8 APRIL 12, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Queens
foreclosure
numbers begin
to decrease:
report
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
SMONTEVERDI@QNS.COM / @SMONT76
Aft er seeing highs in 2017
not recorded since the
Great Recession, Queens
is beginning to see a decrease in
fi rst-time foreclosures, according
to a new report.
An analysis published by
researchers at PropertyShark determined
that the borough saw a 13
percent year-over-year decrease
in the fi rst quarter of 2018 — opposing
the citywide trend. While
Queens recorded 303 foreclosures,
the most of any borough, it was the
only borough to see a signifi cant
decrease to start 2018.
The borough’s 11434 ZIP code,
which covers areas of Jamaica,
Hollis and St. Albans, continues to
record the highest foreclosure activity
in the borough. A total of 35
foreclosures were reported in the
fi rst quarter of the year within the
ZIP: one of the highest numbers
recorded throughout the city.
In another report released
last month, Jamaica was also
fl agged as one of 10 of the “most
seller-friendly” residential markets
throughout the city for 2018.
There, according to StreetEasy,
homes are less likely to see a price
cut and sell more quickly than in
other city neighborhoods.
Neighboring ZIPs 11412, 11413
and 11433, which include the
neighborhoods of St. Albans,
Laurelton and Springfi eld Gardens,
also registered some of the
highest foreclosure numbers in
the borough.
ZIP codes 11361, 11103, 11105 and
11371, covering areas of Bayside,
Astoria and East Elmhurst, were
the only in the borough to post no
foreclosures to start the year.
In 2017, home foreclosures in
Queens surged by 40 percent,
with a total of 1,260 first-time
foreclosures recorded for the
borough that year. This mirrored
a citywide trend, according to
PropertyShark, where foreclosure
auctions in the fi ve boroughs
“exploded.”
The PropertyShark study focused
on residential properties
scheduled for auction for the fi rst
time in 2017. Residential properties
included in the analysis were
single- and two-family homes and
condo and co-op units.
Two-alarm blaze hits
Maspeth children’s store
Big renovations at Station Square in F. Hills
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
One of Queens’ most picturesque
public spaces, the
brick-adorned Station Square
in Forest Hills Gardens, will undergo
a major facelift .
The Forest Hills Gardens Corporation
(FHGC) board of directors
informed residents and business
owners in the private community
via email last week that it would
begin a “multi-faceted” project that
“has been on the drawing board for
many years.”
“This is a multi-faceted project with
many phases and involving more
than just the restoration of our historic
road surface,” according to the
email, a copy of which was provided
to the Ridgewood Times. “All the
public utilities are on board and will
be upgrading their infrastructure
as the bricks are removed and the
roadway is opened.”
According to the corporation,
the Station Square improvements
will begin in the middle of April
and is expected to conclude at the
end of this year. Continental (71st)
Avenue will remain open during the
project, but the entire square east
of the avenue “will be closed to all
vehicular traffi c for the entirety of
the project.”
“The sidewalks around the square
will remain open for pedestrians,”
the statement noted, “however, as
stated, the majority of the square
will be fenced in and closed to
traffi c.”
Station Square is part of Forest
Hills Gardens, a “garden city” founded
in 1909 and maintained by the
FHGC that’s become one of the most
expensive Queens neighborhoods
in which to live. The streets are considered
private, not under the city’s
control; the FHGC is responsible
for road maintenance and upkeep
throughout the community. While
non-residents are permitted to travel
through the area, parking on the
Gardens’ streets without a residential
permit is prohibited.
As the name implies, Station
Square is adjacent to the Forest Hills
Long Island Rail Road station. It is
steeped in history.
The square was constructed
three years after the Gardens
was founded, designed in part by
Frederick Law Olmstead, who also
designed Central Park. According
to the Friends of Station Square, a
volunteer group that helps keep
it beautiful, the buildings around
Station Square were constructed
through funding provided by the
Long Island Rail Road, the Sage
Homes Foundation and the Cord
Meyer Corporation.
Station Square once served as a
primary gathering place for major
community gatherings. Former
President Theodore Roosevelt spoke
to a crowd of thousands from the
station’s steps in 1917 as part of that
year’s Independence Day celebration.
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@R_KELLEY6
No injuries were reported aft er
a two-alarm fi re broke out at a
storefront on Grand Avenue in
Maspeth on Friday morning.
Fire department sources said they
responded to the fi re at 65-01 Grand
Ave. — On the Road Again Inc. Children’s
Consignment Store — at approximately
5:51 a.m. on April 6. The blaze
was upgraded to a two-alarm blaze at
6:09 a.m., according to FDNY offi cials.
By 8 a.m., fi refi ghters had the fi re
under control, offi cials said. There
was nobody inside the building at the
time of the incident and nobody was
injured, according to offi cials.
The FDNY does not yet have any
information about how the fi re started
or the extent of the damage to the store,
offi cials said.
Photo courtesy of Tony Nunziato
Firefi ghters and citizens stand outside On the Road Again Inc. after an
early morning fi re on April 6 was extinguished.
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