Michael Meyer is helping to lead the Renaissance of downtown Flushing.
With a vast and varied background that includes serving as lead executive and negotiator for the city of Miami Beach in the $250 million development of two convention center hotels and a parking garage, Meyer - currently the president of F&T Group, a real estate development company - aims to make Flushing a “destination location.”
“There will be a transformation of downtown Flushing [from Main Street to Shea Stadium],” he said. “Its time has come. In 10 years it won't be recognized. It's an exciting place.”
Hoping to launch the area as the business and cultural center of Queens, Meyer is working with F&T Vice President of Architecture and Planning Howard Hsu and Sunny Chu, his partner, on mixed-use projects that will make Flushing a retail, housing, sports and entertainment center.
One such undertaking is Queens Crossing, located at 38-25 Main Street.
Slated to open in December, the 407,000 square foot development will include 85,000 square feet of retail space, 80 state-of-the-art condominiums, and a 400-car underground parking garage.
On July 12, 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that awarding F&T and partners the rights to develop Flushing Commons, located on the site of Municipal Parking Lot #1, was “The biggest thing to happen to Flushing since the arrival of the Mets.”
Scheduled to break ground next year, the project will boast 330,000 square feet of high quality retail space, a Multi-Plex theatre, 200 room luxury hotel, 500 condominiums, 100,000 square feet of cultural facilities and 200 parking spaces.
Other projects on the horizon include the Future Flushing Mall, scheduled for construction between 2008 and 2011; the Waterfront Promenade; and the World Trade Center Queens, 75 acres slated to become a “city within a city” with a hotel and expo site. Currently, F&T is one of the final six bidders for this area.
F&T estimates that, through their $5 billion investment over the course of 10 years, 20,000 new jobs will be created.
In that time, Flushing will become a thriving cultural, recreation and economic epicenter where ethnicities interface.
According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation, “Downtown Flushing will become a center of urban activity … It will be where people come to experience the best of Queens.”
Prior to his appointment as President of the F&T Group, Meyer started his consulting firm, Quest International, Inc. providing real estate advisory and hotel asset management services to such clients as Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts and the Empire State Development Corporation. Prior to running Quest, Meyer was a Global Lead at Accenture, the world’s leading management and technology services organization, formerly Andersen Consulting. In that capacity he was responsible for Accenture’s worldwide real estate portfolio and office operations.
Before joining Accenture, Meyer was a Vice President of Tishman Realty & Construction focusing on hotel development and consulting. He first started in the real estate and hospitality industry as the Owner’s Representative for Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at the Vista Hotel at the World Trade Center.
Meyer holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA from Oberlin College where he majored in English Literature.
