20 The Queens Courier • september 25, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Silvercup Studios seeking permit approvals again for delayed expansion Construction on JFK animal handling center to begin in coming months BY LIAM LA GUERE lguerre@queenscourier.com @liamlaguerre Action on the wildest project in the borough is set to begin shortly, about two years after its approval and numerous reports. Investment firm Racebrook is looking to complete its animal handling facility at John F. Kennedy Airport, named “The Ark at JFK,” in a year, with construction commencing in a couple of months. Although a specific date was not given, in an interview with The Courier, Aaron Perl of Racebrook, who is overseeing the $48 million development, said the company is a few months away from completing preparations to begin building the world’s first animal terminal, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016. The 178,000-square-foot project, which consists of a main center and a 63,515-square-foot cargo handling facility, will be constructed at a 14.4-acre site in the airport’s vacant Building 78. The building will not be demolished, but revitalized, which will cut down on construction time. The Ark will provide services to board, kennel, quarantine, import and export up to 70,000 domestic and wild animals annually. There will also be a veterinary clinic. Approved by the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey since 2012, the project is being designed by Gensler and GH2 Architects. The facility is expected to create more than 150 jobs, and generate $138 million in rent for the Port Authority over the 20-year lease. Photo courtesy of ARK Development, LLC BY LIAM LA GUERE lguerre@queenscourier.com/@LiamLaGuerre The stalled Silvercup West development, a planned $1 billion expansion of Silvercup Studios in Long Island City just south of the Queensboro Bridge, is back in the spotlight — for special permit renewals. The land use committee of Community Board 2 is reviewing the application and is expected to bring the matter to a full board vote in the next public meeting on Oct. 2. The permits are for various design elements in the project, including a proposed 1,400-space parking garage, which was granted three years ago, but has expired since. A representative for Silvercup at a recent community board committee meeting said they expect to get the approvals quickly without issues, because of past consents. The Silvercup West plan first debuted about eight years ago with tons of media coverage. The project includes eight new soundstage studios as part of a larger 2.2-million-square-foot complex containing an office tower, high-rise apartment towers with 1,000 residences, retail space, a catering hall and cultural space. The community board, the borough president, City Planning and the City Council all gave their blessings for the land use case of the project in 2006, and it was supposed to be completed by 2010, according to published reports. However, the project is being held up by New York Power Authority (NYPA) generators on the site, which have to be decommissioned and removed. The generators, which have 150-foot smoke stacks on each one, are sitting on three acres of land. Silvercups’ plan to restore the near century-old landmarked terracotta building at 42-10 Vernon Blvd. have been proceeding well, according to a spokesman, and other plans are seeing movement as well, but the generators are stopping progression. “We have worked with DEC on getting plans approved for remediation, and have gotten Army Corps approval to install a new bulkhead,” spokesman Russ Colchamiro said. “However, we cannot proceed with the project until the NYPA generators are removed.” If the permits are renewed by the board, the application moves to City Planning for review. Renderings courtesy of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners LLP Investment firm Racebrook is aiming to begin construction on its animal terminal at JFK in the next couple of months.
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