By Cynthia Koons
Unveiled last week, the $600 million project will bring 725,000 square feet of commercial space and about 1,000 rental apartments and condos to a part of Flushing that is now largely industrial.”There's a tremendous demand for both retail stores, retail space as well as housing in Flushing,” Stan Markowitz, vice president of Muss Development, said in an interview Monday. “You can see the success in Queens of Queens Mall and the 20th Avenue shopping center in College Point.”Early beginningsIn the mid-'80s, Muss Development, a family-owned building company based in Forest Hills, bought the former Con Ed site on the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and College Point Boulevard and began leasing the property for manufacturing uses.”It was a thriving operation, but they were all on short-term or no leases because it was well known that it would be a development,” Markowitz said.The city began focusing its attention on the redevelopment of downtown Flushing and the waterfront in the years that followed. A Flushing master plan released by then-Councilwoman Julia Harrison in the early 1990s called for a promenade and park on the downtown side of Flushing Creek.In 1998, the Department of City Planning rezoned the waterfront of Flushing to invite future residential and retail development in the manufacturing district. That rezoning came as a result of a comprehensive plan conducted by the agency in 1993, City Planning spokeswoman Rachaele Raynoff said.Markowitz said it was not until 2000 that Muss Development stepped up its planning for the project that was finally released last week. The announcement came after yet another task force – formed by city officials, urban planners and local politicians in 2002 – called for the reconstruction of the waterfront on either side of the river.Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who sat on that task force, said the Muss development will repair a blight on Flushing's skyline. “I'm excited to see (the Con Ed site) be reclaimed into use from being an environmental wasteland for so long,” Liu said.Markowitz's project will be the first to give the public access to the river.”This is clearly one of the most substantial waterfront sites in downtown Flushing,” Liu said.For planned growthThe task force Liu sat on in 2002 and 2003 gave birth to the Development Framework Summary, which lists downtown, the waterfront and Willets Point as the three prongs the city must focus on for the orderly development of Flushing.Fred Fu, past president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, said the Muss announcement, Community Board 7's approval of the large-scale residential and retail development of the dilapidated RKO Keith's theater on the north edge of town and the impending selection of a developer for Municipal Lot 1 will change the boundaries of downtown Flushing. At present, Flushing's business district is dominated by Asian retailers and restaurants on Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue. Many urban planners have called for city-monitored development in Flushing in order to diversify the downtown shopping district. “People are concerned we hear that it's only Asian,” Fu said. “We don't want only Asian, it's not good for economics. (We want) Flushing's downtown to be the center of Queens.”Urban planner Wellington Chen, who has worked with several developers in downtown Flushing, said the Muss complex will only be successful if it is complemented by other construction in that neighborhood. “If it's just isolated unto itself, it's not going to do any good,” Chen said. “One of the questions people are asking is which way will it face?”Willets PointWillets Point, the Iron Triangle of auto body salvage shops on the western side of the Flushing Creek, sits across the river from where the Muss development will be built.The city is currently soliciting ideas from developers interested in rebuilding Willets Point, which stands between downtown Flushing and Shea Stadium, Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the USTA Tennis Center.Markowitz said plans for the new Muss property do not hinge on the reconstruction of Willets Point.”The Willets Point redevelopment, that's the next era,” Markowitz said. “This development you see in downtown Flushing right now is part of the rezoning of Flushing from manufacturing uses to residential and commercial uses.”Economic growthOther projects in the works for downtown Flushing include the demolition of Municipal Lot 1 on Union Street between 37th and 39th avenues, which will make way for a large-scale retail complex; the construction of a retail/office building on the site of the former Queens County Savings Bank on Main Street; and the creation of a $60 million glass residential and retail facility atop the RKO Keith's Theater on Northern Boulevard that Community Board 7 approved Monday.Markowitz said he already had signed leases with his two anchor tenants, but would not disclose who they were. Michael Lee, who is responsible for the Queens Crossing project on the Queens County Savings Bank site, said last year that he had a letter of interest from Barnes & Noble bookstore for his project.”The response that we've gotten has just been tremendous,” Markowitz said of Muss's search for retailers.Chen said economic growth spurs future economic growth. “Retailers hate to be alone,” he said. “But retailers love to be on the bandwagon.”More on boardWhile holding onto the Con Ed site on College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, Muss Development has been busy in Queens working on projects such as 7000 Austin Street, a retail complex in Forest Hills; the Flushing Plaza, a shopping and office center on Kissena Boulevard; and the Queens Tower, a 10-story office building in Jamaica.Sketches and plans for the project on Flushing's waterfront, Markowitz said, are hanging all over their offices.”In our conference room we have all of the current drawings up on the wall so we can look at them and study them,” he said. “We've gone through many different ideas and there was a time when it was very open thinking. Everybody brought their ideas to the table. We even hired a few consultants to help us each stage of the way. We went through many different iterations of the plan and finally gave birth to this plan, the one you see as the one that works best for the site.”Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
