Friday, October 19, 2012

A Closer Look: Downtown Flushing, $1B in Development

Five Queens projects - with a total price tag in excess of $1 billion - will soon be breaking ground in Downtown Flushing. The $850 million Flushing Commons and Macedonia Plaza projects will help to revitalize the Borough of Queens, creating about 2,600 construction jobs, while a smattering of smaller projects along the Main Street / Northern Boulevard shopping corridor, will add to the construction chaos.

Flushing Commons
is a $850 million project that will transform the 5.5-acre, city-owned Municipal Parking Lot #1, into a 1.75 million-square-foot, mixed-use development.

The project will include 220 condominiums; a 250-room hotel; 1.5-acre town square with a fountain and plaza; 250,000 sq ft of community space; a 500,000 sq ft indoor shopping complex, and 50,000 sq ft of office space. A 'robotic parking facility' for 2,800 cars will also be built on the site.

Macedonia Plaza
is the companion project to the Flushing Commons development.

The 163-unit affordable housing project will be developed on a 35,000-sq-ft portion of the site owned by the Macedonian Community Development Corporation, an extension of the Macedonia AME Church. The project will also contain 7,500 sq ft of ground floor retail, 5,900 sq ft of community space and 19,000 sq ft of open public space.
                                                       
36-14 Main Street
A new 150,000 square-foot building will break ground later this year at 36-14 Main Street, a long, narrow 20,000 sq ft lot, just off Northern Boulevard.

Designed by Raymond Chan (see Flushing Commons project, above),  the 16-story mixed-used project will feature retail on the first two floors; indoor parking on the basement and third levels, and condominiums on floors four through sixteen.