Queens Community House purchases Forest Hills Community Center
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | FEB. 19-FEB. 25, 2021 9
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
The Board of Directors of Queens
Community House (QCH), one of the
borough’s largest social service organizations,
has purchased the Forest
Hills Community Center (FCC), the
organization’s initial program site
and home to its administrative headquarters.
“The purchase marks an enormous
milestone in our organization’s evolution,
and it solidifies the continuity of
the Forest Hills space as an essential
resource for the Forest Hills, Rego Park,
and Corona communities,” said Ben
Thomases, QCH executive director.
Fortunately, the need for larger
and upgraded space has coincided
with a once-in-a-generation opportunity
to purchase the site, according to
Thomases.
In 2017, negotiations between the
New York City Housing Authority
(NYCHA), which owned the housing
project, and Forest Hills Co-op tenant
leadership led to the tenants assuming
ownership of the property. This,
in turn, created an opportunity for
QCH to purchase the center from the
tenants, which, after years of technical
complications, occurred on Dec.
29, 2020.
The Forest Hills Community Center,
located at 108-25 62nd Drive, has
historical significance. Its development
resulted from a heated community
conflict in the early 70’s over the
construction of a low-income housing
project in what was then mostly
a white, middle-class neighborhood.
In 1972, Mario Cuomo, then a local
attorney, negotiated a compromise
agreement that reduced the size of
the buildings, gave existing community
residents priority to the units, set
aside 40 percent of apartments for older
adults, and made the development
the first low-income public housing
cooperative in the nation (Forest Hills
Co-op).
Two other emergences from the
agreement were the Forest Hills Community
Center, built to serve as a common
meeting space for both new and
long-term residents, and the establishment
of a new social service organization
to operate it: Forest Hills Community
House (now known as QCH).
As QCH has expanded into 32 sites
across the borough, FHCC has continued
to serve as its administrative headquarters.
When it opened in its doors
in 1976, the center hosted three small
programs. Just prior to the pandemic,
more than 500 neighbors attended the
center on a typical day, and more than
4,600 people passed through its doors
each year. The site is home to a senior
center, after-school program, English
for Speakers of Other Languages
(ESOL) classes, youth leadership programming,
a day program for frail and
memory-impaired older adults, and an
evening teen center.
The purchase of FHCC now presents
QCH with the opportunity to undertake
a major renovation to modernize
the building’s infrastructure, add
lounges, counseling rooms, and areas
for intergenerational activities, and
make the entire building more open
and accessible, Thomases said.
Renovation is scheduled to begin
in July of this year, with a grand
reopening in summer 2022.
“For 45 years, the Forest Hills
Community Center has been a hub of
activity and essential services for our
neighbors in central Queens,” and as
such, it is showing its wear,” Thomases
said. “Now, after a year of limited
operations due to COVID, we look forward
to welcoming people back to a
transformed site in 2022.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone at
(718) 260–4526.
Forest Hills Community Center at 108-25 62nd Drive.
Photo via Queens Community House
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