4 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 25, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Car hits crossing guard near Whitestone school BY ALINA SURIEL asuriel@qns.com/@alinangelica Parents and children were horrifi ed to witness a school crossing guard being hit and dragged by a vehicle in front of a Whitestone school on the morning of Feb. 22. The unidentifi ed woman was assisting children across the street when the accident occurred near P.S. 209 at 16-10 Utopia Pkwy. at 7:40 a.m. A source at the scene says many children were nearby to witness the traumatizing incident as it unfolded and that the woman was dragged about three feet by the car after the initial impact. A group of parents were able to pull the crossing guard out from under the car and set her down on the sidewalk and she reportedly suffered an injury to her leg, which began to noticeably swell shortly afterward. A school source who wanted to remain anonymous said the crossing guard may have inadvertently prevented serious injury from befalling the children when she got in the way of the car. “She probably saved some kids’ lives,” the source said. According to two separate accounts, the crossing guard was reportedly conscious and in stable condition after the incident. W train is coming back to Astoria after a six-year hiatus BY ANGELA MATUA train on weekdays at seven different locations amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua A local line connecting Astoria to the Financial District will soon be resurrected after a six-year shutdown. The MTA announced on Feb. 19 that the W line would come back on weekdays and ultimately replace the Q train, which will be rerouted at 57th Street as part of the Second Avenue Subway plan. The W train, which ran from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria to Whitehall Street in Lower Manhattan, was introduced in 2001 after the Manhattan Bridge north tracks were closed for reconstruction. The MTA ended the W line in 2010 due to budget cuts and Astoria commuters relied on N and Q trains instead. Commuters will be able to hop on the W including Astoria Boulevard, Ditmars Boulevard, 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue, 39th Avenue and Queensboro Plaza. In addition to the W line, the MTA also announced that N trains will operate express in Manhattan from the 34th St-Herald Square stop to Canal Street. These proposals cost $13.7 million annually and have already been approved in the MTA’s budget. The Second Avenue Subway, a plan first proposed in 1919, will be the city’s first major expansion in more than 50 years. The line will stretch 8.5 miles from East Harlem to Hanover Square and a total of 16 new stops will be built. The MTA will hold a public hearing on the proposal in spring and implement it this fall. Photo courtesy Google Maps Landmark RKO Keith’s movie theater is for sale again BY ALINA SURIEL asuriel@qns.com/@alinangelica Here we go again. The landmarked RKO Keith’s movie theater in downtown Flushing is up for sale in a title change which will be the fourth since 2002. Commercial real estate broker Cushman & Wakefi eld has been exclusively retained on behalf of owner JK Equities to sell the site, which went on the market last week. Steven Pruess of Cushman & Wakefi eld said the new owners will follow previously set plans to build a mixed-use project featuring residential, retail and community facility components. The building has been approved for a 16-story structure with 269 residential units, 24,493 square feet of multilevel retail and an approximately 15,727-square-foot community facility. Bob Knakal, chairman of Cushman & Wakefi eld’s New York Investment Sales division, said that the site’s downtown Flushing location has attracted a massive amount of interest from foreign investors. “The wave of new development occurring in Flushing has truly revitalized the area and the rebirth of this celebrated structure will only continue to drive this growth within the neighborhood,” Knakal said. The current owner was originally planning to build on the site, but decided to put the property on the market after receiving several strong offers from interested buyers. “In the past six months, we have received several unsolicited offers to purchase the site at attractive pricing,” said Jerry Karlik of JK Equities. According to Preuss, the interested parties were drawn in by tax abatements attached to the property. The site has been approved for the 421A tax abatement, a program that essentially ensures tax exemption for 10 years to developers building a multi-unit residential project on vacant land. The 421A tax abatement is no longer available to new developments after it expired in January. “The location is very good but all the entitlements they’ve worked and gotten approved the past several years created a lot of value for the new buyer,” Preuss said, “so they can just take it over and get started right away.” The Art Deco-style building opened as a theater in 1928 and has been vacant since it closed in 1986. Since then, several developers have unsuccessfully attempted to install a variety of different projects at the site, which is a historical landmark. Photo via Facebook/Save the Flushing RKO Keith’s Theatre The building opened in 1928.
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