The average person on the street also seemed excited about the project. "Cool," said Marty Esposito, 28, who lives in nearby Maspeth, "it will make the area better and be a great place to go on the weekends. I’d love it." One shopper at the Queens Mall, Elsie Ungar of Rego Park said "I go to the mall, to Sears and Sterns, but this would add another incentive to shop and eat there as well as going to the movies."
Sabini, however, is not alone among those who are skeptical. The Borough President’s office is taking a non-committal and cautious approach. "We don’t have all the details but the voice of the local residents will have to be taken into consideration," said Dan Andrews, spokesman for Claire Shulman..
In addition, City planning agencies are carefully looking at how the project fits into local zoning regulations. "It is zoned for commercial development but a 1972 rezoning restrictive declaration was attached to the property and the developers might have to go through the Uniform Land Use Process in order to change that restriction," said Andrew Lynn, executive director of the Dept. of City Planning.
There many be a battle of the communities brewing over the project also. Over in Forest Hills, developer Heskel Elias, has been planning a major re-development of the retail and theater components around the Austin Street and Queens Blvd. area, including a retail-entertainment center on the old Forest Hills theater site and an art film movie house in the trendy restaurant section on Austin Street.
Heskel’s biggest plan in currently being built at the old Midway Theater on Queens Blvd. which he is converting into a state-of-the-art, nine screen, stadium-seat theater set to open in August. He indicated that he and his partner, United Artists, had looked at the Georgia Diner site and found it unsuitable. " I think they will encounter strong community opposition to the project. With 30 theaters it should be located on Exit 65 of the expressway, because with a full house you’ll have 20,000 people creating a nightmare on Queens Blvd. It would out of character with the community." Elias said.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications of other movie deals in the works. Reports have Sony theaters selling the Elmwood Theater site just a few blocks from the proposed 30 screen complex—to nearby St. John’s Hospital, with Sony developing a new theater complex on the municipal parking lot 2 for Queens Center Mall and the mall expanding onto the municipal lot 1, creating a major shopping movie hub on Queens Blvd.
Sabini admits the Georgia Diner project may open an economic bonanza for the area. There are respected local businessmen doing this and we’re anxious to see what their actual proposal is. But it’s bigger than Godzilla and we just hope it doesn’t eat up the neighborhood."
