By Joe Anuta
A new agreement between the city and a northeast Queens developer will result in three sit-down chain restaurants near Queens Center Mall, though traffic improvements that were part of a decade old plan at the site will not be included this time around.
A 2000 project helmed by the city Economic Development Corp. and College-Point based Mattone Group was initially supposed to make several improvements to 92nd Street, Queens Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway exit to complement the construction of an 18-screen movie complex near the corner of 92nd Street and 59th Avenue, a report from the City Planning Commission said.
But the plan fell through, the agreement expired and after more than 12 years of talks and legal wrangling, the developers ended up paying $3 million to the city for failing to follow through.
Mattone will now be constructing an Olive Garden, a Longhorn Steakhouse and a Joe’s Crab Shack on the site.
“We are in need of a community facility as was originally proposed,” said Community Board 4 District Manager Christian Cassagnol, who recently sat through a presentation on the project. “This plan is better than having a parking lot there, but traffic is a huge concern for us.”
The ordeal started more than a decade ago, after the city proposed the multiplex during the Giuliani administration and selected Mattone to make it happen. Members of CB 4 questioned the selection of the real estate company since a high-ranking EDC official left office to join the Mattone group around this time.
Under the previous understanding, 92nd Street would have been widened to four lanes and extended down to Queens Boulevard to allow westbound traffic there to make a right before Woodhaven Boulevard, according to a report from the City Planning Commission.
The agreement also called for a new traffic light at the corner of the Long Island Expressway exit and 92nd Street, the report stated.
But that agreement expired in 2004 and the developers and city made no move to renew it.
The restaurants are allowed under the current zoning and require no special permission, according to a representative of Mattone.
After they are built, there would be a possibility to do a traffic study.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
