By Courtney Dentch
Downtown Jamaica is in the throes of an economic revival, but limited parking could discourage visitors from going to the first movie theater to be built in southeast Queens in 30 years and shopping along the main thoroughfare, business leaders said.
New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels encouraged investment in the future of Jamaica at the 35th annual membership meeting of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation last Thursday at the newly opened Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas.
The meeting’s location — the multiplex that officially opened last Thursday in the Jamaica Center — served as tangible evidence of Jamaica’s rebirth and the GJDC’s hopes for the area, Daniels said. He played a role in the building of the movie theater when he was a senior vice president at the state Economic Development Corporation.
“This is what can happen when people have vision and have the confidence to put money into the community,” he said. “We can’t rebuild, revive, revitalize without confidence.”
The group’s meeting was part celebration and part planning session as the speakers recounted the successes of the past year, the works in progress and those to come. The corporation is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting economic growth in downtown Jamaica.
Aside from supporting the Jamaica Center retail complex and the AirTrain light rail system, which will link downtown Jamaica to John F. Kennedy International Airport, the GJDC helps provide small business loans for local entrepreneurs and operates several parking lots to make the downtown area more accessible, said Carlisle Towery, the group’s president.
The GJDC is also working with public and private partners to create the JFK Airport Village, an extension of the airport that would include office space, hotels, retailers, restaurants and more, Towery said. The group is also involved with the Mid-Block Village project, which could offer about 180 residential units at fair-market value and is scheduled to break ground on the first phase this fall, Towery said.
“Both will strengthen downtown’s role as an economic center,” he said.
But parking is still a major concern for the group and Jamaica as a whole, Towery said. In addition to running the Jamaica First pay lots, the group is hoping to add a 410-space garage at 162nd Street, said Helen Levine, the group’s executive vice president. The group is also targeting parking as a quality-of-life issue in an attempt to make downtown Jamaica more accessible, Towery said.
“They’ve got to address that,” he said. “We want people to use Jamaica by choice, not because they have to come here.”
Daniels urged GJDC members to put their money back into the community by shopping in Jamaica.
“Our dollars are like weapons and how you use them will determine where you stand at the end of the day,” he said. “We haven’t figured out how to corral our dollars to work for us.”
The next battle is to get investments from large groups, such as pension funds, to bring money to the area, Daniels said.
“They need to stop putting our money into the suburbs and start putting it where we live,” he said. “At the end of the day we’re talking about our money. Boards who say that Jamaica is a risk need to be re-evaluated.”
GJDC Chairman Tazewell Smith echoed Daniels’ message, reminding the members that Jamaica still has a way to go.
“I urge our members not to relax yet or bask in our successes or even to look for the things to come,” Smith said. “We need to rebuild Jamaica even more than it has been in the past few years. We’re making Jamaica the business capital of Queens.”
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
