An applicant is looking to tear down a shuttered Little Neck diner to erect a retail and community facility in its place, according to a local community board.
Lion Bee Equities, a Great Neck-based company, has proposed transforming the former Scobee Grill diner into a two-story building with retail on the first floor and a community facility on the second floor, said Community Board 11’s district manager Susan Seinfeld.
The popular diner at 252-29 Northern Boulevard had been around for several decades before it shut down two years ago when eatery owners failed to reach negotiations to purchase the property from its landowners.
Retail plans were not yet known for the now vacant site, said Seinfeld, but there is a high possibility the equities firm would push for a medical facility or a day care on the second floor.
A public hearing for the proposal is scheduled for March, Seinfeld said.
Longtime Little Neck resident Larry Penner, who said he met his wife at Scobee’s on a blind date, welcomed the development.
“This would create jobs for construction people and contractors. I miss Scobee’s but neighborhoods change. Restaurants come and go,” he said. “I was kind of hoping a diner would come in there, but a lot of diners are disappearing in Queens.”
