Forum Sees World Class Status For Queens

150 persons, dealt with "Reinvesting in Existing Neighborhoods" and focused primarily on Flushing and South Jamaica.
The opening session on June 1, "Facing Midtown: Commercial and Institutional Expansion," examined commercial and institutional expansion while the final session this Friday looks at "Building New Large-Scale Housing." The series is sponsored by the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute in cooperation with the Queens Borough President and Crains New York Business.
The 10 speakers at the second forum cited among Queens strengths, its remarkable ethnic diversity, excellent transportation, two airports, good schools and parks, wide range of housing, and outstanding sports and recreational attractions.
But they also noted such concerns as tight housing and high construction costs and the need for infrastructure investments, "realistic" environmental standards, "reasonable" building and safety codes and pricing standards for municipal services, a streamlining of the governmental review process, credit enhancement, a more simplified lending process and "effective" public subsidies.
Peter Magnani, deputy Queens borough president, in an overview that launched the meeting, asserted, "Queens is coming into its own. It is the most diverse place in the country and perhaps the world, with 167 nationalities in a population of 2.2 million." In enumerating the boroughs major asset, he said "Queens is in the forefront of the global economy," and added, "Its airports make Queens the commercial capital of the world."
He noted, however, that construction costs were as high as in Manhattan, and that the borough needed more infrastructure investments as well as a streamlining of the review process for redevelopment and housing. He also said small business needed more support.
Michael Lappin, president of Community Preservation Corp., a consortium of 94 banks, thrifts and major New York insurance companies, said there was a housing crisis in Queens in terms of supply and affordability.
Citing a tight housing market, he said 85,000 residents are paying more than half of their annual incomes for housing. He urged the reinvestment in existing neighborhoods and the reclamation of vacant housing and rehabilitation of existing dwellings. After detailing what he considered financing hurdles to development, he called for "reasonable" building and safety codes and for sensible pricing standards for municipal services.
"We need to redevelop new housing and simplify the lending process," Lappin said. "At the same time, we must preserve what we have."
Eric Kober, director of Housing and Economic Infrastructure Division of the Dept. of City Planning, said there was a clear and accelerating growth trend in Queens. He pointed to the 24 percent growth in population since 1990, to 2.2 million residents today.
Joseph Farber, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, called the Chambers 1,100 members "a strategic asset" to the borough because of their credibility and ability to help community development. He stressed the need for more housing. "People coming to Queens need a place to live," he said. Farber is awaiting with interest a study expected this week assessing the feasibility of a convention center, and its potential impact on the borough.
Focusing on Flushing, Joshua Muss, president of Muss Development Co., said that neighborhood was a prime location and "where all the development should happen." But he said the need for housing for medium-income people must be met as well as that for low-income dwellings. "If it cant be done in Flushing, it cant be done anywhere," Muss said. "Flushing has the best chance in New York City for success."
Richard Gelman, president of the Flushing Chamber of Commerce and Building Assoc. concurred, calling Flushing a "gem." He said Flushing has many attractions and "can become a center of tourism."
Wellington Z. Chen, senior vice president of the Queens real estate company TDC Development Corp., said the boroughs center of gravity is shifting eastward. He said Flushing needs to create a new business district, with an emphasis on walking to shopping places. "We need a critical mass," Chen said. "We need smart growth."
Edwin C. Reed, chief financial officer of Allen A.M.E. Church in Jamaica, which rehabilitates and builds affordable housing, manages commercial stores and operates a community service center, stressed that "community development works only when the market works with it. Queens is a driving community. Parking is important. We need to develop a paradigm for development of historically undeserved communities."
Reed stressed community development. "What makes a city work is to connect with the other parts and create a critical mass," he said.
F. Carlisle Towery, executive director of Greater Jamaica Development Corp., cited Jamaica as the community serving all of Queens and the need to make it "a destination point." He said zoning in downtown Jamaica is "out of whack." He also pointed to the "maldistribution" of government employment, with 82 percent in Manhattan and only 6 percent in Queens.
Joseph Mattone, chairman and chief executive officer of the Mattone Group Ltd., concluding the session, said the borough needs more affordable housing and Jamaica more development.
"Queens is the best place to be," he said. "It is not saturated yet."