An entire block in Rego Park will be transformed into a 100,000-square-foot retail and medical office building by RJ Capital Holdings.
Located at 98-81 Queens Blvd., the building will take over Ohr Natan Synagogue, the site of the former Trylon Theater. After the theater closed down in 1999, preservationists tried to petition synagogue owners to retain some of the theater’s architectural features. The building was renovated in 2005, removing many of the historical features, according to a blog post by a local historian.
Ohr Natan Synagogue’s lease expires in February 2017 and Rabbi Nahum Kaziev said that talks between him and RJ Capital Holdings have dissolved, according to the Commercial Observer. The synagogue also acts as a community center for the large Bukharian Jewish community that resides in Rego Park and Forest Hills.
RJ Capital Holdings filed a lawsuit against the synagogue in 2014 for not paying rent but a judge dismissed the lawsuit when Kaziev was able to prove that the synagogue did pay, according to Yeshiva World News.
Real estate brokerage firm CBRE has been retained as the leasing agent for the site, which will also feature underground parking.
“Given the tremendous growth of the residential sector in Queens over the past few years, this planned property is ideally poised to offer the perfect commercial space in a neighborhood sorely lacking in this type of major development,” said Roy Chipkin, vice president of CBRE.
Kaziev was not available for comment as of press time.
