because of disagreements
over how the two billion would be
spent.
Heastie wanted $100 million to go
to NYCHA.
“NYCHA has been neglected by
the federal government, by the state
government and by the city level of
government for well over 20, maybe
even 30 years,” Assemblyman Keith
Wright (D-Manhattan), Chair of the
Housing Committee, told Politico.
The Republican-controlled state
Senate, on the other hand, did not
want to sign off on the MOU until
there was a reinstatement of the
421-a tax break for the developers,
an Assembly Democrat told the
Queens Tribune. But Democrats
in the Assembly do not want to reinstate 421-a – unless it is accompanied by stronger protections for
rent-stabilized and rent-controlled
apartments. As such, multiple affordable housing questions may be
resolved – or not resolved – simultaneously.
Reach Lynn Edmonds at (718) 3577400 x127, ledmonds@queenstribune.com or @Ellinoamerikana
Tribune/Press Real estate MaRketplace
July 7-13, 2016 Page 5
Page 6 July 7-13, 2016
Tribune/Press Real estate MaRketplace
Former Abbracciamento Property Exists In Limbo
By JON CRONIN Editor
T
he former Joe
Abbracciamento
restaurant at 6282 Woodhaven Blvd. has
existed in limbo for more
than two years after being
sold in 2014.
The former restaurant has
become less attractive in
the last two years.
PHOTO by JON CRONIN
The site, which exists between
63rd Avenue and 62nd Drive, included the former restaurant and
several other stores. It initially
sold for approximately $8 million
to a California-based firm owned by
Daniel Shalom and run by Keystone
Management. Last year the property was sold again for $10.8 million
to a company named 62-98 Realty
LLC, which online documents record as being created on Oct. 31,
2014, and whose address, according
to a Google search, is a residential
home on Poplar Avenue in Flushing.
According to documents from the
City Department of Finance, the
sale went into contract on Oct. 28,
2014 and the date of the final sale
was Feb. 6, 2015. Their grantor was
listed as Woodhaven Capital LLC,
and the member signing was Shibber Kahn. The member signing for
62-98 Realty LLC was Aiyun Chen.
Gary Giordano, District Manager
of Community Board 5, said they
know the lot as 84-47 63rd Ave.,
block 2977, lot 22. He said there are
still plans on file for a seven story
apartment building with 119 dwelling units.
He said the plans are filed with
the name The Nyron Hall Engineering services, 86-22 Broadway,
Elmhurst, with the phone number
718-204-0300, but the operator at
that location announces that they
are the Criterion Group, a company
owned by Shibber Khan. The operator stated that she would not speak
to the press and no one at that location would.
Bob Holden, Chairman of the Juniper Park Civic Association, said
that he wished they could have
downzoned that area when they
were changing the zones in the early
2000s.
According to the NYC Department of Buildings website, an application was filed on Dec. 14, 2015
for a “Mechanical means equipment
permit filed in conjunction with
demolition and fence application,”
but no physical action can be seen
from the street on the property at
this time.
Joe Abbracciamento Restaurant
closed in March in 2014 after 65 years
of service to the community and soon
after the family sold the entire lot.
Reach Jon Cronin at (718) 3577400 x125, jcronin@queenstribune.
com, or @JonathanSCronin.
Sanford Avenue Shows Signs of Gentrification
By LyNN EDMONDS Staff Writer
S
anford Street
in Flushing is
undergoing
an intense bout of
gentrification, one
resident on the street told
the Queens Tribune.
The resident, who wished to
remain anonymous because he
feared retaliation from his landlord, said he was concerned about
a number of telltale indicators of
gentrification on his street. Those
signs included turnover in building owners, aggressive construction on rent-stabilized buildings,
entire apartment buildings that
were empty and turnover among
residents.
Tarry Hum, a professor at
CUNY, said as much in an op-ed
for the Gotham Gazette on May
2. Her research found that 11 per-
cent of 388 rent-stabilized buildings
in Flushing were sold in the period
between 2010 and January 2016.
