By Stephen Stirling
Up for discussion were a long-delayed residential project in College Point, the addition of two floors to the already underway expansion of New York Hospital Queens and the potential redevelopment of Willets Point, which the board is scheduled to vote on in the coming months. The board gave its approval to the construction of an approximately 90 condominium development at the corner of 14th Avenue and 115th Street in College Point. The developer, Gary Simpson, has been working with the board for nearly four years on the proposal, which requires a series of zoning changes in order to be completed. The area Simpson wishes to develop on is currently zoned for light manufacturing uses, which would need to be changed to a residential zoning for the plan to continue. The development would feature approximately 90 single-family housing units and 100 underground parking spaces with a common courtyard that would have benches, a playground and a lap pool. Simpson has collaborated with CB 7 on the project, and as part of his proposal has also pledged to make more than $200,000 in improvements to neighboring MacNeil Park, including a new boat ramp, new fencing, park benches and a pathway from the Poppenhusen Institute.”The community really stands to benefit a great deal from this,” said Steven Sinacori, a representative of Simpson. The board also approved an additional expansion to New York Hospital Queens' new five-story west wing, which is already under construction. NYHQ Vice President Camela Morrissey said the hospital overestimated its initial cost expectations for the expansion and wants to use the surplus funding to add two more stories to the planned addition. The additional floors would not add any new beds but rather would create “swing space,” which would allow the hospital to move beds from other areas of the hospital that need to be renovated.”If this goes forward, the two additional floors will be built exactly in the construction with the five floors already underway,” Morrissey said. The additional floors are expected to cost about $10 million, and the proposed changes are now set to go before the Board of Standards and Appeals on Feb. 26. Dan Scully of the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association also spoke to the board Monday night and encouraged the members to deny the city's proposed $3 billion makeover for Willets Point. The board will be the first to vote on the proposal when the public approval process begins, which is expected to take place on Feb. 25. Scully said the city has not reached out to the current property owners and more than 200 rental businesses in the area, saying the proposal's scant details are an example of how the city “has not done its homework.””There is no plan, there's a concept,” he said. “We're not against development, we're all for it, but we want to be integrated and consulted on that development and that hasn't happened.” Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
