FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 15, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Flushing shop sells
million-dollar Mega
Millions winner
Th e New York Lottery announced on Wednesday
that a second prize Mega Millions ticket for the
Feb. 13 drawing was sold at a Flushing convenience
store.
Th e ticket, which is worth $1,000,000, was sold
at Mitul Quick Stop Inc., located at 60-08 Main
St. Th e winning numbers for the Feb. 13 Mega
Millions drawing were as follows: 5 – 12 – 15 – 46
– 49 and Mega Ball 1.
Th ose who match the fi rst fi ve numbers on a
Mega Millions ticket automatically win the $1 million
second prize. In order to win the grand prize,
players must match all six numbers.
Prizes can be claimed up to a year aft er the drawing.
With no top prize winner in the Feb. 13 drawing,
the Mega Millions jackpot is now $153,000,000.
Th e next drawing is this Friday, Feb. 16.
Emily Davenport
Major LIE bridge project
nears end of the road
A multimillion-dollar project to bring drivers
a smoother and safer ride on the Long Island
Expressway in Queens is nearing completion.
Reconstruction on the three bridges at the Long
Island Expressway (LIE)/Grand Central Parkway
(GCP) Interchange and improvement work at
the Long Island Expressway between the Grand
Central Parkway and College Point Boulevard will
wrap up this spring, Governor Andrew Cuomo
announced this week. Th e $58 project began in
early 2015 and will fi nish nine months ahead of
schedule.
Th e reconstructed bridges include the LIE mainline
over the GCP and the eastbound and westbound
LIE service roads over the GCP. Deck and
steel structures were replaced and the bridges were
widened to create space for shoulders.
Approximately 350,000 vehicles pass through
the interchange each day, according to the state
Department of Transportation.
Suzanne Monteverdi
Site of Rego Park Social
Sec. offi ce being sold
A Rego Park building that houses one of Queens’
four Social Security Administration offi ces is now
for sale.
Cushman & Wakefi eld announced on Feb. 12
that it’s handling the sale of the fully renovated
offi ce building located at 63-44 Austin St., with a
listing price of $8.25 million.
Th e single-story building, encompassing 16,900
square feet, “is a highly accessible, prime offi ce
opportunity located in a dense residential neighborhood,”
according to Th omas Donovan, vice
chairman of Cushman & Wakefi eld.
For years, 63-44 Austin St. has housed offi ces for
the Social Security Administration, where residents
can seek assistance with various services that the
federal agency provides.
Currently, the Social Security Administration
holds an active lease on the property and isn’t
going anywhere for the time being. A spokesperson
for Cushman & Wakefi eld stated that the Social
Security Administration maintains a seven-year
lease on the property. Th e lease does not have an
out clause by which the new owner could terminate
the agreement.
Robert Pozarycki
Photo courtesy of Charles B. Wang Community Health Center
Board 7 votes against
Flushing health facility plan
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A $65 million Flushing healthcare
facility proposed as part of the mayor’s
“Caring Neighborhoods” initiative
got the thumbs down from
Community Board 7 this week.
After a lengthy conversation
between board members, healthcare
operators and their legal representation,
Community Board 7 recommended
denial of a site developer’s
request for waivers to build a facility
at 40th Road and College Point
Boulevard. In all, 22 members voted
in favor of the recommendation, and
13 opposed it. Th e request must still
go before the Board of Standards
and Appeals (BSA), which has the
fi nal say.
Th e not-for-profi t facility would be
operated by the Charles B. Wang
Community Health Center and be a
primary care access point that provides
medical, dental, mental health,
pediatric, gynecological and patient
support services to the community,
regardless of ability to pay or immigration
status.
Th e center currently operates three
locations in Manhattan and two in
the Flushing area, which are “bursting
at the seams,” according to legal
representative Ethan Goodman from
Fox Rothschild. Goodman said the
group has been searching for a new
site for a pure expansion for about
seven years.
“Aft er six or seven years, the only
property that they could fi nd that
was big enough to serve their needs
and accommodate the square footage
that they need for their patient rooms
and exam room is here on the corner
of 40th Road and College Point
Boulevard,” Goodman said. “Because
of this unique property, we can’t actually
comply with zoning resolution to
build our program.”
Site developers are seeking zoning
relief to reduce the side yard and high
setback requirement and off -street
parking requirements; they want to
build just 34 parking spots instead of
the mandated 198 spaces under the
existing zoning. Goodman said traffi
c analysis of the nearby 37th Avenue
site concluded that about 45 parking
spots were used during peak hours.
Board members took issue with
the parking request, which they said
would burden an already high-traffi
c area. Others argued that most
patients and staff would take public
transportation to the site, which
negates the need for additional parking.
Additionally, because the center
will serve many under-served families
and seniors, many patients will
not own a car.
Board members also asked why
the center was unable to fi nd a site
that would facilitate their needs without
the need for waivers. Goodman
pointed to the center’s not-for-profit
budget.
“Th e health center doesn’t have the
option of going onto the competitive
market for a nice 125-by-100 prime
corner site to build more normally:
to fi t the parking in, fi t the fl oor plate
in,” he said. “Th ey really are sort of
stuck with this oddly confi gured, doglegged
site and they have to do the
best they can.”
Board 7 Land Use Committee
Chair Chuck Apelian critiqued a separate
issue: the way the project was
announced to the community board.
Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared in
Flushing in July and announced the
incoming healthcare facility at a press
conference part of “City Hall in Your
Borough.” Th e mayor hailed the project
as a way of “righting wrongs” in
the city’s inequitable healthcare system
and said groundbreaking was
expected in fall 2017.
Th e mayor made the announcement
the day aft er the variance application
for the site was fi led with the
BSA, Apelian said, and there was no
mention the building required BSA
approval.
“Our board is part of the approval
process for a variance in this district,
and the mayor’s indiff erence to this
position prior to the announcement
was very upsetting to the members
of the committee,” he said during
the committee report. “Th ere’s no
way we can approve a 59,232-squarefoot
facility that will accommodate
hundreds and maybe thousands of
patients and staff that only provides
34 parking spaces rather than the
required 198.”
Certain board members argued the
neighborhood’s need for healthcare
outweighed the parking and other
variance issues being debated.
“We need healthcare like this for
people that are under-insured or have
no insurance,” Tyler Cassell said. “We
shouldn’t be hard-nosed all the time
when there’s a reasonable exception.”
“Th is board is a caring board,”
Apelian said before making the
motion to deny the request. “But this
is not truly in the spirit of the minimum
variance.”
A rendering for the proposed Flushing location at 40th Road
