April 14, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PA GE 15
CERTIFIED FRESH
Met Fresh Supermarket owners Omar, Ali and Danny Hamdan (c.) cut the red ribbon officially marking the
grand opening of the supermarket chain in Whitestone on April 5. Courtesy of Michelle Mendoza
Cops charge suspect
in Jax Hgts shooting BY JENNA BAGCAL
CP criticizes late night shelter work
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UPDATED EVERY DAY AT TIMESLEDGER.COM
BY MARK HALLUM
The question is up in the air
as to whether Target’s Elmhurst
store will relocate after it was announced
at the Community Board
4 meeting the corporation has its
eye on space in Middle Village.
Louis Walker, Community
Board 4’s chair, told attendees
at the Tuesday night meeting
that Target in Elmhurst at
Queens Place is closing at the
end of December.
But the big-box retailer did not
confirm the claim when contacted
by QNS. A spokesperson for
Target said that the company had
no plans to close that location.
Walker’s account also left it
unclear whether or not the corporation
would choose another location
in Queens or what would happen
to the space if they vacate.
“That’s a rather large parcel
of land, so we should be quite
concerned what’s going to end up
in that space if it doesn’t remain
a mall,” Walker said. “A lot of
the brick-and-mortar stores anywhere
have problems surviving
and this would just add to that situation
… The Target will move to
Middle Village where the Kmart
used to be.”
Walker added that he was
disappointed that Target did not
want to move to the former Sears
location on Queens Boulevard,
which he said leaves employees of
the store in a “very awkward position”
during the holidays.
While Walker indicated that
the big-box store may be relocating
to Rentar Plaza at 66-26 Metropolitan
Ave. in Middle Village,
the shopping center could not
confirm this was the case.
“At this time I cannot confirm
that,” Felice Bassin from Rentar
Development, which operates
Rentar Plaza, said when QNS contacted
her on April 10.
Councilman Robert Holden
took a welcome approach to the
prospect of Target relocating into
Middle Village claiming it would
add value his constituents would
cash in on.
“I’m hopeful that Target is in
UPDATED EVERY DAY AT QNS.BY EMILY DAVENPORT
A grand jury has indicted a
Brooklyn man who allegedly beat
up a woman and stole her purse in
front of her young son on a Woodhaven
street last year, prosecutors
announced Thursday.
Derrick Chirse, 58, was arraigned
on second-degree robbery,
second-degree assault, fifthdegree
criminal possession of a
weapon and endangering the welfare
of a child. Chirse is currently
being held on $100,000 bail and is
due to return to court on June 13.
If convicted, Chirse faces life
in prison.
“The defendant in this case is
alleged to have cornered a woman
and reigned punches on her head
and chest in order to steal her
purse. After beating and robbing
the defenseless woman – whose
toddler son witnessed the vicious
assault – the defendant fled the
location,” said Chief Assistant
District Attorney John A. Ryan.
“He was apprehended the following
day after the release of video
surveillance. The victim suffered
extensive bruising and pain as
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
Police arrested a Jackson Heights man in connection
to a drug-related shooting that left a man
dead on Monday.
Nestor Londono, 49, was charged with manslaughter,
criminal possession of a weapon and
College Point residents
claim contractors of a controversial
men’s homeless
shelter are working past
the hours set by the city.
TimesLedger learned
that DOB issued an afterhours
variance (AHV) for
the shelter project at 127-
03 20th Ave. The variance
allows work to be done
from 6 to 10 p.m. on Monday
through Friday and 8
a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday
and Sunday.
But College Point
resident Carola Duarte-
Simmons penned a letter
to Queens DOB Commissioner
Derek Lee revealing
that workers are working
past the times specified
in the variance.
“Almost every
127-03 20th Ave. lit up on April 7. night the lights go off
Photo via A Better College Point Facebook
BK man indicted
for 2018 robbery
in Woodhaven
Moving Target? Uncertain fate for retailer
Community Board 4 chair says store may leave Elmhurst for Middle Village
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/TIMESLEDGER.COM
