14 The QUEE NS Courier • FEBRUARY 4, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com ‘Epic Tower’ planned for Met Food market site in Flushing By Alina Suriel asuriel@queenscourier.com/@alinangelica This is one “epic” project for Flushing. The site of a former Met Food supermarket in Flushing at 41-62 Bowne St. is now unrecognizable with the 30-year-old supermarket demolished to make way for a new 14-story mixed-use building. The incoming structure is tentatively named the “Epic Tower” and will contain 84 residential units and two floors of retail or commercial space, one of which will contain a 11,400-square-foot school or daycare facility. On-site parking will be provided in the form of a two-level underground parking garage planned to have around 90 spaces. Maspeth-based Angelo and Anthony Ng Architect Studio is designing the project. According to Anthony Ng, the residential units will likely be sold as condominiums. He said the design was created to be white and simple, with very little ornamentation and as much glass as possible. “We just wanted something sleek, modern,” Ng said, “a clean look.” Construction has not yet begun on the new building and the site is currently completely leveled and blocked off with scaffolding. A supermarket that operated at the site for 30 years closed down in July following a decision by owners Abel and Ahmed Saleh to sell the property. The immediate area — located less than a mile from public transportation options by bus, subway or Long Island Railroad — is rife with recently-raised buildings and ongoing construction. Another structure being constructed with a similarly modern design can be seen adjacent to the rear of the empty Bowne Street lot. Rendering courtesy of Architects Studio The new structure will have a modern design and large glass windows. WHEN THE SNOW SETTLES Last week’s snowstorm left more than just Mayor de Blasio as a potential political casualty in Queens. There was also FDNY Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro, a Queens native who came under attack from the New York Post for having fellow smoke-eaters help clear a path through a wall of snow so that he could reach his car and get to a blizzard briefing at the city’s Office for Emergency Management. The New York Post called for the commissioner’s scalp, and Councilwoman Liz Crowley, chair of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee, praised the Department of Investigations for its query into the matter, saying “it raises concern about the appropriate use of city resources.” One has to wonder just how asinine our city has become when we try to go after the leader of the largest fire department in the world, someone who is in charge of protecting billions upon billions of dollars’ worth of property, during a time of citywide crisis. The city, as you may remember, lacked the resources to sufficiently remove the snow in Queens. The city was so hard up, the administration was begging anyone who was over 18 to pick up a shovel for $13.50 an hour with the added bonus of overtime. Jake Lemonda, president of the Uniform Fire Officers Association, the union that represents the leaders of the FDNY, said it best when he commented, “Using resources within the Queens Politics & More BY MIKE FRICCHIONE department to assist him in accomplishing his responsibilities during the second biggest snowstorm in this city’s history should not even be questioned.” Lemonda is right. The FDNY is about getting the job done. When the Sanitation Department was busy getting the job done everywhere else but Queens, the FDNY stepped in to make sure their leader could make it out of his home in Whitestone and onto managing the rest of the city’s problems. If you’re the New York Post, you want to see more heads roll because it’s good for sales. If you’re a New Yorker who cares about the safety and security of their city, you should not want to see a decorated veteran of the department be punished for doing his job.
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