FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com january 9, 2014 • The Courier SUN 3 CORONA CONVENTION CENTER PLANNED $200M project promises jobs BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com A convention center complex as big as a city block, with a 25-story hotel and apartments, may be coming to Queens. Fleet Financial Group plans to build a roughly 106,000-square-foot convention Buffet closure leaves employees OUT IN THE COLD BY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com Resorts World Casino shut the doors to its Aqueduct Buffet, and in turn on about 175 employees. “I thought it was a drastic move, certainly one that could be reconsidered down the line,” said State Senator Joseph Addabbo. The buffet closed on Monday, January 6, after “trying to make it work for two years, and just couldn’t,” said a spokesperson for the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council (HTC). “We have made the difficult decision to close the Aqueduct Buffet, which never caught on with our customers and has consistently lost money,” said Ed Farrell, Resorts World president. “We sincerely regret the impact this closure has on the buffet’s employees and are working closely with the HTC to ease this transition.” The HTC is in contract with Resorts World and has begun helping the laidoff employees find new work. In the interim, the buffet workers will receive up to five weeks severance pay, depending on how long they were employed at the casino and what job they did. They will also get 120 days of extended family medical coverage and preferential hiring in other Resorts World departments, according to the spokesperson. Resorts World Casino closed the Aqueduct Buffet and let go about 175 employees. The employees did not receive notice the buffet was closing, but the spokesperson said the “federal WARN notice,” the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, does not apply in this situation. The buffet had to have more than a third of Resorts World employees to receive forewarning. The HTC will be meeting with the laid-off workers in groups and individually if needed, and Addabbo said he will be meeting with both the HTC and Farrell. The state senator said if he knew the buffet was suffering, he would have liked to look at alternatives to closing it entirely. “We see Resorts World as a job generator,” Addabbo said. “It has great potential. If it’s going to reach that maximum potential in creating jobs, this is not the way to go.” center, the largest in the East Coast, at 112-21 Northern Boulevard in Corona. The $200 million real estate project also includes 292 river-view hotel rooms, 236 luxurious apartments, a shopping center and a high-class restaurant. “That area is really booming. It’s going to be great for Queens,” said Fleet president Richard Xia. The site is near Citi Field, where a major $3 billion redevelopment project, including a mega mall, is slated for Willets Point. It is also by the Grand Central Parkway, about two miles from LaGuardia Airport. “People pass by, but they never stop here,” said Xia, who lives and works in Flushing. “It’s going to be something that will create a lot of jobs and, in the meantime, bring a lot more business activity to Queens.” Fleet purchased the 1.67-acre property — currently the site of the DiBlasi Ford dealership — last month for $17 million, Xia said. The company is also in the midst of completing an 18-story Westin Element hotel, with a medical center, at 42-31 Union Street in Flushing. Construction of the massive complex in Corona, dubbed the Eastern Emerald Center, would create nearly 3,000 jobs, Xia said. Work is expected to start this June and end in 2017, though the proposal still needs approval from Community Board 3, the Queens borough president and the city. The project has support from Queens Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Seth Bornstein and Queens Chamber of Commerce President Al Pennisi. “It sounds like a really good idea,” Bornstein said. “We lack quality, largescale space for events. It would really be a benefit to the borough.” Pennisi said the city “could use more than one” facility like the Javits Center in Manhattan. “The Chamber thought of this project,” A massive convention center, hotel and apartment complex is planned for Corona, near Citi Field. Pennisi said. “It’ll bring conventions of all sizes into a modern facility. Everybody will benefit from it.” Councilmember Julissa Ferreras and Victor Rodriguez, a Corona resident who owns a mini market near the proposed complex, hope the development will be a boon for the neighborhood. “I think it’s good for us,” Rodriguez said. “It’ll bring more people here.” Rendering courtesy of Fleet Financial Group But a local educator, who did not want to be named, said the slated site is near too many schools on an already accidentprone portion of Northern Boulevard. “To have something of that magnitude, and all these people coming to town, I can’t see how that improves anything,” she said. “Money is good and people need jobs, but there are so many other things not fixed as is.” Investigate hate crime at Ozone Park church BY MAGGIE HAYES AND further comment. KATELYN DISALVO “This is not to be accepted, especially mhayes@queenscourier.com for an icon in our community, such as St. Mary’s Gate of Heaven,” said State A Virgin Mary statue was beheaded in Senator Joseph Addabbo. Ozone Park and it is being investigated The 104th Street church lacks outdoor as a hate crime, cops said. security cameras, so cops will search the On the morning of Monday, January 6, surrounding community for similarly officials at the St. Mary Gate of Heaven reported incidents, said a police source. Roman Catholic church discovered the The investigation is ongoing. headless statue outside its doors. It was A bill to increase the penalty for removed from the property shortly after. hate crimes passed the state in 2000. A “If this is a hate crime against a current bill to once more increase the church, I believe it’s demeaning and penalties for criminal activity at places disrespectful toward the religion and the of worship passed the state Senate in community,” said Alessandro Damico, a June 2013, but did not pass in the state member of the St. Mary parish. Assembly. It will most likely be reintroduced Church representatives said police are next legislative session, according investigating the incident and have no to Addabbo. THE COURIER/Photo by Katelyn DiSalvo Police are investigating the beheading of a Virgin Mary statue outside an Ozone Park church.
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