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REAL ESTATE TOMORROW
A rendering of the proposed redevelopment of an NYPD parking garage on 168th Street in downtown Jamaica. Rendering courtesy of the NYCEDC
THE BIG SHIFT
Building booms in Flushing & Jamaica impacts all of Queens
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
It’s no secret that in recent
years Queens has become a
local hotspot for increased
interest in the real estate
market. Whether residential or
commercial, more buyers are
finding that the “World’s Borough”
has plenty to offer.
However, two neighborhoods
in particular are proving
to be growing in popularity
for residential buyers and
commercial developers alike:
Flushing and Jamaica.
According to StreetEasy
Data Analyst Nancy Wu, Flushing
and Jamaica have become
more attractive areas in the
market is that they are more
affordable, relatively speaking,
compared to the other neighborhoods.
Wu attributes some
to the popularity to the amenities
that Flushing and Jamaica
have to offer.
“Flushing and Jamaica
also home to some of the city’s
most popular attractions including
sports venues, museums
and restaurants offering
a wide range of cuisines,” said
Wu. “Downtown Flushing is a
major commercial and retail
district in the city, and home to
the second largest Chinatown,
attracting buyers and renters
across the city to work and to
live in the neighborhood. Jamaica
is a vibrant community
with convenient transportation
access to the Long Island
Rail Road and JFK airport.”
Downtown Flushing has
been a go-to spot for businesses
small and large to settle
in with the high amount of
foot traffic. And while Jamaica
has convenient access
to public transportation and
JFK, Downtown Jamaica has
molded its own arts district
that is more affordable to live
in compared to other arts districts
throughout the city.
These neighborhoods have
also become hotspots for development,
particularly in
Flushing. In April 2019, the
final building of the Tangram
development officially topped
out, plus three 19-story,
mixed-use buildings are set
to rise in downtown Flushing.
To add on to that, the site
of Flushing’s RKO Theater is
set to be replaced by another
17-story mixed-use residential
development.
StreetEasy attributes the
increase in new construction
to the increased buyer demand
in affordable neighborhoods
in Queens.
According to Wu, the influx
of new development is impacting
how renters, buyers and developers
have interacted with
the borough’s housing market
over the past several years.
“This influx of new construction
has led to a continuing
trend of new homes hitting
the market,” said Wu. “In the
first quarter of this year, new
inventory rose by 10.6 percent
in Flushing and 45.2 percent in
Jamaica from last year, due to
a boom in new construction,
much of which is priced on the
high end.”
14 QUEENS TOMORROW 2019