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QC01092014

FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com january 9, 2014 • The Queens Courier 3 CORONA CONVENTION CENTER PLANNED $200M project promises jobs BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com A convention center complex as big as a city block, with a 25-story hotel and apartments, may be coming to Queens. Fleet Financial Group plans to build a roughly 106,000-square-foot convention center, the largest in the East Coast, at 112-21 Northern Boulevard in Corona. The $200 million real estate project also includes 292 water-view hotel rooms, 236 luxurious apartments, a shopping center and a high-end restaurant. “That area is really booming. It’s going to be great for Queens,” said Fleet president Richard Xia. The site is near Citi Field, where a major $3 billion redevelopment project, including a mega mall, is slated for Willets Point. It is also by the Grand Central Parkway, about two miles from LaGuardia Airport. “People pass by, but they never stop here,” said Xia, who lives and works in Flushing. “It’s going to be something that will create a lot of jobs and, in the meantime, bring a lot more business activity to Queens.” Fleet purchased the 1.67-acre property — currently the site of the DiBlasi Ford dealership — last month for $17 million, Xia said. The company is also in the midst of completing an 18-story Westin Element hotel, with a medical center, at 42-31 Union Street in Flushing. Construction of the massive complex in Corona, dubbed the Eastern Emerald Center, would create nearly 3,000 jobs, Xia said. Work is expected to start this June and end in 2017, though the proposal still needs approval from Community Board 3, the Queens borough president and the city. The project has support from Queens Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Seth Bornstein and Queens Chamber of Commerce President Al Pennisi. “It sounds like a really good idea,” Bornstein said. “We lack quality, largescale space for events. It would really be a benefit to the borough.” Pennisi said the city “could use more than one” facility like the Javits Center in Manhattan. “The Chamber thought of this project,” A massive convention center, hotel and apartment complex is planned for Corona, near Citi Field. Pennisi said. “It’ll bring conventions of all sizes into a modern facility. Everybody will benefit from it.” Councilmember Julissa Ferreras and Victor Rodriguez, a Corona resident who owns a mini market near the proposed complex, hope the development will be a boon for the neighborhood. “I think it’s good for us,” Rodriguez said. “It’ll bring more people here.” Rendering courtesy of Fleet Financial Group But a local educator, who did not want to be named, said the slated site is near too many schools on an already accidentprone portion of Northern Boulevard. “To have something of that magnitude, and all these people coming to town, I can’t see how that improves anything,” she said. “Money is good and people need jobs, but there are so many other things not fixed as is.” NORDSTROM RACK COMING TO FLUSHING BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com Nordstrom Rack will be moving into the SkyView Center in Flushing, the Seattle-based apparel company announced this week. Style-savvy shoppers can expect the discounted retail division of Nordstrom, Inc. to open its first Queens location this fall at 40-24 College Point Boulevard. The two-level store will be 39,000 square feet, officials said. Nordstrom Rack is also opening two stores in Brooklyn this year. “We are excited about the opportunity to be a part of a dynamic retail center within a vibrant neighborhood in the heart of Queens and right off the Long Island Rail Road,” Nordstrom Rack President Geevy Thomas said. “We look forward to opening next fall and bringing our customers the very best of our brands at great prices,” Thomas said. The new storefront joins an expanding roster of national tenants, including Target, Old Navy and Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy. SkyView owner Michael Dana said the addition takes Queens one step further to being a major retail destination. “We are committed to providing shoppers great fashion at affordable price points and Nordstrom Rack is the perfect addition to our growing mix of retailers,” Dana said. Photo Courtesy The Shops at SkyView Center THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre The popular Whitestone shopping center at 153-01 10th Avenue has been sold again. Shopping center sold again BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com A popular Whitestone shopping center has been sold again, but the neighborhood hotspot is likely to remain the same. Feil Whitestone LLC, an entity under The Feil Organization, bought the property at 153-01 10th Avenue from Onyx Equities and Crow Holdings for nearly $24 million, officials announced this week. “It’s a good location,” said Brian Feil, the company’s vice president. “From our point of view, it’s a very good investment.” The 62,000-square-foot shopping center remains fully leased and anchored by a 40,000-square-foot Waldbaum’s, Feil said. This means the supermarket chain — owned by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, known as A&P — keeps its power to lease out the other 20,000 square feet of shops. The diverse mix of local tenants currently includes an Astoria Federal Bank, Emperor House Chinese Restaurant and Cascarino’s pizzeria. It was unclear whether A&P would make any changes to the current plan. The company did not respond to requests for comment. Some tenants and residents hope the center remains the same. Cascarino’s co-owner, Jimmy Coady, said his restaurant was not affected when the shopping site changed hands in 2012. Onyx purchased the property then from an affiliate of ABA Partners for nearly $18 million, according to The Real Deal. “I hope this doesn’t mean anything bad for me,” Coady said. “I grew up in the neighborhood. Everybody in the neighborhood shops there. I hope I can stay there.” Feil, a real estate company based in New York City, also owns the Glen Oaks Shopping Center at 255-01 Union Turnpike.


QC01092014
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