WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JANUARY 2, 2020 15
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
While the biggest ongoing story of
2020 in the Ridgewood area promises
to be the development of the Cooper
Avenue homeless shelter in Glendale,
that development is not the only project
in town.
Queens Community District 5 —
encompassing Glendale, Maspeth,
Middle Village and Ridgewood — can
expect three large residential developments
in addition to three extensive
sewer improvement projects in
the year ahead.
First, an update on the oldest of
the area’s large-scale residential
developments: construction of the
Ridgewood Tower Development has
stalled. The holding company of AB
Capstone fi led revised plans for the
site on Jan. 31 of last year for a 17-story
structure residential building at the
corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and
Palmetto Street that will include 138
apartments.
Over the past year the excavation
of the site has continued, but the
developer recently hit a roadblock,
according to Ted Renz, the executive
director of the Myrtle Avenue BID.
“On the corner of what used to be
Woodbine and Myrtle. And there’s
two retailers — there was a sushi
store and a discount store that have
not left the premises, so they cannot
demolish the rest of the structures to
continue to project,” said Renz.
The next phases of the project’s
construction reportedly hinge on the
negotiation between the residential
project and the two retailers.
Next up is the neighborhood’s
most tense development of the past
year. When Avery Hall Investments
held an informational community
forum on a tentative rezoning of
1590 Gates Ave. in June, they ended
up a full-blown protest by the Ridgewood
Tenants Union on their hands.
According to a rep from the offi ce
of Councilman Antonio Reynoso,
AHI has since gone ahead with the
as-of-right luxury project instead of
attempting a rezoning.
The other big expected development
is located in a trio properties
at 56-40/56-42 Myrtle Ave. and 17-11
Hancock St. that recently sold for
$9.3 million. Renz predicted that
building as-of-right on the property
would result in seven to eight stories
of residential development.
In addition to the residential development,
District Manager Gary
Giordano outlined the ambitious
sewer plans that the district has in
store.
First Giordano said that he expects
the completion of a large water main
project at Penelope Avenue and 74th
Street sewer and to head toward
completion in the spring. Portions of
Penelope Avenue in Middle Village
started closure last January.
The infrastructure improvements
have been a long time coming. The
improvements go back to goes back to
Aug. 8, 2007, with the city’s response
to a powerful storm that battered
Ridgewood with 4.5 inches of rain in
an hour, fl ooded the neighborhood
and crippled New York City subways,
Giordano said.
There’s also a sewer project that is
supposed to begin in 2020 as a continuation
of the Penelope Avenue project
that would continue along Juniper
Boulevard South from 74th street to
71st street. The plan is to install 96-
inch sewer line in that stretch.
“I mean you could drive your car
through there,” said Giordano.
The fi nal upcoming sewer project
involves the installation of new sewer
lines along 69th street from Calamus
Avenue to Queens Boulevard.
Besides the sewer improvements,
Giordano also mentioned that the
running track and soccer and football
fi eld at the west end of Juniper
Valley Park will be undergoing
reconstruction.
The deteriorated track and turf of
the fi eld will be replaced sometime in
the next year.
2020 PREVIEW
Watch out for these development
stories in the Ridgewood area
The construction site of the Ridgewood Towers at 3-50 Nicholas Ave. as of June 2019. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
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