FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 29, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
Rendering courtesy of Sun Equity Partners
Heskel Group defends Jackson Heights
tower project after community backlash
After Community Board 4 (CB 4)
decided to vote against a development
project in Jackson Heights, the developer
is defending his project, arguing
that it will be an asset to the community.
Heskel Elias, the founder of the
Heskel Group, which owns a site
at 40-31 82nd St. is asking the city
to rezone the site so that he can
build a 13-story, mixed-use building.
Currently, he is legally allowed to
build a 10-story building.
Sun Equity Partners and the Heskel
Group purchased the property, the
former Jackson Heights Cinema at
40-31 82nd St., for $27 million in
2016. The movie theater offi cially
closed in 2014 after 90 years in business.
Elias said he wants to construct
the project to give back to the
Jackson Heights community. He
came to America from Israel in 1971
and opened his fi rst business, the
Boulevard Theater on 82nd Street
and Northern Boulevard, in 1972. He
also opened a carwash on 88th Street.
“I started as an immigrant myself
and I built myself up so when I look at
Jackson Heights I don’t look at it as a
slice of a pie,” he said. “I look at it at
as something I can reinvest back in for
the prosperity that it had given me.”
If the rezoning is approved, the
Heskel Group and its partner Sun
Equities, would build 120 units, of
which 30 would be considered aff ordable
housing.
Queens residents at the meeting
had a number of concerns about the
project including the Target that will
anchor the building. Residents and
business owners argued the chain
would put local small shops out of
business.
There were also concerns about
the car congestion 130 underground
parking spots would cause and how
the developers defi ned aff ordability.
But Elias argued that the Target is
“a done deal.”
“Most of the protest is about Target.
That deal is done. It’s as of right, it’s
signed, it’s not going to change and
it happened,” he said. “They’re going
to hire local people. This Target is
totally to serve the Jackson Heights,
Elmhurst area.”
He said that residents at the meeting
did not let him explain his project
and “are just jumping on the hate
train here.”
“I want to help at least 30 families to
live in a very above standard building
and paying fraction of what they’re
paying now,” he said.
When pressed about the community’s
concerns on the level of aff ordability
and number of aff ordable units
that would be built on the site, he said
the numbers were “based on guidelines
the city gives us.”
He said there was “no way” the
Heskel Group could include more
aff ordable units.
“When we fi nish this project with
aff ordable housing we’ll actually lose
money for many years to come,” he
said. “It takes a long time to recoup
that cost because you cannot give
them substandard conditions because
they are aff ordable. This is 30 apartments
that can be for 120 people
for the rest of their life because this is
nothing that goes away.”
The median income of a family
of three in Community Board 4 is
$44,865, according to data presented
by Community Board 4 at the meeting.
Developers are proposing to price
the aff ordable units at 80 percent of
Area Median Income (AMI). A family
of three with an 80 percent AMI
would be bringing home $68,700,
according to city guidelines.
Elias said he is also planning to add
a community facility space for a nonprofi
t or local organization to rent for
a below market rate price. According
to the plans, the space would measure
1,996 square feet. During the more
than two hour long public hearing process
at the CB 4 meeting, not one person
spoke in favor of the project.
“The community should be blessed
to have somebody like me involved
with them,” he said. “I’ll be involved
with the Chamber of Commerce,
I’ll be involved with the Business
Improvement District and I will try
to help them with any questions they
might have,” he said. “But the questions
cannot be done with any animosity
and out of anger.
He also argued that the people
speaking at the meeting were not
“vetted.”
“If you want to voice your opinion
about Elmhurst or Jackson Heights,
I want to see that you live there,” he
said.
After CB 4 voted against the project
and also agreed to downzone the site,
Queens Borough President Melinda
Katz, City Planning and City Council
will vote on the plan.
In a statement after the meeting,
Councilman Francisco Moya said he
is looking “seriously” at the rezoning.
“Unfortunately, the Target many
vocally opposed at last night’s public
hearing was announced last May and
the application for this rezoning submitted
in September under the previous
Council member — getting the
ball rolling before I even announced
my candidacy for the City Council,” he
said. “As the current situation stands,
the development could move forward
as of right with commercial and market
rate housing regardless of community
input. Because of this I will
be engaging in serious conversations
with all parties involved. ”
For the next six months, construction
will begin on the foundation of
the building while Elias waits on a
decision by various city agencies.
“We’re going to start building, we’re
going to put Target there and hope
that the community will come to our
side very quickly,” he said. “We want
to be sensitive to the design aspect of
the building. We want it to blend well
with the community.”
Elias noted that the project includes
indoor loading docks serving Target
to minimize the number of on-street
parking spaces taken during loading.
More than 100 full- and parttime
construction jobs, many of which
will be union positions fi lled by local
workers, will also be created.