Specifically, seven rent-stabilized
buildings in Flushing, containing
488 apartments, changed hands in
December 2015, with Treetop Development LLC buying the units from
Algin Management.
She said the turnover was an indication that investors were speculating they could get higher rents in
years to come.
Hum added adding that the
$138.8 sale was financed by ACORE,
a group that is ultimately backed by
Tokio Marine Group, an insurance
group in Japan.
“The purchase of seven Sanford
Avenue rent-stabilized buildings,
financed by transnational private
equity investors, illustrates how
multi-family rental properties in the
outer boroughs are treated as global
investment vehicles with tremendous potential profits,” she wrote,
adding, “in order for those profits to
be realized, however; rents will have
to increase substantially.”
The Sanford Avenue resident sees
changes to his building as just another way for his new landlord to
justify increasing the rent on the
rent-stabilized building. Landlords
are allowed to tack on construction
costs to rent. And though that cost
is supposed to come off once the
balance if paid off, it typically never
does.
He said in recent years his landlord at 132-40 Sanford Ave. had
done substantial improvements
on the building, included new elevators, a new irrigation system
for outdoor plants, new mailboxes,
new energy saving lighting in the
hallways, new energy saving outdoors lighting, new CCTV security cameras outdoors and indoors,
drapery, sofas and frame paintings
for the lobby, new outdoor gates
and fences, a new building number
and a new intercom system. Those
changes had been used to justify
rent increases.
Since a new landlord has bought
the building, he said the cycle is
happening all over again. “Now
they are replacing the lights with
incandescent light bulbs and lowering the ceiling in the hallways,”
he said. “Seems we are regressing.”
He added that Treetop recently
gutted the lobby of another rentstabilized building that they
bought.
He also complained of a lack of
hot water in his building in May.
“This is day two,” he wrote.
“textbook harassment.”
Every time tent-stabilized units
turn over, landlords are legally allowed to raise the rent by a certain
percentage. When the total rent
rises to a certain threshold, the
unit then becomes market rate.
This system incentivizes landlords to push tenants out in order
to be able to raise rents faster.
In May, the resident estimated
that 10 of 94 units in his building
had recently been evacuated.
Reach Lynn Edmonds at (718)
357-7400 x127, ledmonds@queenstribune.com or @Ellinoamerikana
July 7-13, 2016 Page 7
Tribune/Press Real estate MaRketplace
The Changing Face Of Retail In NYC
By Michael Stoler
W
hile the
commercial real
estate market
continues to grow and
expand, one sector of
the market, national and
regional retail chain stores
seem to be losing steam.
file photo
Landlords are feeling the effect of
the bankruptcies after the closing
of retail locations like Aeropostale,
Eastern Mountain Sports, PacSun,
Quicksilver, Sports Authority, Fairway Market, and A & P. This reduction in stores is compounded by the
increased pressure by e-commerce,
lower revenues and general consensus regarding the number of brick
near the financial district and Bat- Last month, Barnes & Noble also
and mortar retailers.
The prominent national and lo- tery Park. The store is slated to open closed its store at the base of the
cal retailers that are shrinking their in October 2016, with 7,358 feet on Citicorp Center on Third Avenue &
store count include Men’s Ware- the ground and 40,894 on the lower 53rd Street.
Looks like Apple is continuing
house, Jos. A. Bank, Chico’s, White level of the property. Fairway MarHouse Black Market, Finish Line, ket had signed a lease for the space its expansion in the Big Apple. The
American Eagle Outfitters, Ralph but never opened a store. July 20th company, which has six retail locaLauren, Macy’s, Sears, Barnes & No- is the scheduled date for the open- tions in Manhattan, will be opening
ble, Office Depot, Staples, Scoop, ing of Target outpost in Forest Hills. its first store this summer in WilThe 21,000 sq. ft. store, located at 70- liamsburg at 247 Bedford Street.
and Uniglo.
