Greater Jamaica to celebrate 40 years in community

Next week, The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (GJDC), one of New York’s oldest, not-for-profit local development organizations, will celebrate 40 years of service and contributions to the Jamaica community.
While the GJDC plans to recognize and honor its vast accomplishments and people who have contributed to its successes at a gala on Wednesday, October 17, GJDC President Carlisle Towery said that the evening is not just an opportunity for reflection.
“This is about celebrating not just a track record, but a potential,” said Towery, who has been with the organization for 35 of its 40-year-history.
The gala, with the theme of “celebrating 40 years of community building,” will take place at the United Nations Headquarters and honor John F. Stewart, Managing Director, National Distribution at Citibank, N.A. as well as Anthony E. Shorris, Executive Director of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
Throughout the past 40 years, GJDC has played a prominent role in helping facilitate a number of key projects including York College, bringing the U.S. Social Security and Federal Food and Drug Administration to the downtown area, forming four Business Improvement Districts and founding the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning formerly the Jamaica Arts Center.
“Our theory was always that the arts and economic development have a synergy,” Towery said. “The arts can enhance economic development, and economic development can support the arts.”
In addition, the organization advocated for the AirTrain, a commuter rail from downtown Jamaica to John F. Kennedy International Airport, planned for and helped acquire the site of the Queens Family and Civil Courthouses, built parking garages and worked on many other projects that have spurred business. However, Towery said listing one accomplishment the organization was most proud of was difficult.
“There’s no one thing, as much as the pride we have in the potency of plans,” Towery said. “We are really not operators or developers; we are planners. We have never done a plan to put on a show or to be gratified by having produced a document. Everything we do is actionable, and they are aimed at decision-makers.”
Towery said that the organization has a trinity of interests - business, government and community - and the group has worked hard to develop and maintain relationships with all three sectors throughout the years.
Currently, GJDC is excited about the recently rezoned downtown area, which Towery said could serve as a catalyst for private investment, and the group is working on plans for an “airport village.”
Part of that vision, includes plans for a 500,000 square foot office tower as well as a mixed-use facility with housing, retail and a 200-250 room hotel that would be accessible directly from the AirTrain.