Flushing Is Flying – Report shows employment, home values, wages soaring

When New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi released a report on the economy for Queens County on June 8 – the news for the borough was great.
At a breakfast sponsored by the Flushing Development Center on June 29 with Borough President Helen Marshall and City Councilperson John Liu in attendance, Hevesi released a similar report for Flushing, and the news was phenomenal.
Employment, wages and home values have skyrocketed, and public and private groups have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in projects that will change the landscape of the neighborhood dramatically throughout the next few years.
&#8220Flushing is a critically important part of the Queens’ economy and the City economy overall,” Hevesi said.
&#8220In 2004, Flushing businesses provided nearly 34,000 jobs and generated almost $1.2 billion in annual wages. While this is the most recent annual data available for Flushing, the pace of economic growth for the City as a whole accelerated in 2005 and 2006 and evidence suggests that Flushing has benefited from this continued resurgence.”
Hevesi’s report found that the economic boom is tied to a population boom. From 1999-2000 Flushing experienced a 13.5 percent growth, more than 4 percent higher than the city average with more than 58 percent its population foreign-born, according to data collected in 2000.
&#8220The Comptroller’s report confirms what we have known for years; Flushing is booming,” said Fred Fu, President, Flushing Development Center. &#8220Recent growth has been supported by a variety of factors, including the new energy provided by Flushing’s immigrant population; the vision of local developers; and the efforts of our local, City, and State elected officials, who are working who are working together to build a better community.”
Total wages paid in Flushing also grew at a slightly faster rate than in the City as a whole, increasing by 8 percent in 2004.
Average salaries in Flushing increased annually throughout the recession of the early 2000s (a feat not matched Citywide) and rose by 10.4 percent between 2000 and 2004, reaching $35,264 in 2004.
In 2005, the median value for all owner-occupied residences in Community Board 7, which includes Flushing, was $450,000 a 50 percent increase from 2002 and higher than the median $400,000 throughout the borough.
As of November 2005, the neighborhood's financial institutions, including four banks headquartered in Downtown Flushing, held more than $3.7 trillion in institutional assets.
&#8220They are planning many, many wonderful things here,” Marshall said. &#8220Great things are in store for Flushing.”