4 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 1, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Sparring over Halletts Pt. funds in Astoria
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Th e city’s decision to withhold funds
from an Astoria development project
will hurt residents at the nearby Astoria
Houses, according to a Bronx city councilman
who sits on the council’s Public
Housing Committee.
Councilman Ritchie Torres, the chairman
of the Committee on Oversight and
Investigations, released a report on Feb. 27
titled “Left Out in the Cold.” It outlines the
city’s recent decision to halt $43.5 million
in bond fi nancing for a 163-unit building
that is part of the Durst Organization’s
2.5-million-square-foot Halletts Point
development project.
As part of the plan to build this tower —
one of seven included in the project — the
developers, Durst Organization agreed to
retrofi t the existing four boilers at Astoria
Houses and install low-emission burners.
In the report, Torres argues that the
city’s decision will delay heating improvements
at the housing complex. Developers
agreed to have the improvements completed
by next winter.
“NYCHA’s capital need is so overwhelming
that the expenditure of private dollars
on heating improvements by Durst could
have freed up federal and local dollars for
boilers elsewhere in the portfolio,” Torres
wrote. “But far worse than the opportunity
cost of the decision to withdraw the bond
fi nancing is the immediate impact it will
have on the residents of Astoria Houses: It
will deprive them of reliable boilers for the
next heating season.”
Housing Development Corporation
spokeswoman Elizabeth Rohlfi ng told
Politico, which fi rst reported on the city’s
decision, that the funding was suspended
because of the stiff competition for tax-exempt
bonds in the midst of potential federal
funding cuts.
Offi cials for Mayor Bill de Blasio said the
city has already secured more than $200
million to upgrade NYCHA’s heating systems,
replace aging boilers and to improve
hot water. Astoria Houses will receive $20
million for boiler upgrades. Th e Durst
Organization agreed to make $2.5 million
worth of effi ciency upgrades to secure
environmental permits for the 163-unit
tower, the city said.
“Without the boiler upgrades, people
living on the upper fl oors of the new
building would be left breathing dirty air,
and for that reason the new 163-unit
tower could not be built,” said Melissa
Grace, deputy press secretary for Housing
and Economic Development, in a Medium
post. “In short, these upgrades are not
charity and they are not to replace the
boilers — $20 million in public funds will
do that.”
The Durst Organization said the
upgrades, including replacing the mud
legs of the boilers (they corrode overtime
from contact with water that boilers eject)
and burners, could be completed by 2019.
Th e city’s process to design and construct
new boilers — a separate project
from the one the Durst Organization is
promising — would be completed sometime
between 2021 and 2023. City offi cials
argued that the effi ciency upgrades promised
by the Durst Organization to obtain
environmental permits would not have
corrected heat problems or prevented outages
next year.
Th e boilers are 28 years old and in 2017
Astoria Houses residents experienced 26
heating outages and 32 hot water outages.
Residents fi led a total of 1,265 heat complaints
with the city in 2017, according to
the report.
In her post, Grace said the upgrades
were not a “fair trade” for the bond and
that the city was “holding out for a better
deal.”
“We aren’t going to be bullied into making
a deal that benefi ts rich developers and
not poor and working-class New Yorkers,”
she said.
But Torres said the intent of the developers
is beside the point.
“Th e question is not why Durst agreed
to install the heating improvements in
the fi rst place (no one, aft er all, is claiming
that Durst was acting out of altruism),”
he wrote in the report. “Turning the focus
to the intent of the developer is a clever
sleight of hand that conveniently ignores
the thrust of the original question. New
burners and mud legs would increase the
effi ciency and improve the performance
of the four boilers at Astoria Houses. For
NYCHA to either deny or downplay those
benefi ts is disingenuous.”
City offi cials said the Durst Organization
will still be required to make these
improvements but the developers have
said they will not continue construction if
the bond fi nancing is not provided.
Th e fi rst of seven buildings is slated to
open this summer. Halletts Point will
include a total of 2,400 units with about
400 deemed aff ordable.
Cops give violations to massage
parlors in Douglaston & Little Nk.
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Five massage parlors along
Northern Boulevard in Douglaston
and Little Neck were issued violations
during a recent multi-agency
operation, according to police.
Offi cers at the 111th Precinct,
the Mayor’s Offi ce of Special
Enforcement and inspectors from
the Department of Buildings conducted
a joint operation within the
precinct’s command on Feb. 16, an
NYPD spokesperson said.
Th e following businesses were visited
and each issued Environmental
Control Board (ECB) summonses
and one Fire Department violation
by Buildings inspectors:
Sakura Relaxing Spa, 248-25
Northern Blvd., three ECB summonses
Water Imperial Spa, 253-06
Northern Blvd., fi ve ECB summonses
Love Life Spa, 253-11 Northern
Blvd., four ECB summonses
Mod Spa, 255-06 Northern Blvd.,
fi ve ECB summonses
R Station, 255-08 Northern Blvd.,
fi ve ECB summonses
Th ere were no arrests made at the
above locations and no individuals
summonses were issued by police,
according to authorities.
ECB violations are issued when
a property does not comply with
a part of the New York City
Construction Codes and or Zoning
Resolution. Owners can either
admit to the violation and pay any
applicable penalties or attend a
hearing to contest the violation.
Offi cers at the 111th Precinct
took to Twitter to announce the
joint operation.
“A joint operation was conducted
in the 111th Precinct with
the Mayor’s Offi ce of Special
Enforcement to make sure massage
parlors and similar businesses
are in compliance with the law,”
the tweet reads.
Dollar store bandits are still at large
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com /
@robbpoz
Detectives continue to search for two gunmen
who robbed a College Point dollar store
on Sunday morning and left three female
employees tied up in a store bathroom.
Police said the caper took place at 8:30 a.m.
on Feb. 25 inside the Dollar General shop
located at 132-13 14th Road.
According to law enforcement sources, two
masked suspects walked into the store, confronted
the three workers and displayed fi rearms.
Th ey forced the women into a rear bathroom
and restrained them with cable ties.
Authorities said the gunmen
forced a manager
to open a safe, and upon
doing so, they removed
$1,000 in cash. Th e bandits
also grabbed $2,500 in store
merchandise, two electronic
scanners, a landline phone
and one of the victim’s cellphones.
Moments later, police
noted, the crooks fl ed from
the scene on foot westbound
along 14th Road.
Offi cers from the 109th
Precinct responded to a 911
call about the incident. None
of the victims were injured.
Th e investigation is ongoing.
Photo by Robert Stridiron
Police outside the Dollar General store in College Point that was robbed on
Feb. 25.
Photo by William Alatriste
Councilman Ritchie Torres released a report arguing that the city’s decision to withhold funding
from Astoria’s Halletts Point project will aff ect NYCHA residents.