While these retailers are having 00 Austin Street, will be part of the Industry leaders believe that chain
an effect on the face of retail, other retailer’s flexible format ‘stores. The has executed a lease with a major
retailers are setting their sites for ex- Target replaces the former Barnes & residential developer for a second
pansion in the metropolitan region. Noble, which closed last December. store in the borough to be opened
near the Brooklyn AcadLeading the pack is Taremy of Music and the Barget, which recently signed
clay Center.
a lease for a 38,000 square
This summer, the Fairfoot site at 1715 East 13th
way market on Second
Street in the Sheepshead
Avenue and 30th Street
Bay section of Brooklyn.
in Manhattan, will have a
This summer, CityTarget
new competitor with the
will open a 125,000 square
opening of a Trader Joe’s
foot store on the entire
store located in the forsecond floor of City Point,
mer Food Emporium at
a massive retail and resiEast 32nd Street and Third
dential complex located
Avenue. Later in the year,
in Downtown Brooklyn.
Trader Joe’s will be openConstruction is undering yet another location
way in lower Manhattan
in Downtown Brooklyn at
for the Target small forCity Point, sharing it with
mat city store. The store
Century 21, Alamo Draft
is near the World Trade
house Cinema and DeKalb
Center complex and located at 255 Greenwich Barnes & Noble closed both its Queens stores at the Market Hall, filled with
food vendors.
Street (at Murray Street) beginning of this year.
Now is the perfect time
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Page 8 July 7-13, 2016
After Flushing West:
Tribune/Press Real estate MaRketplace
F&T Executive VP Helen Lee replied,
“Forget 10 years, Flushing will be dramatically different in just five years.
We’ve curated each of the commercial tenants in all of our projects, a
process which is essential in reshaping the dynamic of our community.”
So if development is so important
to the Flushing community, then why
was the Flushing West proposal withdrawn? According to Council Member
Koo and Assemblyman Kim’s public statements, the original Flushing
West Affordable Housing Plan threatened to further increase the population density of Downtown Flushing
without addressing its urgent need for
infrastructure improvements.
Flushing has historically grown on
its own, without government accommodations such as special tax breaks
and substantial rezonings, such as incentives provided for in Manhattan’s
Hudson Yards or [pending] Midtown
East rezoning. “I commend Council
Member Dan Garodnick’s Midtown
East rezoning plan, which was a first
of its kind. Perhaps Flushing needs a
similar plan, one that allows the city
to create a budget for infrastructure
improvements paid for by a combination of public and private money.
The budget could be monetized by
selling valuable air rights to developers which [theoretically] could be
created out of thin air,” said former
City Comptroller John Liu.
Is Liu onto something? With all
the recent talk about the rezoning of
Flushing West and overpopulation
in Downtown Flushing, there hasn’t
been much talk about other parts
of Flushing. Theoretically, rezoning
other parts of Flushing could reduce
crowding in Downtown Flushing by
directing people away from Downtown, while more importantly allowing the city to sell air-rights from
city-owned properties to developers. The unsold air-rights are an untapped gold mine, as the profits from
these air-rights sales could result in
hundreds of millions of dollars for
said infrastructure improvements.
Just like Manhattan or Shanghai,
Flushing (which is a junior hybrid of
both), has all the necessary ingredients for it to evolve into one of the
most desirable places to live in the
21st century. But with congestion
and lack of city funding at the root of
many of Flushing’s other problems,
its growth may be approaching a
bottleneck. Perhaps the solution to
these problems will be found not in
the Flushing West Rezoning, but in a
new rezoning plan that will address
other areas of Flushing.
got even stronger. This is because we
are not just a community where people can buy cheap [restaurant] food
or do inexpensive grocery shopping,
but it’s a place where you can do everything you need to do without a car.
The BID was created to solve some
of the problems facing the business
community, but a single organization like the BID can’t fix everything –
that’s why we need everyone to work
together.”
