28 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 16, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Panico retires from
Cord Meyer after
lengthy career
BY THE QUEENS COURIER STAFF
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
After seventeen years of serving as President
and Chief Executive Officer, Sal Panico officially
retired from Cord Meyer Development
Company on April 30, 2019.
Panico was the first non-family member to
hold this position in the company’s 115 years of
business.
Prior to joining Cord Meyer, Panico’s expertise
was constructing luxury high-rise apartment
buildings in Manhattan and was employed
at the Glick Organization as Assistant Vice
President before transitioning to The Brodsky
Organization as Director of Construction.
After 10 years as a consultant for Cord Meyer
Development, Panico joined the company in
2002 and returned them to the high-rise residential
apartment market with two extremely successful
projects: The Windsor at Forest Hills and
The Aston, in Queens.
In addition to residential high rises, Panico
expanded the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in
Bayside and firmly established that property as
the crown jewel in the Company’s portfolio. He
guided Cord Meyer to its first nine-digit sale of
a development site in lower Manhattan after a
well-crafted like-kind exchange, which set financial
records for Cord Meyer and its shareholders.
Panico left Cord Meyer with several planned
projects including Bay Lane Estates, a townhome
development located in Bayside, which is currently
under construction.
After nearly five decades in the industry,
Panico will be spending more time with Leslie,
his wife of 50 years, his children and grandchildren
as well as enjoying some traveling. He
remains a shareholder and sits on the Board of
Directors.
Co-op may test a car-free, renovated Station Square
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th ough the majority of the construction
File photo via Shutterstock
Station Square in Forest Hills Gardens
fences went down last
week, Station Square remains closed
to traffi c as the Forest Hills Gardens
Corporation (FHGC) tests a new plan
that would cut off cars through the
intersection.
Th e FHGC began a renovation
project a year ago that replaced infrastructure
underneath the square, laid
a new foundation and replaced all the
bricks in the street. Th ough the construction
was slated to end at the end
of 2018, over fi ve months later it’s still
nearing completion in one area.
In reopening the square, the FHGC
decided to implement a trial period
when they would block traffi c from
entering the square and have people
see how they about it.
Susanna Hof of Terrace Sotheby’s
International Realty, which has two
offi ces at Station Square, said that
they are weighing the community’s
response to keeping this arrangement
permanently.
Up until the construction last
spring, cars were permitted to travel
through the square going east or
west and navigate the six streets that
branch off from the square.
Hof told QNS that the popularity
of Long Island Rail Road stop in the
station has led to traffi c problems in
the square. She said that people waiting
to pick up train passengers double
park or parking on both sides of
the byway along the center island,
which creates severe congestion. Hof
worries that this creates a dangerous
situation for pedestrians.
She added that she would also like
to see a stop to car traffi c for aesthetic
reasons.
“From a purist point of view, the
architectural appearance of the
square in a way is impeded by the
presence of all these automobiles, the
honking and then from a safety point
of view also,” she said.
Originally founded in 1909, the
square was designed as a gathering
space for its residents. At that
time, the horse carriages that passed
through the space did not clash
with its planned use as a pedestrian
friendly area.
“So there’s a safety element, there’s
an architectural element and it’s the
original aesthetic conception of the
square as a place where the community
could gather,” said Hof.
Th ough the FHGC left the square
open to cars until the construction,
they are responsible for deciding its
fate. Th e streets are technically considered
private. All common areas of
the Station Square development are
owned jointly by all the residents and
run by a corporation of which the residents
and members.
Th e FHGC will discuss the future
of the square at its spring community
meeting exclusively for its members
at 7 p.m. on May 16 at the Church in
the Gardens community house at 15
Borage Place. Th e organization’s president,
Matthew Mandell, is also slated
to appear at the Community Board
6 meeting on June 12 to speak about
the square.
VIPizza in Bayside cooks up big 60th anniversary bash
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Th is weekend, an iconic Bayside
pizzeria is celebrating 60 years in the
business.
VIPizza at 43-02 Bell Blvd. is hosting
a day of giveaways, live music
and 60 cent slices on Saturday, May
18. From noon to 1 p.m., the pizzeria
is selling 60 cent regular or Sicilian
slices and will be giving away free
VIPizza T-shirts for the fi rst 60 customers
to purchase any large pie starting
at 1:30 p.m.
“We’re gonna have live music. We’re
gonna be giving out some gift s, keychains
and stuff like that,” said Luigi
D’Ammassa, one of the store’s owners.
D’Ammassa, Peter Agorious and
Francisco Lara currently own the pizzeria,
which has been in the family
since 2008. Prior to them, the Oddo
brothers owned the shop in 1985 and
were responsible for moving it to its
landmark corner location.
Since its inception in 1959,
D’Ammassa said that they used the
original owners’ recipe to make their
signature pies. D’Ammassa shared
that what sets VI apart from other
pizzerias is that they only sell pizzas
and calzones.
“Th e most important thing is that
VIPizza has a reputation of maybe
having the best Sicilian. We’re known
for our Sicilian. Everything else is also
great but the Sicilian is the one that
really stands out,” said D’Ammassa.
He added that when customers
move away, they come back from as
far as California to indulge in a slice
of tasty nostalgia.
“Th e people that move away, they
come back because they remember
for years since they were kids,”
D’Ammassa said. “I hear so many
of the stories, it’s unbelievable. Th ey
come back to visit and they come to
VI.” D’Ammassa credits their longtime
success to a dedication to creating a
quality product for customers. Most
days he’s in the shop as early as 8
a.m. preparing pies for their 11 a.m.
start time.
“Th e clientele is great, the community
is wonderful. We love everybody
here, we appreciate them coming
back. We try to do our best to
accommodate them in every which
way — service, quality and everything
else.”
VIPizza’s 60th-anniversary celebration
is on Saturday, May 18 starting
at noon. For more information, visit
their website at vipizzabayside.com.
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/QNS
Luigi D'Ammassa of VIPizza in Bayside
Sal Panico
/vipizzabayside.com
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