While Flushing is widely considered
by many to be the largest Chinatown
in the Western world, some believe
that its demographics are changing
quickly. “There’s a large prosperous
Chinese population in Flushing, but
order for Flushing
the diversity of Flushing is unrivaled
to reach its full
anywhere else,” said Simon Gerpotential as an
son, President of the Greater
international
Flushing Chamber of Comdestination,
merce. “It has to do with
“We need to
the fact that Flushing has
improve infraalready become a worldstructure -- the
class destination and
subway, streets
people come here from
and sidewalks are
all over the world. I tell
Michael Cheng
too crowded, and
my friends if you want
that’s why in the coming months, to see the future, come to Flushing.
DOT will make the sidewalks nine Flushing is what America is and will
inches wider on Downtown Main be, and it’s a great thing.”
Street. But we still need to find ways
Several staple community centers
to make the 7 Train more reliable.”
or nonprofits, such as the Flushing
Don Capalbi, President of the Y and Greater Flushing Chamber
Queensboro Hill-Flushing Civic As- of Commerce, are witnessing exsociation, suggested that in order plosive growth. Established in 1926,
to relieve some of the subway’s con- the Flushing Y’s membership has
gestion, the city could explore op- increased by nine percent year-overtions of allowing Queens residents year for the last two years. According
to ride into the city at an affordable to Executive Director Jen Silvers, “It
cost on the LIRR track when the new also seems as though greater Flushplan lets it stop at the Grand Central ing’s population is becoming more
Station. Relief of subway and traf- gentrified, as our constituency is
fic congestion is crucial to Flushing now becoming more ethnically dibecause its businesses rely heavily verse.” Council Member Koo added,
on tourists who come for the unique “I would like to see the gentrification
dining and shopping experiences as of Flushing continue as it is imporwell as those who commute from all tant for the development of a diverse
over the tristate area to see their doc- community as well as for tourism.”
tors, lawyers, accountants and to do
Real estate development has
their grocery shopping.
played a critical role in attracting
Flushing has a unique and self- this new growth and diversity. F&T
sustaining micro-economy, largely Group is arguably the most prolific
fueled by immigration. According to Flushing developer, with over five
Flushing BID Executive Director Dian million square feet of projects being
Yu, “During the financial recession of planned or already under construc2009, Flushing thrived through it and tion. When asked about their viin the end, the business community sion for Flushing 10 years from now,
A Collaborative
New Vision For
The Future
by Michael cheng
B
usting at its seams
with foot traffic
comparable to that
of Times Square, 22 bus
lines, the 7 train, and a LIRR
stop, Downtown Flushing
has the highest pedestrian
count in all of New York
outside of Manhattan. But
an unreliable subway that
breaks down on a regular
basis, a subway platform
that often gets so crowded
it leaves commuters no
place left to stand, and
roads so crammed that
drivers consider finding
street parking a blessing
– these are just a few of
the nightmares plaguing
Queens’ most vibrant
neighborhood.
FILE PHOTO
Several community hopefuls were
optimistic that the Flushing West Affordable Housing Rezoning Plan was
the key to getting a spotlight shined
on Flushing and paving the way for
the city to begin funding long-time
anticipated infrastructure improvements. But following the city’s withdrawal of the Flushing West proposal, several community leaders are
now in agreement that Flushing is
in need of new vision, planning, and
funding.
In June 2016, a Commercial District
Needs Assessment of over 200 local
organizations and businesses jointly
conducted by NYC SBS (Small Business Services), the Greater Flushing
Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Flushing BID revealed the top
challenges facing the community:
high commercial rents, congestion,
lack of affordable parking, cleanliness, and the need for more governmental interagency collaboration
and support to address these issues.
“Transportation infrastructure is
at the forefront of issues to be tackled,” said Assemblyman Ron Kim
(D-Flushing). Council Member Peter Koo (D-Flushing) agreed that in
The death of the Flushing West plan leaves questions over what the
future of the Northeast Queens commercial hub will entail.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mike Cheng is a Principal of the
Flushing-based real estate development firm Epos Development. He
is also a Board Member for Queens
Community Board No. 7, and on the
Board of Directors for the Greater
Flushing Chamber of Commerce,
Flushing Y, and Korean-American
League for Civic Action.
www.queenstribune.com • July 7-13, 2016 Tribune Page 27